Department of Economics

Course: POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EMPLOYMENT AND MONEY

Code: PEC102

Semester: B

Instructors: M. Kountouris, T. Maniatis

This course deals first with the macroeconomic analysis of a capitalist economy and especially with the determination of national income in a closed and in an open economy. The importance of public spending in pursuing high employment rates is emphasized, and the inherent problems in achieving full employment of labor in an advanced capitalist economy characterized by conflicting class interests are discussed. Those include “profit squeeze” at high employment levels, conflicts between fiscal and monetary policy, open economy effects and certain institutional factors which might offset the stimulating effects of expansionary fiscal policy. The second part of the course examines alternative approaches to International Political Economy, the structure of the International Monetary System and the current public debt crisis.

Textbooks:

Bowles, S. and Edwards, R. Understanding Capitalism, 2^nd ed. Gutenberg,Athens.

Cohn, T. International Political Economy. Θεωρία και Πράξη, Gutenberg