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Spring 2008 International Economics and Business Course Offerings
The George Washington University has a wealth of courses directly related to international economic policy at the master's level offered each semester in the following fields:
International Business
Economics Special Topics
Economics
International Affairs
Below is a list of courses that will be offered in the Spring 2008 semester that are relevant to Elliott School graduate students interested in international economics and business, along with recent syllabi or course descriptions.
International Business Courses
International Business courses that apply to the ITIP Major fields can be found here. For the Spring 2008 Semester these include IBUS 263; IBUS 267; IBUS 273; IBUS 274; IBUS 277; and IBUS 278.
Economics Special Topics Courses
Econ 295 Financial Issues in Emerging Markets (Prerequisites Econ 284 or Econ 218)
Emerging market countries such as India, China, Russia and Brazil are expected to be major sources of global economic growth in the coming decades. This seminar focuses on critical financial policy issues that will challenge the governments in the most important emerging market countries and have a major impact on their relative performance. These issues will also affect economic and political relations with the United States and other industrialized countries, with internationally active businesses, and with NGOs concerned with global challenges such as poverty, terrorism, post-conflict reconstruction, loss of biodiversity, and global warming.
The seminar adopts the perspective of finance ministers in the leading emerging market countries as they make choices in five areas of 'internal' policy and six areas of 'external' policy. The internal areas are the role of the central bank, the budget, privatization, banking sector reform, and capital market development. The external areas are the exchange rate regime and capital account liberalization, private equity flows, private debt flows, multilateral official financing, bilateral official financing, and debt restructuring. In each area the seminar will examine the factors that push countries to adopt policies that deviate from the 'ideal' policies indicated by theory and precedent.
The core concept in the seminar is the "country risk premium," measured by the difference in the market yield between a country's sovereign bonds and equivalent-maturity U.S. Treasury bonds. Students are expected to develop a sophisticated understanding of why this premium is important, how financial policy choices affect the premium, and what external factors affect the premium.
Sample syllabus (Spring 2007, Rieffel)
Econ 295 Policy Responses to Macroeconomic Crises (Prerequisites Econ 284 or Econ 218)
This course will provide a practical, quantitative exercise in identifying potential macroeconomic weaknesses/crises and in designing short-run policy responses to them. Each student will select a developing, emerging-market, or transition economy and a time period, calculate indicators to be used in assessing macroeconomic balance, and recommend a set of policy measures to move the economy toward a desirable outcome. Students will write papers describing their results. Sample syllabus (Spring 2008, Hemphill)
Econ 295 Economics of U.S. Trade Policy (Prerequisite Econ 283)
Topics will include the patterns and explanations for US trade flows, the effect of trade on the American economy, critical trade policy institutions, and the trade policy choices facing the Bush administration. Particular attention will be paid to how economic analysis can help inform the debates surrounding trade policies. Another critical aspect of the course will be to improve students' writing as well as their use of simple spreadsheet and presentation programs.
The course will begin by reviewing arguments about US trade policy history and then move onto
an analysis of current US trading relationships as well as the economic effects of trade intervention on the US economy. We will also discuss some of the economic tools commonly used to analyze trade. We then turn to a discussion about the legal and bureaucratic institutions that are so important to the conduct of US trade policy. The final section of the course will consider some of the current multilateral and bilateral trade challenges facing the US. Sample syllabus (Fall 2007, Moore)
Econ 295 Economics of the Middle East
The purpose of this course is to examine the economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). By the end of this course students should, at a minimum, be familiar with the patterns of economic development and the evolution of economic institutions in the Middle East and the North Africa region, in the post WWII period. More importantly, this course will familiarize students with tools and procedures of country analysis and regional analysis and apply these tools to understanding the current economic development of these countries, how they got where they are, the current economic issues they face, and the policies they are using to address these issues.
The MENA is a large, complex and diverse region which faces a wide range of economic issues. Our focus will be on the economic development, current economic policies and the future economic prospects of the following countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. Discussion of the economic development of the disputed territories of the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza strip will not be discussed given the instability of the area, lack of reliable data and lack of unbiased economic reporting and analysis.
The course will examines the following economic realities of the region and compare them across the MENA economies (in varying degrees of depth): technology gap and comparative development; the value of education and human capital development; water and food security; the economics and politics of oil; population growth, role of gender and labor mobility; the role of the state as economic actor; the economic value of democracy; the prospects for regional integration; and economic impact of terrorism. Sample Syllabus (Spring 2008, Pelzman)
Econ 295 Law and Economics (Pelzman) (Prerequisites Econ 280 or Econ 283)
Econ 295 China's Integration into the World Economy
This course will cover China's remarkable recent economic growth and the opportunities and challenges it has posed for the rest of the world. Topics will include China's export boom, entry into the World Trade Organization, and role in a system of distributed production; China's foreign exchange policy, capital controls, and global macroeconomic imbalances; China's demand for natural resources and quest for energy security; and China's policies toward investment and assistance in the developing world.
