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Trade and Finance in the Global Economy

Vak
2011-2012

Admission requirements

This course builds on the course: Principle of Economics.

Description

Countries are increasingly eliminating their trade barriers and international trade now truly spans the globe. Products and services come from everywhere and go everywhere. This, as well as the liberalization of large financial flows, makes countries very dependent on what happens in the international economy. At the end of this course, students will have an understanding of both the basic principles of international trade and finance as well as the recent developments in trade and finance. These will include, among other things, regional and global integration, the consequences of international financial crises on the development of economies, the interaction of economic policies in individual countries and the impact of international institutions, such as the WTO and the IMF, on the processes of globalization. Students will be able to understand, apply and discuss fundamental economic arguments on international economic issues.

Course objectives

In this course, the student will gain a thorough acquaintance with the principles of international economics. He will understand the benefits and costs of international trade and finance, as well as the recent developments in trade and finance. At the end of this course, the student:

  • understands the important current issues in the field of International Economics

  • has a command of the core elements in this field of expertise;

  • is able to collect, interpret and process information in the field of International Economics

Timetable

Please see the LUC website: www.lucthehague.nl

Mode of instruction

Each week consists of two seminars:
During the first seminar, the main issues in the required reading will be identified and discussed. Based on an interactive setting, the focus will be on understanding the concepts and theories in international economics.
In the second seminar, students will apply their knowledge. Each week the homework consists of preparing study problems. In class the students will discuss the solutions for the problems. Applying the concepts and theories, and explaining this to each other increases the knowledge and understanding of economics.

Assessment method

The assessment of this course is based on three elements:

a. Unweighted averages of scores on seven weekly exercises, c.q. written assignments (40%)
b. Unweighted average of scores on class participation (20 %)
c. Unweighted average on scores on two essays (1500 words each) (40 %)

a. Prepare 20-25 multiple choice questions (15-20 correct answers is a pass)
b. Students are on a weekly basis expected to prepare the reading material and the study questions. Based on these preparation, students are able and expected to participate in class, i.e. to discuss the concepts, theories and the solutions for the study problems. Lecturers will grade class participants each seminar.
c. In week 4 and week 7 (Thursday) students will have to write an essay that captures the topics of the previous weeks. The guideline for this essay will be a question posed by the lecturer.

Blackboard

This course is supported by a BlackBoard site

Reading list

Thomas A. Pugel, International Economics, 14th Edition, McGrawHill, 2009
Additional material made available through Blackboard

Registration

This course is only open for LUC The Hague students.

Contact information

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Weekly Overview

1: The Balance of Payments.
2: The Benefits of International Trade.
3: Trade Policies.
4: International and Global Trade Institutions
5: Foreign Exchange.
6: Open Macro-economic Policies.
7: International Financial Architecture and Financial Crises.

Preparation for first session

1a. (Tue) Textbook: chapters 1, 2 and 16 Textbook from principles (course on principles in economics), Ch 16, pp. 386-394