International economic relations of the US. Flows of goods, services, capital, labor, technology, and information. 4219-SE033
This seminar will deal with international economic relations of the US. Inflows and outflows of goods, services, capital, labor, as well as of information and technologies will be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Apart from the current picture, an historical perspective and prospects for the future will be discussed. Although we will predominantly deal with economic matters, the political ramifications (domestic and international) will be taken into consideration, as well. This pertains to both the performance of US economy and the policies conducted by the government.
As an introduction, participants will get familiar with basic notions of international economics (dealing with trade and capital flows, as well institutional and other obstacles hampering their free flow, e.g. tariffs, quotas, Voluntary Export Restraints, elongation of international supply chains, military conflicts, political sanctions, etc.). Then, the US case will be scrutinized from various angles. During the course we will be using freely available international statistical sources. This will lead us to some conclusions about the degree of openness of the US economy – which is not as high as popularly expected. Another fascinating topic will be how the Administration of the newly elected President will deal with those issues.
Topics:
1. Basic notions and concepts of international economics: flows of goods and services, capital, labor, information
2. Balance of payments (BoP) and its components (including newest US data)
3. Economic liberalism vs protectionism
4. International economic order and its institutions in historical perspective
4.1. The US-shaped post WW2 international economic organizations (IMF, WB, GATT)
4.2. Present challenges to Pax Americana
5. The American dollar and its role in international economic relations
5.1. Currency convertibility
5.2. Exchange rate regimes and exchange rates
6. Export and import of goods, trade balance, and the trade policy
6.1. Size/value of the US exports and imports in absolute and relative terms
6.2. US Administration stance toward the US trade deficit (Trump, Biden, and others)
6.3. Trade policies
6.3.1. Instruments of trade policy: tariffs and non-tariff obstacles to trade
6.3.2. US int’l trade and tariffs in historical perspective
6.3.3. The US Harmonized Tariff Schedule
6.3.4. The US-led trade wars (by Donald Trump and Joe Biden)
7. Capital, labor, and information flows
7.1. DHL/NYU The DHL Global Connectedness Index (measuring the depth and breadth of international trade, capital, information, and people flows) – identification of major int’l economic partners of the US
8. Current international sanctions and the US position in enforcing them
8.1. Sanctions’ effectiveness and their side effects
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
1. KNOWLEDGE
After successfully completing the course the student should:
• have a good grasp of basic concepts of international economics
• understand the role of international flows of goods, services, labor, and information for the US – and for that matter any – economy
• know what liberalism and protectionism are
• understand the role of money in international relations, including the basics of currency convertibility and exchange rate regimes.
• know the origins of the American economic dominance after WW2
• know what Pax America is and how it challenged today
• know the numerical characteristics of the US international trade and capital flows
• know the origins and present-day operations of main international financial organizations, like the IBRD and IMF, as well as their significance for domestic (US) and international business, as well as the role of the US in their creation after WW2
• know how tariffs are and how they impact both the imposing and receiving country’s economy and polity.
• know the basic types of political sanctions, the ways they operate and create impact of various kinds.
• appreciate the fact that sanctions create costs on both the target and the sender country’s economic agents and that some of those costs are transactions costs.
• know the basics of legal underpinnings of tariffs, non-tariff measures and political sanctions embedded in the US laws and regulations.
• know the US policies in the area of international trade and finance under Presidents Trump and Biden
• be aware of the difficulties in predicting outcomes of monetary and financial policies
2. SKILLS
After successfully completing the course the student should:
• be able to retrieve (from the web) relevant trade, capital, labor and information flows data for the US and some other major world economies, manipulate them (in a spreadsheet form), and use them as arguments in analysis and discussion
• able to use critical thinking in order to assess the US international economic policies – especially those enforced by the Trump and Biden Administrations
• know where to fetch information and data on international sanctions and their impact on economic agents all over the world.
• be able to access the Global Sanctions Database (GSDB)
3. SOCIAL COMPETENCES
After successfully completing the course the student should:
• be aware of differences of opinions as to the efficiency of trade policies (even among top economists)
• be aware of differences of opinions as to the efficiency of political sanctions and other ways of exercising (economic) pressure on other countries – with stress on the US sanctions on other countries
• be open to different views on the above subjects.
• be able to cooperate in a small team in order to settle down the differences of opinion among its members as to achieve a common goal.
• be able to effectively negotiate with other group members how the presentation of final outcome of their common work should look like
• be able to cooperate with teammates using the distance learning tools (the e-learning platform/Moodle).
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. Zoom or Google Meet/Classroom if the University switches to the DL mode)
25% = a final test (written; may contain multiple choice, fill-in, matching pairs, true-false, and short open questions)
25% = a final essay to be discussed in class and submitted in final written version before the end of semester on the title topic of this seminar 9exact topics will be announced on the e-learning platform) . According to the standard 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
Students are allowed to miss two meetings. Each further absence will result in diminishing student’s final result by 5 percentage points.
Students failing the course will be given one chance to improve the grade. It will consist of a comprehensive make-up test only – the test will count as 100% (i.e. the in-class performance and the essay 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 one given above.
ATTENTION: students who have failed the course and have not submitted the essay on time and/or have not disucssed it in class WILL NOT be given a make-up test.
Practical placement
N/A
Bibliography
• Mankiw, N. G. (2017). Principles of Economics, Cengage Learning, 8th edition. Chapter 3 (Interdependence and the Gains from Trade) and 31 (Open Economy Macroeconomics. Basic Concepts). This may be substituted by chapters on international economy (trade and finance) from any standard textbook in Economics.
• Altman, S. & C. Bastian (2024). DHL Global Connectedness Report 2024. An in-depth analysis of the state of globalization. DHL and NYU/Stern School of Business. [freely available on-line at: https://www.dhl.com/content/dam/dhl/global/delivered/documents/pdf/dhl-global-connectedness-report-2024-complete.pdf]
• The Global Sanctions Data Base: http://www.globalsanctionsdatabase.com
• Numerous handouts, transparencies (PPTs), press clippings, and/or hyperlinks to valuable sources of good quality information and statistical data will be placed on the e-learning platform for the course – they will constitute the basic readings for the course
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: