ECONOMIC POLICY

Chapter 1 Economic policy and conflict
Chapter 2 The normative theory of economic policy
Chapter 3 The fundamentals of the welfare economics
Chapter 4 Identifying collective goals according to the ‘new’ welfare economy
Chapter 5 Microeconomic and macroeconomic objectives
Chapter 6 Market power
Chapter 7 Antitrust policies
Chapter 8 Externalities
Chapter 9 Strategic interdependence as a cause of market failure
Chapter 10 Public goods
Chapter 11 Merit and demerit goods and information asymmetries
Chapter 12 Income distribution and social welfare
Chapter 13 The welfare state
Chapter 14 Industrial policies
Chapter 15 Regional policies
Chapter 16 Macroeconomic disequilibrium regimes
Chapter 17 Basic models for macroeconomic analysis
Chapter 18 Fiscal policy
Chapter 19 Monetary policy
Chapter 20 Inflation and anti-inflationary policies
Chapter 21 The Phillips curve and labour policies
Chapter 22 Macroeconomic policies in the presence of strategic interdependence between government and private entities
Chapter 23 The balance of payments and exchange rates
Chapter 24 The effects of macroeconomic policies in an open economy: the IS-LM-BP model
Chapter 25 Growth and development
Chapter 26 Economic policies in the European Union
Chapter 27 Economic policy in the era of globalization

Economic Policy is designed primarily as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in economic policy, and is aimed at students who have already completed introductory courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics. At the same time, it provides an accessible and scientifically grounded guide for readers beyond academia who wish to develop a deeper understanding of how public intervention shapes economic outcomes in contemporary societies. The book introduces the main concepts, methods, and issues of economic policy, taking into account the profound economic and social transformations that have reshaped the global landscape in recent decades and paying particular attention to the European institutional framework. It offers a concise yet rigorous treatment of the foundations of the discipline, highlighting distinctive features of economic policy analysis, including the role of institutions and the normative use of economic models.

Roberto Cellini (Bologna, 1965) is Professor of Economics at the Università di Catania (Italy), where he teaches and has taught various courses in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Economic Policy. He has also served as Director of the Department of Economics and Business.