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Course Homepage for International Economics, Autumn 2003

University of Copenhagen

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Important Announcements
 

Time and Place:
Time: 4 hour lectures a week. Tuesdays from 10 to 12 and Thursdays from 14 to 16. The first lecture will take place on Tuesday 2 September, 10 a.m.

Place: RO9, Rosenborgannekset, Rosenborggade 15-17

Purpose and Contents
The purpose of the course is to introduce the student to theories, policies and empirical evidence relevant for the study of international economics. The course will focus on two overall areas within the study of economic interactions between nations: international trade and open economy macroeconomics. The trade part first introduces traditional (classical) trade models, which explain trade from the basic notion of international differences and comparative advantage. Classical trade models are characterized by constant returns to scale in production and perfect competition. Secondly, new trade theory models re introduced. These models show how trade allows nations to take advantage of economies of scale in production, and are thus based on the assumption of scale economies and imperfect competition. Open economy macroeconomics focuses on the financial transactions between nations which run alongside the interactions of the real economy, i.e. trade and real cross border investment. The macro part thus gives an overview of foreign exchange markets, theories of exchange rate determination, analysis of exchange rate policies such as fixed and flexible exchange rates and in-betweens, analysis of capital flows and different types of balance of payments and currency crises, global capital markets etc..

Syllabus

Download a detailed list of the curriculum hereExam:
Four hour closed book written exam, to be held on 11/12 2003 and 02/01 2004. You choose one of the two dates. The examination requirements on both dates include the entire curriculum (fuldt pensum). Note that according to the lecture plan below, we will in any case treat the last topic on the 11th December, so almost all of the syllabus will have been covered at the date of the first exam. The exam will be given in English with a Danish translation, and can be answered in English or Danish.

See current and previous years exams and answer keys here.

Here are some comments on the exam and a list of the topics that we have treated in class, which are relevant for the exam.

Course Outline and Preliminary Schedule

Trade Part I

Macro/Monetary Part II

 

Lecture no. (week no.)

Date

Topic

Required Readings

Comments to the lectures and suggestions for additional (not required) readings. Readings marked by T are of technical nature, and those market by J are of journalistic or policy nature.

Introduction

1 (36)

2/9

Introduction and Ricardian model of  international trade

K&O Chapter 1 and 2

Download Introductory Slides here.

Part I.1: Perfect Competition and International Trade

2 (36)

4/9

Ricardian model continued.

K&O Chapter 2

Appendix to Chapter 10 in Krugman, P. 1995. Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations.  W.W. Norton & Company (TJ)

Answers to K&O Chapter 2 problems

 

3 (37)

9/9

Specific Factor Model

K&O Ch 3

Mussa, M. 1974. Tariffs and the Distribution of Income: The Importance of Factor Specificity, Substitutability and Intensity in the Short and Long Run. Journal of Political Economy, vol 82 (6). Link to article through JSTOR. (links the specific factor to the HO model). (T)

Answers to K&O Chapter 3 problems.

 

4 (37)

11/9

Heckscher-Ohlin Model

K&O Ch 4 

Jones, Ronald. 1965. The Structure of Simple General Equilibrium Models. Journal of Political Economy, vol. 73, p.557-572. Link to article through JSTOR. (The “Jones Algebra” for the HO model). (T)

Slides from Lecture 4 (NB! These slides do not include all the stuff covered in class and in chapter 4)

Answers to K&O Chapter 4 problems.

 

5 (38)

16/9

The Standard Trade Model

K&O Ch 5

Bhagwati, J. 1958. Immiserizing Growth: A Geometrical Note. The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3. pp. 201-205. Link to article through JSTOR. (T)

Keynes, 1929, The German Transfer Problem, Economic Journal 39. Link through JSTOR

Ohlin, 1929, The German Transfer Problem: A Discussion. Economic Journal 39. Link through JSTOR

A great interactive page for understanding how to use offer curves in trade theory and analysis

Slides from Lecture 5 (NB! These slides do not include all the stuff covered in class and in chapter 5)

Answers to K&O Chapter 5 problems.

Part 1.2: Scale Economies, Imperfect Competition and Factor Movements

6 (38)

18/9

Finish up last points on export subsidies from previous lecture.

