Кто читает:: Департамент экономики

Статус:: Курс по выбору

Когда читается:: 1-й курс, 3 модуль

Преподаватель

Куга Яков Тойвович

Full Syllabus

Abstract

This introductory course familiarises students with major concepts of international trade and finance, and provides basic facts on the spatial distribution of economic activity in the modern world and its driving forces.

Learning Objectives

The classes are focused on analysis and discussion of recent economic events and actively use newspapers, magazines and economic blogs such as voxeu.org. This activity helps to learn how to make economic knowledge useful in daily life and form judgements on particular economic issues
Another type of activity in the classes is working with data. Students will be acquainted with major data sources on world economy such as COMTRADE database.
Writing assignment provides an opportunity to practice with the data and solve individual business-related problems. This assignment is complemented with presentation and discussion of the solutions in the class. This task is designed to train students in backing their opinion with relevant data and in combining collates theory, data and the common sense for purposes of economic analysis.
Finally, two of the classes are devoted to business games illustrating concepts of international trade such as comparative advantages and love for variety

Expected Learning Outcomes

Knowledge of major facts on the spatial distribution of economic activity in the modern world and an understanding of its driving forces
Ability to use knowledge of economic theory and relevant data in discussions simple issues related to the world economy

Course Contents

The first and second waves of globalisation
The world around 1815. Spatial distribution of economic activity. Transportation and communications of those times. Business practices in international trade and finance. Take-off of Europe. Technical progress in transportation and communications; railroads, steam ships and telegraph, Suez channel. Transportation costs and international trade. Labour migrations. Development and internationalisation of capital markets. Global economic and financial institutions of XIX and early XX centuries. The world around 1913. Economic consequences of the World War I. The Great Depression and the rise of protectionism. Slow globalisation after the World War II. The Great Recession of 2008 and its consequences for trade and finance.
Resources and their spatial distribution
Global population distribution. Population density. Factors influencing population distribution. Population growth over time and space. Overpopulation. Maltusian trap. Renewable and non-renewable resources. Green revolution and other innovations in food production. Demographic transition. Age structure of population. Migration. Natural resources and their diminishing weight in GDP. Limits of growth. Peak-oil hypothesis and its failure. Trends in energy consumption and production. Renewable sources of energy.
Ricardian theory of trade
Comparative advantages. Ricardian theory (2x2 settings). Relative demand and relative supply. Misconceptions about comparative advantages. Comparative advantages with many goods/many countries. Relative wages in the Ricardian economy. Empirical evidence on the Ricardian model.
MD-XS model
MD-XS model as a form of demand and supply model. Small and large open economies. Modelling tariff on case of small open economy. Welfare effect of tariff. Modelling tariff in case of large open economy. Terms of trade and tariff. Welfare effect of tariff in case of large open economy. Effective rate of protection.
New economic geography approach to trade
Economy of scale vs love for variety. Monopolistic competition. Introduction to the Krugman model. Effect of increased market size. Effect of market integration. Intraindustry trade. Grubel-Lloyd index. Exporters’ premia. Introduction to the Melitz model. Gaining, losing and exiting firms in case of international trade opening. Trade costs and decision to export. Selection effect. Evidence on Krugman and Melitz type gains from trade.
Transportations and communication
Transportation modes. Transportation infrastructure. Transport costs. Transport costs vs border-crossing costs. Communication costs and business practices.
Foreign direct investments
Multinational enterprises. Forms of foreign investments: debt vs equity. Foreign direct investments. Greenfield and brownfield FDI. Investments and divestments. Sources and destinations of FDI. Horizontal and vertical FDI. Reasons for FDI. FDI vs outsourcing. Barriers to international trade and investments. Offshoring. Value chains.
Student presentations
Group presentations of students’ projects and discussion.

Assessment Elements

Participation in class
Interim exam
Final exam

Interim Assessment

Interim assessment (3 module)
0.2 * Final exam + 0.5 * Interim exam + 0.3 * Participation in class

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Giancarlo Gandolfo. (2014). International Trade Theory and Policy. Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.spr.sptbec.978.3.642.37314.5

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Redding, S. J., & Turner, M. A. (2015). Transportation Costs and the Spatial Organization of Economic Activity. Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, 1339. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.h.eee.regchp.5.1339
Rogoff, K. S., Helpman, E., & Gopinath, G. (2014). Handbook of International Economics. Oxford, England: North Holland. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=576373
Rua, G. (2014). Diffusion of Containerization. Finance and Economics Discussion Series. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.fip.fedgfe.2014.88

Бакалаврская программа «Экономика»

Контакты

World Economy and Introductory International Economics

Автор программы