Sample Syllabus (Levy, forthcoming)
Economics Courses
Econ 221 Economics for Applied Public Policy This course is designed to develop your ability to use economic concepts to analyze and evaluate the effects of public policy. This course will review and further develop concepts covered in Econ 217 (Microeconomics). This course will build two distinct skill sets: (1) skill in using the standard economic tools to derive precise answers to clearly defined problems; (2) skill in applying economic reasoning to illuminate poorly defined or complex policy problems, including an understanding of alternatives to the standard economic approach.
Sample Syllabus Brock (Spring 2007, Brock) (Fall 2001, Cordes)
Econ 222 Cost Benefit Analysis
This course seeks to link economic theory with policy analysis, using the tool commonly referred to as "cost-benefit analysis" (CBA). CBA attempts to measure and compare the economic efficiency of policy options. This type of analysis has become standard practice in policy analysis - particularly in microeconomic policy areas such as the provision of public goods, government regulation and taxation. The goal of the course is to provide you with the conceptual foundations and practical skills you will need to be thoughtful consumers and producers of CBA. At the conclusion of the semester you will not only take away how to conduct a CBA, but you will also understand its limitations. You will come away with a deeper understanding of how economics can inform policy; how one might begin to measure the many and varied effects of our laws, regulations and government programs; and ultimately how to evaluate and compare alternative policies
Sample syllabus (Spring 2007, Cellini)
Econ 250 Survey of Economic Development
An introduction to economic problems faced by less developed countries. Emphasis placed on applications to policy-making and evaluation. This course provides students with a survey of major theoretical and empirical economic analyses that seek to explain and to devise policies to support economic development in less developed countries, with a particular focus on understanding and alleviating extreme poverty. Students will learn to "think like an economist" about problems and solutions of poverty and economic
development, and to make use of some of the key modeling frameworks of development economics, so as to be able to apply these ideas as development professionals. Sample syllabus (Fall 2007, Smith)
Econ 269 Economy of China: Analysis of organization, operation, policies, and problems.
This course is designed to give the student an overview of the problems and opportunities that face the contemporary Chinese economy. Emphasis will be on the last steps China needs to take in its long transition from a socialist to a market-led economy. Issues in the transition will be discussed, the geography and national characteristics of China will be touchen on, and the future outlook addressed. The student will learn how to use basic microeconomics and macroeconomics techniques to analyze China's goods, labor and capital markets. China's experience will serve as a platform from which to better understand economic growth theory, financial market issues, and international trade and investment issues. Implications of China's emergence as a market economy for the East Asian Region and the United States will be addressed. Sample syllabus (Fall 2007, Brown)
Econ 283 Survey of International Trade Theory and Policy
This course is an introduction to international trade theory and policy. The aim of the course is to provide students with the theoretical background in economics that will allow them to analyze current trade policy questions. Material covered includes economic theory but also institutions and legal frameworks that govern the current international trading system. For example, students will understand both the economic impact of free trade agreements but also current US approaches to these agreements and the WTO rules that influence how they are negotiated. For graduate students in fields other than economics. Survey of international economics and policy; application of comparative advantage and other arguments for trade; impact of trade on a domestic economy; new arguments for protectionism; regional trading blocs.
Sample syllabus (Fall 2007, Moore) (Spring 2007, Suranovic)
Econ 284 Survey of International Macroeconomics and Finance Theory and Policy
For graduate students in fields other than economics. The program of this course emphasizes macroeconomic issues and policies in an open-economy setting. It begins with the analysis of national income accounts and the balance of payments. It continues with the analysis of flexible exchange rate regimes and the effects of fiscal and monetary policies on the exchange rate and economic activity. Afterwards, it examines fixed exchange rate regimes. It concludes with a variety of topics in international finance, such as currency crises, international capital flow volatility, and the history of the international monetary system.
Sample syllabus (Fall 2007, Kaminsky) (Spring 2007, Cipriani)
International Affairs Courses
IAFF 202 Analyzing International Trade Data
This short course will develop student's skills in conducting economic data analysis applicable to academic pursuits and professional demands. The curriculum will cover overarching trends in economic growth, global commerce, trade and investment over the past 35 years to provide a context for more narrowly focused topical research. The curriculum is designed to provide hands on experience using internet sources of economic data, online software to specify data queries, and covers how to download and manipulate electronic data. The course will expose students to sources, terminology, and definitions unique to analyzing international economic data.
Sample Syllabus (Spring 2008)
IAFF 233 Assessing Aid Effectiveness (Morrow)
This course will review the long-standing debate about the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Has ODA contributed to economic growth and poverty reduction? Has development assistance promoted or undermined better governance? What impacts, if any, has aid had on specific developmental objectives such as better health or post-conflict reconstruction? This course will survey the economic, political, and institutional impacts of ODA - considering the theory of development assistance, reviewing evidence about its track record, examining recent proposals to improve aid impacts, and debating future prospects. Particular attention will be given to the methods used to assess the effectiveness of development assistance. The course will be conducted as a seminar requiring advance reading of the assigned materials and active class participation.
Last updated: Monday, 23 June 2008