COURSES IN ECONOMICS
(acad. coord. prof. M. Bigelli)
prof.:
Marco Bigelli
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
Financial sectors in EU accession countries are entering a new era. Over a decade of transition in central and eastern Europe, the banking sectors have been restructured, recapitalised and privatised, and capital markets have been established.
The aim of the course is to describe the major characteristics of Eastern Europe Financial Markets and how they will be affected by the EU enlargement eastwards. In order to describe the actual structure of financial markets and corporate governance, we will briefly examine some form of privatisations which took place in EEU countries and the major strengths and shortcomes of the different corporate governance models which have been adopted.
Course Description
Financial sectors in EU accession countries are entering a new era. Over a decade of transition in central and eastern Europe, the banking sectors have been restructured, recapitalised and privatised, and capital markets have been established. The aim of the course is to describe the major characteristics of Eastern Europe Financial Markets and how they will be affected by the EU enlargement eastwards. In order to describe the actual structure of financial markets and corporate governance, we will briefly examine some form of privatisations which took place in EEU countries and the major strengths and shortcomes of the different corporate governance models which have been adopted.
prof.:
Karolin Kadas
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
This is a comparative study of the Central European countries' economic transition throughout the 1990's, leading up to EU entry. In this course we will examine the basic features of the pre-1989 Soviet-type command economy, focusing on the origins of economic decline in the 1980s. We will then look at individual countries' economic strategies and policy choices in introducing market economies during the 1990s. Crucial areas of transformation will include macroeconomic stabilization, microeconomic adjustment, privatization, cooperation with international capital, and price, trade and financial liberalization. We will focus on identifying common and diverse roots of development, and the basic motives of economic policy options and their consequences. Finally we will look at preparations for entry into the European Union, as well as joining the Euro zone, and the effects of these political choices on economic policy. The process of economic reform in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia will be contrasted with that in the south-east European economies.
We will look in detail at indicators such as foreign direct investment (FDI) - why did Hungary receive so much more FDI early on than, let's say, Romania? Then why has FDI surged ahead in Romania more recently? Determining factors such as market size, the business operating environment, including transparent Western-style business laws, an effective judicial system, and flexibility in dealing with western investors at the highest political levels, are among the factors to be examined in the course.
prof.:
Stanislav Tkachenko
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
Description.
This course examines the politics of international economic relations from theoretical and policy perspectives. After studying alternative approaches to the field of Politics of the World Economy, the course explores the history of economic relations among countries in Twentieth century. It then covers areas of production, trade and finance, the major players in the postwar economy, both countries and corporations. The erosion of the postwar economic order is examined and suggestions are made about what to do to manage the fast-changing world economy to produce long-term growth and equity. How do we explain cooperation across national borders? Specific cases for analysis will include relations between rich and poor nations, regional integration, and the environment.
Course Requirements.
Students will be evaluated on the basis of:
1) Daily preparation and class discussion. Although principally a lecture course, students are expected to be prepare to discuss the readings analytically.
2) A three-page briefing paper for a Minister of Regional Policy of Russia or the President of the European Commission on a problem of impact of processes in the world economy on the economic and regional policy of Russia.
3) A 5 pagers research paper on analysis of a sector of Russian economy or socio-economic situation in one of seven Russian 'federal districts'. Outcomes of the research paper should be orally presented on the final lecture of the course.
4) A final examination. It will be written exam, where students have one hour to answer two questions, based on material of the course.
Organization. This class combines lectures and discussions, based on reading of literature, proposed by the lecturer. Lectures and discussions in a seminar style are interrelated. The lectures and readings cover some basic points, but lectures usually are not directly on the readings, The discussions focus specifically on the readings. The midterm briefing paper draw on the lectures, the readings, and discussions.
prof.:
Hartmut Lehmann
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
In these lectures, we try to give a review of some of the pertinent issues of central planning and the economics of transition with both an emphasis on theoretical work and on empirical evidence. First we will cover some basic features of the Classical Planning System (CPS) in the Soviet Union and the reasons for its inability to survive as a viable economic system even in its reformed version. We then turn to the following important topics in transition economics: sequencing of reforms; privatization, restructuring and corporate governance; macro stabilization; the political economy of transition; and the different labor market adjustment in Central Europe vs. the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
prof.:
David Bailey
, Lisa de Propris
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
prof.:
Joze Mencinger
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
The course will consider the principle economic problems of the seven transition countries in South Eastern Europe (SEE) - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro. The following groups of issues will be considered in a comparative framework:
1. Specific features of the transition to a market economy in South Eastern Europe (starting conditions in 1989, legacy of self-management and central planning, other systemic features, relations with the EU, level of integration with other countries in the region).
