Each morning will be devoted to one or more aspects of the general topic of the Summer School. The seminars will be based on presentation of a paper followed by discussion among the participants. The topic for 2011 is:

Economic crises and crisis in economics: history, theory and policy

We are currently living in a period of extremely troubled waters.The great recession that began in 2008 is not just a mere episode of the housing bubble that burst in the United States. As always happens with serious economic recessions, the current crisis is not just the one that is revealed through the great turbulence felt in the economic and financial markets, the higher levels of unemployment, the loss of purchasing power, the disturbance in public finance systems and the bankruptcy and closure of firms in all sectors of economic activity on a global scale. Besides the social and political consequences that it inevitably brings, the crisis is also one of economics as a science that should hopefully contribute towards a better understanding and solution of the problems that beset the contemporary world.
There seems to be no doubt that relentless economic crises call for appropriate analytical interpretations and sustainable policy measures. But what shows us that the present situation is indeed quite serious is the belief that, after all, economics is not able to diagnose and find the best solutions for the problems that currently afflict the worldwide economies. It is this twofold dimension of the crisis affecting the economy and economics as a science that will be the main focus of attention of this Summer School. What can we learn from the history of economic crises in order to understand the (ir)relevance of both economic analysis and economic policy? How can the present economic crises help us to understand the importance of the history of economics as a discipline today?
The Summer School will invite economists, economic historians, historians of economics and scholars from other social sciences to discuss the above questions, in the multidisciplinary approach which is tradition of the School. Special attention will be given to the following themes:

1. Fluctuations and business cycle theories in the history of nineteenth-century economic thought
2. Fluctuations and business cycle theories in the history of twentieth-century economic thought
3. Lessons from the Great Depression: theoretical approaches
4. Lessons from the Great Depression: policy responses
5. Economic crises: budget deficits and fiscal policies
6. Financial crisis: challenges to the reform of banking and monetary systems
7. New theoretical responses: from institutional to behavioural economics
8. Economics and social sciences: interdisciplinary approaches to global crises.

These wide-ranging topics are merely indicative. Invited lecturers are expected to cover specific subjects that may fit in this outline of general themes.