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Regular version of the site

Introduction to World Economy

2020/2021
Academic Year
ENG
Instruction in English
4
ECTS credits
Course type:
Elective course
When:
2 year, 1 module

Instructor


Altukhov, Artem

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Introduction to the World Economy is a one-semester elective course offered to the second-year students of all specializations. The course purports to introduce the students to the most topical issues of the global economy, including inequality, migration, trade wars, and climate change. We start by reviewing the factors behind the historical development of capitalist economies and their amalgamation into one and seek to link these factors to the key theories in the field. In the course of our subsequent discussion, we come to explore and assess the different policies addressing the challenges world economy faces, including hunger, pension crisis, poverty, and others, their societal and political implications, as well as idiosyncrasies of these challenges in specific parts of the world.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Provide a thorough treatment of economic globalization, surveying different approaches as to its age, drivers, and outcomes;
  • Introduce the students to the most topical issues of the global economy, tracing each of them back to their historical roots;
  • Discuss the conventional, as well as alternative, theoretical explanations of inequality, migration, trade wars, and climate change;
  • Assess different cases of tackling these problems by national governments and international organizations.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the economic implications of globalizing capitalism for individuals, industries, cities, and nations;
  • Analyze the links between trade, economic growth, and globalization with particular reference to developing countries’ cases;
  • Apply the framework of sustainable development to analyzing current global economic problems.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Introductory lecture. Short history of globalization. Fourth Industrial Revolution & sustainable development
    Online lecture: Sachs week 1
  • Demographic challenges. Malthusian limits to growth. Pension crisis. Global healthcare
    Online lecture: Guillén module 1, videos 1–6 ; Sachs week 6, videos 1, 5
  • Food supply and the end of hunger
    Online lecture: Sachs week 10 and video 4 from week 6
  • Migration
    Online lecture: Guillén module 1, video 7 ; Allard week 4
  • Urbanization
    Online lecture: Guillén module 1, videos 8–9 ; Sachs week 11
  • Poverty & inequality
    Online lecture: Guillén module 2 ; Sachs weeks 2, 4, 5
  • Trade I: Currencies & exchange rate régimes
    Online lecture: Allard week 1
  • Trade II: Trade and the economy. The balance of payments. Trade policy
    Online lecture: Allard weeks 2 and 3
  • Trade III: Economic imbalances & trade wars
    Online lecture: Guillén module 3
  • Climate change
    Online lecture: Sachs week 12
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Quizzes
  • non-blocking In-class participation
  • non-blocking Final exam
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (1 module)
    0.4 * Final exam + 0.3 * In-class participation + 0.3 * Quizzes
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Cheshire Paul C., Nathan Max and Overman Henry G. Urban Economics and Urban Policy: Challenging Conventional Policy Wisdom [Book]. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014.
  • Daron Acemoglu, & Pascual Restrepo. (2017). Secular Stagnation? The Effect of Aging on Economic Growth in the Age of Automation. American Economic Review, (5), 174. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20171101
  • International economics : theory and policy, Krugman, P. R., 2015
  • Johnson, J., & Woodruff, D. (2017). Currency crises in post-Soviet Russia. LSE Research Online Documents on Economics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.ehl.lserod.82472
  • Katerina Lisenkova, Marcel Mérette, & Miguel Sánchez-Martínez. (2014). The Long-Term Economic Impact of Reducing Migration in the UK. National Institute Economic Review, (1), 22. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.sae.niesru.v229y2014i1pr22.r30
  • Mathias Czaika, & Hein Haas. (2014). The Globalization of Migration: Has the World Become More Migratory? International Migration Review, (2), 283. https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.2014.48.issue-2
  • Michael Bordo, & Robert N McCauley. (2017). Triffin: dilemma or myth? BIS Working Papers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.bis.biswps.684
  • See-Yan Lin Global Economy In Turbulent Times [Book]. - Singapore : John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
  • Thor Berger, & Carl Benedikt Frey. (2017). Industrial renewal in the 21st century: evidence from US cities. Regional Studies, (3), 404. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2015.1100288

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Borjas George J. and Chiswick Barry R. Foundations of Migration Economics [Book] / ed. Elsner Benjamin. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.
  • Curran, W., & Hamilton, T. (2012). Just green enough: contesting environmental gentrification in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Local Environment, 17(9), 1027–1042. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729569
  • Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson, & Thierry Verdier. (2017). Asymmetric Growth and Institutions in an Interdependent World. Journal of Political Economy, (5), 1245. https://doi.org/10.1086/693038
  • Michael D. Bordo. (2003). Exchange Rate Regime Choice in Historical Perspective. IMF Working Papers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.imf.imfwpa.03.160
  • Pollin Robert Greening the Global Economy [Book]. - Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2015.