Insegnamento a.a. 2007-2008

Course Objectives

The first part of the course provides the tools necessary for an analysis of the determinants, patterns and effects of international trade and of government trade policies. The second part builds on the concepts of macroeconomics of an open economy to discuss the determinants of exchange rates and the consequences of exchange rate policies for output and prices in the short and in the long run. A brief history of the international monetary system explains the establishment of the single European currency.

Course Content Summary

International Trade Theory

•  Labor productivity and comparative advantage: the Ricardian model.
•  Immobile factors and income distribution.
•  Resources and trade: the Heckscher-Ohlin model.
•  Economies of scale and international trade.
•  Monopolistic competition and trade.
•  International labor mobility and the international capital market.
•  Direct foreign investment and multinational firms.
•  The instruments and negotiation of trade policy.
•  The political economy of trade policy.

International Monetary Economics

• The balance of payments and the foreign exchange market
• Money, interest rates and prices in the short and in the long run
• Fixed exchange rate and foreign exchange intervention
• Fixed vs floating exchange rates
• The international monetary system since 1870
• Macroeconomic policy coordination and exchange rates
• Optimum currency areas and the European single currency

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Written exam.
Students may take the exam in two written parts: a 1st partial exam and a 2nd partial exam to be taken within the end of the summer session. In this case the total mark will be the average of the marks of the 1st partial and the 2nd partial.

Textbooks

• P. KRUGMAN, M. OBSTFELD,  International Economics: Theory and Policy, Scott, Foresman and Company, 2000, 7^th ed. (chapters 1-20).

For further and continuously updated information consult the  IEP web site or contact  S.I.D.  - Servizio Informazioni Didattica - Institute of Economics - via Gobbi, 5 - Room 313.