Management of technologies, innovation and sustainability

Program: Overview of long-term economic development and the role of technology. Malthusian economics: mechanisms and technological change. The first industrial revolution. The second industrial revolution. Business forms in the first industrial revolution and second industrial revolution: from the factory to big business. The third industrial revolution. Business forms in the third industrial revolution: the new economy business model. The macroeconomic effects of the three industrial revolutions. Resistance to technological change. The Italian patent system. Laboratory of History of Innovation.

Knowledge of basic historical events and knowledge of the principles of economics

Nuvolari, A. (2019). Understanding successive industrial revolutions: A “development block” approach. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 32, 33-44. Mokyr, J. (1998). The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914. WP Northwestern University Mokyr, J. (1998). The political economy of technological change. Technological revolutions in Europe, 39-64. Clark, A farewell to Alms, Princeton University Press, (pp. 15-39; pp. 153-179) Allen, R. C. (2012). Technology and the great divergence: Global economic development since 1820. Explorations in Economic History, 49(1), 116. Allen, R. C. (2009). Why was the Industrial revolution British?, in Allen R.C. (ed), The british Industrial Revolution in a global perspective, pp. 135-51. Crafts, Nicholas FR. "Exogenous or endogenous growth? The industrial revolution reconsidered." The Journal of Economic History 55, no. 4 (1995): 745-772. Amatori F. e Colli A., Storia d'impresa: complessità e comparazioni, Bruno Mondadori, 2011 (capitoli 7, 8 e 9) Crafts, Nicholas (2010). The contribution of new technology to economic growth: lessons from economic history. Working Paper. Coventry: Department of Economics, University of Warwick. (CAGE Online Working Paper Series, Vol.2010). Lazonick, W. (2009). The new economy business model and the crisis of US capitalism. Capitalism and society, 4(2). MacLeod, C., & Nuvolari, A. (2016). Inventive activities, patents and early industrialisation: a synthesis of research issues. Rivista di storia economica, 32(1), 77-108. Moser, P. (2016). Patents and innovation in economic history. Annual Review of Economics, 8(1), 241-258. Nuvolari, A., & Vasta, M. (2015). The ghost in the attic? The Italian national innovation system in historical perspective, 1861-2011. Enterprise & society, 16(2), 270-290. Diebolt, C., & Pellier, K. (2020). Patents in the Long Run: Theory, History, and Statistics. History & Mathematics, 8, 80-119. Khan, B. Z., & Sokoloff, K. L. (2004). Institutions and democratic invention in 19th-century America: evidence from “great inventors,” 1790–1930. American Economic Review, 94(2), 395-401.

Lectures in class and seminars

Attendance is not mandatory but strongly recommended. The frequency is a pre-requisite for accessing the History of Innovation Laboratory

The profit assessment is structured as follows: A) Non-attending students: Final written test consisting of 24 multiple choice questions and 1 open essay. If the evaluation of the written test is less than 26/30, the student can refuse the grade or register the obtained grade. If the evaluation of the written test is equal to or greater than 26/30, the student can refuse the grade or register the evaluation of 26/30 or access the evaluation in oral form. B) Attending students: 1) Laboratory of History of innovation which accounts for 1/3 of the assessment. 2) Written final test consisting of 24 multiple choice questions and 1 open-ended question which accounts for 2/3 of the assessment. The final evaluation will therefore be: 1/3*Voto1+2/3*Voto2 The Laboratory of History of innovation consists in developing an academic paper which has as its object the patent activity in a temporal and spatial perspective. The data typically to be used, which will be indicated in class, concern patents, company data or macroeconomic data. The Laboratory is divided into seminar meetings in which students will be introduced to IT tools (eg Excel, QGIS) to data collection, their management and economic interpretation. Content and evaluation method of the written test: 24 multiple choice questions. 1 point is awarded for each correct question; for each incorrect answer 0.25 is subtracted; no score is assigned for each answer not given. An open-ended question that awards a maximum of 7 points. Content and evaluation method of the oral exam: interview on the topics of the course program Content and evaluation method of the Laboratory: evaluation of a group essay. The evaluation parameters concern the ability to manage quantitative data, their processing and the clarity in the presentation of the results. The internal consistency of the report will also be evaluated.

Lectures in class and seminars