Learning objectives
a) Knowledge and comprehension abilities
The student will learn and understand the economic, social, institutional and political- regulatory processes that characterize the global economy development.
b) Ability to use knowledge and comprehension
The student will use the studied issues to understand the economic processes complexity, also with regard to the other disciplines.
c) Judgment autonomy
The student will be able to evaluate the economic processes and develop a critical analysis of the powerful factors that characterize their evolution.
d) Communicative skills
The student will get a lexical and conceptual property essential for the education and the communication of a triennial student in economic issues.
e) Ability to learn
The student will try out an innovative didactic method based on group work.
Course unit content
Why some countries are rich and others poor? What have been the factors that between 18th and 19th centuries allowed both to Europe and North America to complete the great leap towards the industrialization and the social development? And what are the reasons that in current decades are allowing the rise of countries whose development (India, China, Brics) is redesigning the world geography of wealth?
The course presents and analyses the factors – geography, globalization, technical progress, economic policies, institutions – that have determined the economic development of the various areas of the world.
The lessons, adopting a global key of analysis, will analyse the rise of the West and the spread of the industrialization in America, with the consequent change of the international hegemony. Moreover it will be analysed the cases of Russia and Japan – emblematic cases of late development – without forget the Africa dynamics, the affirmation of “Asia tigers” and the rise of China.
For the students attending the lessons the course is divided in two parts: the first is a traditional frontal lesson to set a general path and it is completed by a written mid-term test. The second part, only for the student which have passed the test, is far innovative because is based on teamwork; group activities which will allow to deepen other topics defined by groups together with teacher.
Bibliography
(1) Innovative curriculum (students that attend lessons and that after intermediate exercise follow group activities)
- Robert C. Allen, Storia economica globale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013.
- Jurgen Osterhammel, Niels P. Petersson, Storia della globalizzazione, Bologna, il Mulino, 2005 (only chapters 5, 6 and 7).
- Materials, slides and notes of the lessons.
- Texts, materials and documents indicated for the group activities and group and the classroom presentation.
(2) Mixed curriculum (students that attend lessons and that obtain >18<22 in the intermediate exercise and that follow the deepening lessons)
- Robert C. Allen, Storia economica globale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013.
- Jurgen Osterhammel, Niels P. Petersson, Storia della globalizzazione, Bologna, il Mulino, 2005 (only chapters 5, 6 and 7).
- Materials, slides and notes of the lessons.
(A) Attendance of the additional course on famine held by prof. Claudio Bargelli.
or
(B) Written final exam on chapters not studied for the mid-term test of the book of Jurgen Osterhammel, Niels P. Petersson, Storia della globalizzazione and on one book at choice among:
- Stefano Maggi, Le ferrovie, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012.
- Paolo Guerrieri e Pier Carlo Padoan, L’economia europea, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009.
- Giulia Garofalo Geymonat, Vendere e comprare sesso, Bologna, il Mulino, 2014.
(3) Traditional curriculum (students that don’t attend lessons; students that do it but that don’t pass the intermediate exercise or that don’t reach the minimum requirements of attendance)
- Robert C. Allen, Storia economica globale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013.
- Jurgen Osterhammel, Niels P. Petersson, Storia della globalizzazione, Bologna, il Mulino, 2005.
One book at choice among:
- Stefano Maggi, Le ferrovie, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012.
- Paolo Guerrieri e Pier Carlo Padoan, L’economia europea, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009.
- Giulia Garofalo Geymonat, Vendere e comprare sesso, Bologna, il Mulino, 2014.
Teaching methods
The first part of the course (approximately 60% of the hours) will be carried out with traditional didactic methods (frontal lessons). The second part (approximately 40% of the hours) will present instead some didactic innovations: (a) the students who will obtain a minimum of 23/30 in the intermediate exercise will allowed to follow the second part of the course with the group activities of deepening. The students will form little teams that, following the bibliographical and documentary indications supplied from teacher, will prepare a short classroom presentation (approximately 15 minutes) and a short English abstract. In the second part the students will have to attend a minimum of 80% of the lessons; (b) the students that will obtain a mark between 18 and 22/30 in the mid-term test will have a double choice: (b1) attend the additional course on famine held by prof. Claudio Bargelli making a written final test; (b2) make a written final exam on chapters not studied for the mid-term test of the book of Jurgen Osterhammel, Niels P. Petersson, Storia della globalizzazione and on one book at choice among the three indicated.
In both cases – (a) e (b) – the marks will be merged in a weighted mark.
In other cases (students that don’t attend lessons; students that don’t pass the intermediate exercise; students that don’t pass the final exercise; students that although they passed the intermediate exercise don’t reach the minimum requirements of attendance or that decide to not follow the didactic activities), it will be necessary to sustain the traditional exam.
Assessment methods and criteria
(1) Innovative curriculum
Intermediate exercise
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be checked by 2 open-ended questions choose among three questions. Each question is 15 points worth.
b) The answers will be checked by the ability to express judgment autonomy, critical learning ability and to do cross links among different topics.
d) The ability to communicate will be checked verifying the adequacy and efficacy of language; furthermore it will be checked the tendency to clarify the meaning of the technical words and concepts used.
Classroom presentation
The classroom presentation will be checked by the following elements:
a) originality and innovativeness of work (ability to carry on the proposed topic with originality compared to the literature and documentation used).
b) precision and effectiveness of the slides (style, language).
c) quality and precision of the abstract (to present the aims, the sources, the results).
c) coherence between sources, analysis and synthesis.
d) coherence between investigation questions and proposed analysis (i.e.: if I want to study the skin quality of the shoes that I’m using I can’t analyse the cotton of my shirt).
The marks will be merged in a weighted mark.
(2) Mixed curriculum
Intermediate exercise
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be checked by 3 open-ended questions choose among three questions. Each question is 15 points worth.
b) The answers will be checked by the ability to express judgment autonomy, critical learning ability and to do cross links among different topics.
d) The ability to communicate will be checked verifying the adequacy and efficacy of language; furthermore it will be checked the tendency to clarify the meaning of the technical words and concepts used.
Final exercise
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be checked by 2 open-ended questions choose among three questions. Each question is 15 points worth.
b) The answers will be checked by the ability to express judgment autonomy, critical learning ability and to do cross links among different topics.
d) The ability to communicate will be checked verifying the adequacy and efficacy of language; furthermore it will be checked the tendency to clarify the meaning of the technical words and concepts used.
The marks will be merged in a weighted mark.
(3) Traditional curriculum
Final written exam
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be checked by 3 open-ended questions choose among five questions. Each question is 10 points worth.
b) The answers will be checked by the ability to express judgment autonomy, critical learning ability and to do cross links among different topics.
d) The ability to communicate will be checked verifying the adequacy and efficacy of language; furthermore it will be checked the tendency to clarify the meaning of the technical words and concepts used.
Other information
Eventual other readings will be communicated at the beginning of the course and published on the homepage of the teacher.