New Trade Theory: Economies of Scale and Imperfect Competition

K&O Ch 6

Krugman, P. 1979. Increasing returns, monopolistic competition and international trade. Journal of International Economics, vol 9. p. 469-479. Link to article through Science Direct. (T)

Collie, D. 1993. Profit Shifting Export Subsidies and the Sustainability of Free Trade. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, vol. 40, p. 408-419 (not available online). (T)

Brander, J.A. and P. Krugman. 1983. A Reciprocal Dumping Model of International Trade. Journal of International Economics, vol 15. p. 313-321 (not yet available online). (T)

Baldwin et. al, 2003. Economic Geography and Public Policy. Princeton University Press, 2003. Free downloads of manuscript here. The first chapters of this book  introduce the main models incorporating external - or agglomeration - economies of the New Economic Geography literature (T)

Slides from Lecture 6 (NB! These slides do not include all the stuff covered in class and in chapter 6 - This bunch only includes the first half of the chapter - rest next lecture)

Answers to K&O Chapter 6 problems

 

7 (39)

23/9

New Trade Theory Continued…

 

Alan Deardorf: Introduction to External Economies of Scale. Handout (T).

Slides from Lecture 7. Continuation of lecture 6 slides.  (NB! These slides do not include all the stuff covered in class and in chapter 6)

 

8 (39)

25/9

International Factor movements

K&O Chapter 7

Markusen, James R., 1995. The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol 9 (2). Link through JSTOR. (T)

Distribution of FDI across developing and developed countries (UN Stats on FDI)

Slides from Lecture 8.(NB! These slides do not include all the stuff covered in class and in chapter 7)

Answers to K&O Chapter 7 problems.

 

9 (40)

30/9

Repetition of Trade Theories and Review Exercises

 

Review Problems - we will partially solve these in class.

Slides from Lecture 9

Part I.3: International Trade Policy

10 (40)

2/10

The Instruments of Trade Policy

K&O Chapter 8

Slides from Lecture 10 (first part of chapter 8)

 

11 (41)

7/10

Continued…

K&O Chapter 8

Slides from Lecture 11 (second part of chapter 8)

Answers to K&O Chapter 8 problems

 

12 (41)

9/10

The Political Economy of Trade Policy

K&O Chapter 9

Slides from Lecture 12 (first part of chapter 9)

 

(42)

14/10

Autumn Vacation

 

 

(42)

16/10

Autumn Vacation

 

 

 

13 (43)

21/10

Continued…

K&O Chapter 9

Slides from Lecture 13 (second part of chapter 9)

Answers to K&O Chapter 9 problems

The WTO: Interactive Training

Alan Deardorf and Robert Stern, 2001. What You Should Know about Globalization and the WTO. Working Paper, University of Michigan. (J)

Economist.Com Special Report:The WTO under fire - The Doha round (J). Article on the breakdown of the Cancun trade negotiations

 

14 (43)

23/10

Trade Policy in Developing Countries & Controversies in Trade Policy

K&O Chapter 10 & 11

Slides from Lecture 14 (continued next lecture)

Answers to K&O Chapter 10 problems.

Answers to K&O Chapter 11 problems.

 In Danish:  Kronik i Politiken: "Frihandel og hvad så?" af C.F. Back, N. Kærgaard, A. Larsen, P. Pinstrup-Andersen og F. Tarp (J)

Brander, James A, 1995, Strategic Trade Policy. NBER Working Paper #5020 (T). A comprehensive  review of literature on strategic trade policy

Sweatshops and Globalization”. Overview article by Radley Balko for AWorldConnected.Com, summarizing the pro- and anti-globalizationists’ views and arguments concerning labor-seeking FDI in developing countries and “sweatshops”. (J)

Examples of globalization-critical organization: Global Trade Watch (formed by Ralph Nader, US), and A World Connected.

Deardorff, Alan, 2003. What Might Globalization's Critics Believe?. The World Economy, Vol. 26, pp. 639-658, May 2003. Download through university library here. (J)

Part I.4: Conclusion of Part I.

15 (44)

28/10

Repetition and exercises for Trade Part

 

Rest of slides from Lecture 14

Summary Slides of trade policy part of the course

Review Problems (bring also the review problems started on in Lecture 9)

Part II. Open Economy Macroeconomics

16 (44)

30/10

Intro to the macro part, national accounts, the balance of payments

K&O Ch. 12

Introductory Slides for the macro part

Slides from Lecture 16

Answers to K&O Chapter 12 problems.

Click here for a great currency site (thanks Sébastien!).

"Don't Look Down". Column by Krugman on the current US twin deficits (J)

Nouriel Roubini's Website on Global Macroeconomic and Financial Policy

II. 1. Exchange Rate Determination

17 (45)

4/11

Exchange rates, FOREX markets and interest parity

K&O Ch. 13

Slides from Lecture 17 (ch13 and 14)

Answers to K&O Chapter 13 problems.

