Summer School on Structural Change: Analyses, Experiences and Methodologies
3-16 June 2009
CONTENTS OF THE COURSE
This document is not a complete description of the contents of the summer school. Most of them are
mentioned and briefly illustrated, some of them (especially as far as the first week is concerned) are
still to be “fixed”. In any case, the nature of the course is clear: the first week will be devoted to the
theoretical aspects of non-neoclassical economics (micro and macro) and the second week to the
applied models (and associated techniques) arising from those theoretical reflections.
FIRST WEEK (3-10 june)
Prof. Gianni Vaggi, University of Pavia
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Historical and analytical antecedents of structural change
Prof. Mario Cimoli, ECLAC and University of Venice
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Properties of learning (localization/cumulativeness/opportunity)
Production space: efficiency and transformation (products/process /varieties and
diversification)
Sources of increasing returns and externalities in micro behaviours
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Firms, sect oral and technological heterogeneity
Aggregate dynamics and heterogeneity in learning paths
Non-homothetic preferences and heterogeneity in production
Learning, market selection and evolution of industrial structures
Self organization in the production and economic dynamics
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Transformation and replication of production structures
Economic dynamics: structure, transformation and growth
Out of equilibrium: efficiency and structural transformation
Sources of productivity dynamics, employment and output
Dynamics processes in growth paths: traverse and hysteresis
Prof. Amit Bhaduri, University of Pavia
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The difference between demand-and supply side economics in a closed and in an open
economy.
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The management of the economy in a global setting, and the role of finance capital .
Implications from demand and supply side.
Long run problems of growth and structural change in developed and developing countries.
Prof. Giovanni Dosi, Scuola Sant’Anna, Italy
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Schumpeter Meeting Keynes: A Policy-Friendly Model of Endogenous Growth and
Business Cycles
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The economics of choice, change and organization
Prof. Roberto Frenkel, CEDES, Buenos Aires
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A Brief History of the Financial Globalization Process
Reviews the history of financial globalization from the early seventies to the present global
crisis.
Different Trajectories of International Financial Integration
Discusses trajectories of financial integration pointing to the role of domestic policies in
determining different outcomes.
Growth and Debt Sustainability
Discusses conditions that give room to sustainable or unsustainable debt ratios.
Financial and Exchange Crises
Discusses financial and exchange crises that took place during the financial globalization
process and analyzes particularly the most recent period.
Real Exchange Rate Targeting vs. Inflation Targeting
Discusses alternative macroeconomic policies in the emerging market economies and the
role of capital controls.
Growth and Employment Effects of Real Exchange Rates
Discusses theoretical and empirical issues about the real effects of the real exchange rate.
SECOND WEEK (10-17 June)
During the classes taught by Prof. Von Armin, students will use and learn Mathematica.
During the classes taught by Prof. Missaglia, students will use and learn MPSGE
Prof. Rudiger von Armin, University of Denver
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Neoclassical and “Bastard-Keynesian Models”. The logic of the World Bank LINKAGE
model. The impact of the current housing and credit crisis on US real activity
SAM multiplier models
Post-Keynesian and structuralist models of developing countries
Prof. Marco Missaglia, University of Pavia
Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models with MPSGE (Mathematical Programming System
for General Equilibrium):
 Alternative macro closures (neoclassical, Keynesian, structuralist) in trade-focused CGE
models. Again on the World Bank and the LINKAGE model.
 Non-neoclassical formulations of the relevant functions in trade-focused CGE models.
 Basics of dynamic CGE modeling
SEVERAL MATERIALS AND REFERENCES WILL BE DISTRIBUTED DURING THE
COURSES