Management Engineering

This course covers theory and empirical evidence on the role of the government in a market economy and develops along the following main topics: 1) The economic role of State in the economy 2) Reasons and scope of public intervention: (i) production of public goods (ii) market failures 3) The characteristics of public organizations 4) Introduction to organizational economics and an overview of policies for competition 5) Italian public finance in the European context: national budget and some historical trends 6) The balance between fiscal decentralization and upward federalism: the role of the European Union 7) Spending for the welfare state: a focus on the Italian pension system 8) Case study: transportation economics

Formal prerequisite knowledge: none. Recommended previous knowledge: the course in based on prior knowledge in microeconomics and macroeconomics at an intermediate level. It is preferable that students have attended Industrial Organization course.

The course is based on lecture notes provided by the instructor. Reference books: P. Bosi, Corso di scienza delle finanze (IX ed.), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023, chapters: 1-2-6-7-8. G. Brosio, Introduzione all’economia dell’organizzazione, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1995, chapters: 1-2-4

Attending classes regularly is useful and recommended, but not mandatory. Keep up with the course material and lectures, and actively participate during the lecture.

The evaluation and marking of the students will be based on: a) oral examination on the topics covered in the course; b) a presentation based on issues agreed upon during the course and a public debate among students. The student should know fundamental concepts and basic models of public economics, as well as major actual policies and examples of issues currently on the political agenda.

Smith, A. (1776). The wealth of nations. Stiglitz, J. E. (1989). The economic role of the state. Wiley-Blackwell. De Grauwe, Paul. Economics of the monetary union. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. Bartlett W., Le Grand J., (a cura di), (1993), Quasi-Markets and Social Policy, The MacMillan Press, London. Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2003). Libertarian paternalism. American economic review, 93(2), 175-179. Agasisti,T., & Catalano, G.(2006). Governance models of università systems – towards quasi- markets? Tendencies and perspectives: a European comparison. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 28, n. 3, pp. 261-278. Catalano G., & Erbacci A. (2018). A theoretical framework for spending review policies at a time of widespread recession. OECD Journal on Budgeting, vol. 2017/2, pp. 9-24.

After presenting the main topics of the course (theoretical models and applications), students are expected to participate in preparing group presentations on the main areas of public intervention.