Xoà, literatura i cinema

Aquest treball de final de carrera tracta sobre les diferents perspectives i aproximacions a l'Holocaust nazi per part de la literatura i el cinema. La Xoà, forma que els jueus utilitzen per anomenar l'Holocaust, és un dels moments més importants de la història europea. Ens agradaria veure si aquest tema tan delicat és tractat des de diferents perspectives i aproximacions en la literatura i el cinema. També voldríem esbrinar quina pel·lícula és millor per ensenyar què va ser l'Holocaust a una persona adulta, a un grup d'adolescents, a uns infants, etc. i si hi ha alguna pel·lícula o novel·la que vagi més enllà, en el sentit que tracti l'Holocaust des d'un punt de vista més simbòlic que no pas realista, d'arrel kafkiana, com en el cas de "L'incinerador de cadàvers". Per trobar aquestes diferents perspectives (més realistes i veristes o bé més simbòliques) caldrà observar diversos tipus de literatura (biogràfica, semibiogràfica i de ficció), pel·lícules (bèl·liques, drames, biogràfiques, etc.), articles... Analitzarem al mateix temps què diuen diferents autors sobre l'holocaust com un fet inenarrable. Compararem els dos o tres punts de vista (torturats, torturadors i testimonis).

Banks and development: Jewish communities in the Italian Renaissance and current economic performance

Are differences in local banking development long-lasting? Do they affect long-term economic performance?I answer these questions by relying on an historical development that occurred in Italian cities during the 15thcentury. A sudden change in the Catholic doctrine had driven the Jews toward money lending. Cities thatwere hosting Jewish communities developed complex banking institutions for two reasons: first, the Jews werethe only people in Italy who were allowed to lend for a profit and, second, the Franciscan reaction to Jewishusury led to the creation of charity lending institutions, the Monti di Pietà, that have survived until today andhave become the basis of the Italian banking system. Using Jewish demography in 1500 as an instrument, Iprovide evidence of (1) an extraordinary persistence in the level of banking development across Italian cities (2)large effects of current local banking development on per-capita income. Additional firm-level analyses suggestthat well-functioning local banks exert large effects on aggregate productivity by reallocating resources towardmore efficient firms. I exploit the expulsion of the Jews from the Spanish territories in Italy in 1541 to arguethat my results are not driven by omitted institutional, cultural and geographical characteristics. In particular,I show that, in Central Italy, the difference in current income between cities that hosted Jewish communitiesand cities that did not exists only in those regions that were not Spanish territories in the 16th century.

Philo of Alexandria's De opificio mundi (LIII-LXI): discovering the essential features of Greek and Western Misogyny in a Platonising Jewish Text

The aim of this article is to show the Western centuries-old misogynist tradition from its origins in Greece by analysing a text by the allegorical interpreter of the Bible Philo of Alexandria, his De opifico mundi, which on many occasions is read by him from a Platonic point of view. The accurate analysis of the chapters devoted to the creation of the woman by God proves to what extent it is not possible to understand this text if one does not take into account a Greek philosophical tradition which was already centuries-old.