BUS-G272 Global Business Immersion - Business Economics & Public Policy: Italy

• 8 weeks
• 3 credits
• Prerequisite(s): BUS-D270?with a grade of C or higher; accepted to application to Global Business Immersion

This eight-week 3.0 credit hour course is designed to extend the knowledge gained in D270 (Global Business Environment) and to provide an international travel experience that will involve company visits and cultural activities. The primary objective of this course is to develop critical thinking skills and international knowledge to understand the European economic environment. The course achieves this goal by focusing on Italy. While the European Union (EU) has long been the largest and most developed political experiment of economic regional integration ever, it was severely shaken by internal issues, Brexit, immigration, and the Covid-19 pandemic. These shocks have caused concerns about the integration process. Italy is the best country to understand the dynamics and the EU: it shares many issues with other EU countries, it moved from a very Europeist to an anti-EU country over the last decade, and it has long been the laboratory of the EU policies. Moreover, two Italian issues are relevant also to every country (including the US). The first is the North-South divide, the prototype of economic dualism (or more generally regional underdevelopment). The second is the presence of underground economies and illegal activities. These issues are combined with idiosyncratic Italian national traits such as firm dwarfism, social capital, industrial districts, irregular immigration, and high sovereign debt.