Course Description:
Explore Rome and rural Italy, a region where human beings have altered the environment for thousands of years and had to adjust to nature's volcanic and earthquake surprises. The ancient still lives side-by-side with the modern in Italy, so it serves as a living laboratory of economic and environmental change.
This class will learn about economic opportunities and constraints in Rome and Italy as people changed from human drawn carts to automobiles, from watch-towers to wireless phones, from city states to a nation state. It will study the historical and modern efforts of Italy to solve important economic and environmental issues such as traffic congestion, air pollution, water pollution, national park development, and antiquities preservation.
Students will visit grape and olive farms committed to sustainable development and organic production and learn the economics of modern "slow food" movement. Students will also have the opportunity to provide voluntary service repairing ancient terrace walls in Cinque Terre National Park.
Course Objectives:
• To investigate the economic reasons for the choices made by Greeks, Romans, and medieval Italians as they responded to scarcity and environmental change.
• To learn to practice "Economic Naturalism" while in Italy.
• To gain an appreciation of the role economics played in the development of Italian art and culture.
• To assess the role of markets in antiquity and medieval Italy.
• To appreciate the changing role of institutions in supporting market exchange in Italy.
Course Credit:
ECON 315: Investigating Environmental and Economic Change in Italy , Department credit or GUR.
Prerequisites:
Sophomore standing.
Program Fee:
$4,795. Includes airfare, lodging, program related transportation, entrance fees. Does not include meals.
Application Deadline:
April 18, 2008. A non-refundable deposit of $50.00 is required with the application. A $250.00 non-refundable program payment to confirm participation in the course is due within 10 days of notification of acceptance. Maximum of 22 students.
Faculty Leader:
Dr. Mark Reiman, Associate Professor of Economics
253-535-8875 or reimanma@plu.edu