Spring 2015 - 61353 - PA393L - Advanced Policy Economics

This course examines the political economy of globalization.  We will discuss the definition of globalization, its causes, and its effects on developed and developing countries.  The dynamics of trade, capital flows, and immigration and the policy responses to those flows are all part of the "big picture."  The course covers topics such as the effects of globalization on wages and labor standards; on tax rates, government borrowing, and the provision of public goods; on environmental regulations and their enforcement; and on entrepreneurial opportunities, the protection of property rights, and on the stability of the banking system. At the end of the course, each student should be comfortable applying general economic models to specific policy situations in contemporary debates about globalization. Each student will also have several opportunities to practice policy-style writing that seeks to make economics relevant to policy-makers.