 

18 (45)

6/11

Money, interest rates and exchange rates

K&O Ch. 14

Slides from Lecture 18

Answers to K&O Chapter 14 problems.

Kenneth Rogoff, 2002, Dornbusch’s Overshooting Model After 25 Years. IMF Working Paper 02/39. (T) Download here.

 

19 (46)

11/11

Price levels and exchanges rates in the long run: PPP

K&O Ch. 15

Slides from Lecture 19

Answers to K&O Chapter 15 problems.

Kenneth Rogoff, 1996, The Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle, Journal of Economic Literature vol 34(2).(T). Download through JSTOR here

II. 2. Economic Policy in an Open Economy

20 (46)

13/11

PPP continued.

                 Economic Policy in an open Economy: The Mundell-Fleming Model

Rest of Ch. 15 on PPP

K&O Ch. 16 and 17 (excluding pages 502 - 505 and appendix III)

Read up on the open economy IS-LM model from 1st and 2nd year macroeconomics.

Slides from Lecture 20

Answers to K&O Chapter 16 problems.

Answers to K&O Chapter 17 problems.

 

21 (47)

18/11

Continued: Economic Policy in an open Economy

 

NB! We will have a brief guest lecture on the conduct of monetary policy and the Danish exchange rate peg in practice by Louise Mogensen, Nationalbanken.

22 (47)

20/11

Continued: Economic Policy in an open Economy  

Slides from Lecture 22

Mundell Fleming on the Web: Check out this interactive Mundell Fleming Model which allows familiarization with the policy implications of the model.

II. 3. Capital Markets and Balance of Payments Crises

23 (48)

25/11

Currency Crises and Global Capital Markets

K&O Ch. 17 (pages 502-505 plus appendix III) +  Ch. 21+ handout on currency crises models

Slides for the Currency Crises lectures

Answers to K&O Chapter 21 problems.

Krugman, Paul. 1979. A theory of Balance of Payments Crises, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. Vol 11. p. 311-325. (T). Link through JSTOR.

Eichengreen, Wyplosz: The Unstable EMS. Brrokings Papers on Economic Activity, 1993 0(1). (T). Download here through JSTOR.

Flood and Marion: Perspectives on the recent currency crisis literature. International Journal of Finance and Economics, 4. 1999. (T). Download through library here.

Aghion, Bacchetta and Banerjee: A Corporate Balance Sheet Approach to Currency Crises. Manuscript, HEC, Lausanne. 2003. (T). Download here.

Krugman's cartoon model of balance sheet effects and currency crises (T)

 

24 (48)

27/11

Continued: Currency Crises and Global Capital Markets

 

 

25 (49)

2/12

Continued: Currency Crises and Global Capital Markets

 

II. 4. International Macroeconomic History and Policy

26 (49)

4/12

The International Macroeconomic History and Policy

K&O Ch. 18-20

Slides for the International Macroeconomic History and Policy Lecture

Answers to K&O Chapter 18 problems

Answers to K&O Chapter 19 problems.

Answers to K&O Chapter 20 problems

Giancarlo Corsetti’s Euro Page

 

27 (50)

9/12

 

   

 II. 5. Issues for Emerging Markets

28 (50)

11/12

Developing Countries: Growth, Crisis and Reform

K&O Ch. 22 + case study on the Argentina currency crisis

Slides for Issues for Emerging Markets and the Argentina Case Study

The paper on the Argentina crisis is not straightforward to read. Here are some indications on how to best read it for those of you who need to read it before the December exam.

Timeline of events, Argentinean Crisis

What is a currency board, where are they employed, and where should they be employed? (J)

Gabrielli, F.; McCandless, G.; Rouillet, M. J., 2003, Determining the causes of bank runs in Argentina. Banco Central de la Republica Argentina (BCRA), Argentina (T)

Example of current anti-IMF/WorldBank sentiments: 50 years is enough

Answers to K&O Chapter 22 problems.

 

29 (51)

16/12

 

 

 

Conclusion of Part II. and Pre-Exam Exercises/Questions

30 (51)

18/12

Overview of Part II and Exercises

 

 

Links:

  • Nouriel Roubini's Website on Global Macroeconomic and Financial Policy
  • Giancarlo Corsetti’s Euro Page
  • A Great Currency Site (thanks Sébastien!)
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • The World Bank
  • UNCTAD
  • The World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)