Economic Policies of the Present US Administration 4219-SE029
The course will deal with economic policies of the POTUS (President of the United States) and his Administration. This means that we will start with the Donald Trump’ economic policies and then – after the 59th quadrennial presidential election scheduled for November 3, 2020 – we will either continue with the Trump’s policies or will adjust the course to include the prospective changes to be introduced by the new (Joe Biden’s) Administration.
.
First, we will identify the 2016 Trump’s electoral promises and compare them with a typical Conservative Party platform, then we will confront them with reality of Trump’s actions. Our analysis will concentrate on the following areas:
1. tax reform
2. business and finance deregulation
3. reducing the size of the (federal) government and of its budget deficit
4. conducting protectionist trade policies (especially in relation to multilateral trade & investment agreements - abandoning the TPP, NAFTA renegotiation, consideration of import tax, and imposition of new tariffs (washing machines, solar panels, steel and aluminum), etc. – with the stress on Trump’s fixation on reducing the US trade balance with the ROW, and with China in particular; also we will deal here with a more fundamental question whether what we see is a trade war with China or a more fundamental clash of political systems (the US democratic/liberal capitalism vs. Chinese state capitalism)
5. domestic re-industrialization and rejuvenation of America’s transportation infrastructure
6. immigration tightening / building the wall (on Mexican border) + travel ban (reaction: court stays and sanctuary cities)
7. repealing and replacing ACA (Obamacare)
8. On top of the above, we will necessarily deal with the economic policy adjustments in the era of COVID-19 pandemic.
.
While analyzing the above topics, we will try to identify possible consequences of those policy changes on:
a) public finance and the federal budget deficit in particular
b) Rest-of-the-World in general
c) domestic & foreign producers (firms) by industry (e.g. universities; hospitals; R&D firms; old vs new industries), size, geographical location, etc.
d) domestic & foreign consumers (of particular categories of goods and services)
e) importers
f) exporters
g) high and low income households
h) the rule of law
i) political life quality
j) US international leadership.
.
The major idea of the course is to get behind the veil of value judgements based on our ethics and esthetics or on superficial journalism, in order to rationalize POTUS’s and his party actions (wherever possible).
.
The course is non-technical in nature. Being based on economic analysis, it does not shy away from taking into consideration political, social or legal ramifications (e.g. Trump’s campaign slogan “America First” or his heavy reliance on executive orders, instead of following a regular legislative path - that he seemingly inherited from Obama). Also, references to ideological bases of Trump’s policies – especially to the so called alt-right [including Steve Bannon’s / Breitbart News’ agenda and actions] will be made.
.
The course will start with some introductory lecturing by the instructor which will give a structure to the ensuing discussions of the issues mentioned above.
Type of course
Mode
Blended learning
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes:
1. KNOWLEDGE
After successfully completing the course the student should:
* Know the key tenets of what is considered a standard economic platform of the Republican Party
* Know the basic electoral campaign promises pertaining to economic sphere made by Donald Trump as a presidential candidate
* Be able to tell the difference between the standard economic platform of the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s economic agenda (“Trumponomics”)
* Understand potential influence and consequences of those campaign promises for a number of domestic and foreign stakeholders [the government and its budget, the producers (firms), the labor market, financial institutions and firms – both in the US and abroad]
* Know which of the presidential campaign promises have been or are to be implemented in reality
* Describe the basic ways in which Donald Trump and his team have been trying to implement economic policies.
* Know a number of key figures of American economic, political and legal life that are/were considered important players in the Trump’s White House.
* Know how the COVID-19 epidemic has changed economic policies of the Trump's Administration.
2. SKILLS
After successfully completing the course the student should:
* Find sources of good quality information and data describing those parts of the US economy that have been and will be in the future influenced by Donald Trump’s economic policies.
* Be able to assess the impact of Donald Trump’s economic decisions/policies on various sectors of the US economy, on the economic interests of various social groups in the US, as well as on other national countries of the world.
3. SOCIAL COMPETENCES
After successfully completing the course the student should:
* Be aware of differences of opinions as to a number of Donald Trump’s decisions and economic policies.
* Be open to different views on the above subjects.
* Be aware of the consequences of Donald Trump’s decisions on the world leadership of the US in several areas (economic, political, moral).
* Accept the fact that economists only propose and politicians (like Donald Trump) dispose.
Assessment criteria
The course grade will consist of three elements (with respective weights, as indicated):
50% = student’s in-class* performance, including presentations of the assigned reading material [* 'in-class' may mean ' a DL class, eg. Google Meet/Classroom
25% = a final test (written; may contain multiple choice, true-false and short open questions)
25% = a final essay on a selected topic related to the course matters [to be delivered before the end of semester – exact submission date and subject/s) will be announced to students at least three weeks in advance; according to the ASC UW rules – minimum length is five standardized pages; max six pages; in English; allowed formats: doc, docx, rtf, open office, pdf; further details will be spelled out on the e-learning platform].
The passing minimum (threshold) for the course is 50 percent (i.e. 50 points out of 100). Points will not be rounded. The letter grade will be given according to the following scale:
< 0; 50) = 2.0
<50; 60) = 3.0
<60; 70) = 3.5
<70; 80) = 4.0
<80; 90) = 4.5
<90; 100> = 5.0
The make-up will consist of a comprehensive test only – the test will count as 100% (i.e. the in-class performance will not count). It will be given in the regular university make-up session. The grading scale applied to the make-up will be steeper than on the original test.
Practical placement
N/A
Bibliography
As these are fresh and evolving matters, there is no textbook dealing with them in a systematic manner. Being a seminar, this course will be based entirely on articles, press announcements and short analytical texts available on the net. They will be partly indicated by the instructor (and made available on the e-learning platform for the course) and partly will be searched for by the course participants themselves after a proper guidance by the instructor.
Additional readings:
Students who want to get a deeper understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of many Trump team’s decisions and policies are encouraged to read relevant chapters of any introductory textbook on economics. In particular, this may be J. Gwartney, R. Stroup, R. Sobel, D. Macpherson, Economics. Private and Public Choice, Thompson/South Western, whose two newest editions are available in the ASC Library [but any edition from 21st century would do].
In addition, students who want to get a deeper understanding of who Donald Trump is, what his political base is, and how the White House operated during first year of his presidency [the Bannon, Jarvanka, Priebus triangle] are encourage to read Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Inside the Trump White House, Little, Brown, 2018.
Those who want to delve deeper into details of the Trump’s economic plan may want to look into: Steven Moore and Arthur B. Laffer, Trumponomics. Inside the America First Plan to revive Our Economy, St. Martin’s Press, 2018 (although it may be somewhat irritating).
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: