- Essentials of International Economics I
This course studies key concepts in the areas of Microeconomics and Trade relevant for understanding issues in international affairs. Micro concepts include scarcity, efficiency, supply and demand, costs and benefits, incentives, market structure, market failures, and risk. Trade concepts include absolute and comparative advantage, gains from trade, the pattern of international trade, commercial policy, trade arrangements and trade systems. The course is more conceptual in nature and requires only basic math skills. Students taking the Essential Economics core will not be eligible to take most economic elective classes.
Prerequisites: Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.100.303[C]
- International Economics I
This course provides an introduction to the study of international trade. The first part of the course will focus on theoretical frameworks designed to understand the drivers and implications of international trade and review empirical applications of these models. The second part of the course will cover distributional consequences of trade policy instruments, arguments for trade protection, and the organization of the world trade system. Advanced topics in microeconomics, not covered in most Principles of Microeconomics courses, will be introduced.
Students may not register for this course if they have not previously taken a Principles in Microeconomics course (an entry requirement for MAIR students)
Prerequisites: Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.100.301[C]
- Microeconomic Risk and International Trade
The goals of this course are two-fold. First, it provides a basic understanding of the theory of price determination and markets and underlying microeconomic concepts necessary for economic policy and welfare analysis at the national level. Second, it applies these microeconomic tools in the context of international trade and trade policy, including the economic underpinnings of globalization, implications for economic agents, effects of protectionism and industrial policy, and the economics of regional cooperation. It also reviews multilateral and regional institutions that govern modern trade and considers their future in the post-Covid era.
- Asian Economic Development
This course gives a survey of the Asian economic development experience over the past half-century, with a focus on its international dimensions. In addition to evaluating the source of the remarkable growth and development of the region, the course considers the many challenges that the region has and will continue to face, from the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98 to the backlash against international trade and climate change. It also looks at conflict and cooperation in the region in the 21st century.
