International Political Economy studies the ways in which political forces (states, institutions, individual actors) shape society’s economic interactions, and conversely the effect that economic interactions (shaped by markets, resources, incentives, money) have upon political structures and outcomes.  Topics include globalization, international trade, economic growth in developing countries,  protectionism, financial systems,  multinational companies and international institutions. The course is based on online resources. Contact me: victoria.vernon@esc.edu

Textbook: Thomas Oatley,  International Political Economy, 6th edition. Find it here.

1.  History, theories and economic systems  

• textbook ch 1
• What is IPE? -article
• Aspects of IPE -video,  what does IPE study?

• Economic Systems – market & planned, crashcourse
• Capitalism and Socialism– economic systems
• Capitalism – history
• Imperialism – crash course for kids like us
• Capitalism Is NOT Imperialism – learnliberty
• How to improve capitalism – Can capitalism be improved
• Khan Academy’s “Communism” – video
• Marxism   – article from Encyclopedia of Economics
• Karl Marx – criticism of capitalism
• Does Capitalism Exploit Workers?  – or not?
• Economic Schools of Thought – old to modern

• Introduction to Mercantilism
• Political ideology – liberal, conservative
• Theory of the Median Voter – why politicians are centrists
• Why libertarians want foreign policy reform – learn liberty
• 40 maps of the world
• Homework 1 

2.  The world trade system  

• read ch 2,3
• GATT/WTO – video
• World Trade Organization – mruniversity
• WTO site
• Doha round of trade talks explained – Guardian
• Trade blocs – video
• Regionalization and Trading Blocs -global edge narrated ppt
• Trading blocs info and Regional Trade Agreements – global edge
• United States Free Trade Agreements – gov
• Introduction to NAFTA
• NAFTA and Mexican Agriculture
• Effects of NAFTA on the Mexican Economy
• Maquiladoras
• Globalization I – video, crash course
• Globalization II – Good or Bad? – video
• Markets Link the World -for mutual gain, MRU
• Foreign trade as seen in 1951 – 10min film
• The WTO has failed developing nations -guardian
• Stiglitz on globalization – Nobel prize economist
• Absolute and comparative advantage – from South Africa
• Comparative advantage – marginal revolution
• Sources of comparative advantage – marginal revolution
• Evidence on Comparative Advantage from Japan
• Trade Is Made of Win – gains from trade – LearnLiberty part 1 & 2
• Global Exchange: Free Trade & Protection – comp adv, patterns
• Who Supports Free Trade?
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – global edge
• NAFTA’s failure has cost the United States jobs – epi
• FDI & NAFTA – foreign direct investment into Mexico increased
• Free Trade Agreements and Customs Unions by Douglas A. Irwin
• Trans-Pacific Partnership – contentious issues
• The European Union – global edge
• EU history and goals – europa
• Homework 2

3.    Trade politics

• read ch 4,5
• Trade and Tariff History – marginal revolution
• Types of Trade Restrictions -econ video
• Why do countries restrict trade? – econ video
• The Political Economy of Tariffs
• International Trade and Welfare Costs of Tariffs
• The Smoot-Hawley Tariff
• Tariffs, Quotas, and Non-Tariff Barriers – global edge
• Import restrictions – and other articles
• Protectionism by Jagdish Bhagwati
• Free Trade by Alan S. