PEACE ECONOMICS

Targets. Students will be familiar with the distinction – at the core of peace economics  - between productive and unproductive activities, and between contested and uncontested activities.  The course will supply students with an understanding of the ‘positive side’ of economics (which embraces the study of conflict, interpreted as a strategic destructive interaction between rational agents) and the ‘normative’  peace economics (the study of those economic concepts and policies intended to minimize the unproductive components within economies, thereby also reducing the risk of outbreak of actual conflicts). Gender perspective, climate change and inequalities are key issues to peace process and will be given reasonable space for an intellectual grasp of the main points. Students will also read the 1919 John Maynard Keynes’ fundamental contribution The Economic Consequences of the Peace, to be acquainted with classical textbook. As active learning process, a case study in Catania of peace process building will be presented to students to grasp the complexity of societal, urban- planning and economic decisions. Where needed, introductory economic knowledge and analytical tools will be reviewed. 

 

requenza obbligatoria in presenza, a meno di nuove disposizioni governative, dovute all'emergenza sanitaria.

Non ci sono prerequisiti richiesti.

frequenza obbligatoria in presenza, a meno di nuove disposizioni governative, dovute all'emergenza sanitaria.

PART 1. Pillars concepts in Peace Economics

PART 2. Keynes 1919 The Economic Consequences of Peace

PART 3. Basic empirical and theoretical evidence on Inequalities

PART 4. UN-World Bank Report

Caruso R. (2010), On the nature of peace economics,  Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, 16, No. 2. )

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239809814_Peace_economists_and_peace_economics)

Caruso R. (2017), Peace economics and peaceful policies, The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 )

 

Caruso R. (2015) Beyond deterrence and decline towards a general understanding of peace economics, Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, 123, No. 1)

Buhaug H., (2016), The climate change and the security threaten. Climate Change and Conflict: Taking Stock , in Peace,  Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, Vol. 22, No. 4)

 

Gizelis T.I. (2018), Systematic Study of Gender, Conflict, and Peace,  Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, 24, No. 4.

 

Keynes, J. M. (1919), The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1 ed.). London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. p. 279. Retrieved 2 June 2016 – via Internet Archive.

World Bank and United Nations (2018), Pathways for Peace Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict, The World Bank Group, Washington DC -

Piketty, T. (2017). Capital in XXI Century, Harvard University Press, Introdution & Chapter 1, 7, 10.

 

Oral questions – The following exam topics are meant to be part of a list of possible and not exhaustive oral questions.

 

1.     Productive and unproductive activities.

2.     Different interpretations of unproductive activities in Baumol’s  (1982) reading and in Bhagwati’s (1990) reading.

3.     Discuss the definition of peace economics provided by Isard (1994) and confront it with that proposed by Boulding (1978),

4.     Describe Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance and its relevance for peace economics.

5.     Definition of contested and uncontested sectors.

6.     Provide few examples of countries experiencing the resource course. (suggestion: integrate with kwoledges drawn from Pathway to Peace).

7.     Provide a short description for conflict economics, security economics and military economics and show the difference with peace economics.

8.     Provide examples of peace economists and peace economic policies.

9.     The boulding triangle.

10.  The systems of threat.

11.  The integrative system.

12.  Give a spacial representation of the World Bank, the ECB, the commercial bank wher your own current account is open in the Boulding’s triangle framework.

13.  Taking into account that peace economics is not about the absence of war, but its core is the active policies to be implemented in order to obtain peaceful societies, describe the three crucial lines for potential policymaking suggested by Caruso (2017).

14.  Is military expenditure beneficial or detrimental for economic growth? describe Caruso’s  (2015) arguments.

15.  Explain why climate change is meant to be an issue for peace economics (suggestion: integrate with examples offered in Pathway to Peace).

16.  Gender issues in peace studies and initial feminist approach.

17.  The 1325 Resolution Group and its impact.

18.  The three processes that base gender mainstreaming approach in development and peace field.

19.  Arenas of contestation: definition. Provide and discuss a historical example offered by Pathway for Peace.

20.  Basic services provision and corruption. Impact on peace.