2. Macroeconomic performance since 1989 (growth rates, inflation, public and external accounts, level of development, poverty and inequality, internal constraints on growth, aid dependency).
3. Results achieved in structural and institutional reforms (small and large scale privatisation, restructuring and corporate governance, trade and price liberalisation, competition policy, banking reforms, securities markets, legal reforms, infrastructure).
4.EU policies towards the SEE region during the 1990s.
5.Post-1999 change in policies: Stabilisation and Association Process, Stability Pact for SEE, CARDS financial assistance.
5.Regional cooperation in SEE (outcome of various initiatives, present level of trade integration, remaining problems).
6.Differentiated results of the SAP; constraints and prospects of future EU membership.
prof.:
Andrea F.Saba
class hours:
20
ECTS:
4
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the economic development of Eastern Europe has been, and still is for some countries of the area, under the threat of a dangerous stake, although the transition to a market system has allowed some of them to achieve the integration with the West, through the adhesion to the EU (or the Nato, too). Starting from the classical model of the Russian case, the present course aims to analize the main specific features of the passage from a medieval to a capitalistic industry structure, or a modernized society, in Eastern Europe. In a time span relatively shorter than the West, East Europeans had to deal with the creation, on one side, of industrial agriculture, transportation systems (both routes and railroads), industrial production districts and internal markets, and, on the other side, with entire new classes of entrepreneurs and workers. This effort could be primarily done by the State strong intervention in the economic sector all along 19th and 20th centuries, within either capitalistic or socialist political framework. In comparison to the very start, in the 1960s throughout the -80s, Eastern Europe was therefore able to achieve outstanding goals and, with respect to Western societies, with a satisfactory degree of modernization, not only in some technological sectors, tied to the armaments industry, but also from the point of view of people wealth. However, the catching up of the Western unilinear growth model may have induced a misjudgement - of political nature - by East Europeans on the improvements of their not worthless economic conditions, already determined by the historical path.
Following are the course's main subjects:
· Demographic growth in Balkans' area and Eastern Europe in the 19th century.
· Structures and institutions of the Balkans' agriculture. The feudal regime and the transition to the contemporary age. Peasants, serfs, and industrial entrepreneurship in Serbia and in Ottoman Europe from the 19th century to the I World War.
· Economic patterns of the dualistic State structure of Austro-Hungary after 1867, and its productive sectors, till the I World War. The question of nationalities. The rise of Hungarian agriculture and the problems for the creation of an import-substituting industry.
· Structures and institutions of the Russian agriculture. Peasants, serfs and entrepreneurs of the old regime. Comparative views on serfdom and its gradual abolition in Austria-Hungary.
· The role of foreign entrepreneurs and technicians of the tsarist State in the modernization of the Russian empire. Railways and the development of industry; banking and foreign investments in Eastern Europe and Russia. Industrial settlements and production specialization.
· Economic development and incidental organizational path in the VSNKh bolshevist centralized command structure. War communism, industry nationalisation, agrarian requisitions and Lenin's five kinds of economic relationships. The long-term importance of trests and the quest for efficiency. NEP, its crisis and the passage to a planned economy.
· Agrarian reforms, public debts and institutional economic reconstruction in post-I World War East European and Balkan countries. 1930s' world economic crisis and the progressive German control over East European and Balkan countries.
· The post-WWII transition from market to command economy. Completion of land reforms, nationalisation of industry, and planning: differences and similarities among different East European and Balkan state interventions. Cases of continuity and rupture, and specific features to some Eastern European countries: Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia.
· Eastern Europe and Soviet Union results within planned economies.
· The disgregation of the communist system and transition, from command back to market economies.
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