Bio
Michael G. Plummer is Eni Professor of International Economics at SAIS Europe
Michael Plummer is the Eni Professor of International Economics and Professor of International Economics since 2001. He was Director of SAIS Europe from 2014 to 2023. Professor Plummer was Head of the Development Division of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris from 2010 to 2012; an associate professor at Brandeis University (1992-2001); and Fellow at the East-West Center (1988-1992). From 2007 to 2015 he was Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Asian Economics (Elsevier) and president of the American Committee on Asian Economic Studies (ACAES) from 2008 to 2015. A former Fulbright Chair in Economics and Pew Fellow in International Affairs at Harvard University, he has been an Asian Development Bank (ADB) distinguished lecturer on several occasions and team leader of projects for various organizations including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United Nations, the OECD, the ADB, the World Bank, the IMF, and the World Trade Organization. He has taught at more than a dozen universities in Asia, Europe, and North America. Professor Plummer has advised several governments on the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and ASEAN governments of economic integration issues and was a member of the Trade Policy Modelling Review Expert Panel of the UK government (2020-2022). He is a member of the editorial boards of the
Asian Economic Journal, the
Journal of Southeast Asian Economics (formerly
ASEAN Economic Bulletin); and the
Global Economic Journal. Professor Plummer is author/co-author of over 100 journal articles and book chapters and co-author/editor of 28 books. His PhD is in economics from Michigan State University. For a recent curriculum vitae including a full list of publications,
see his personal webpage
Courses
- 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]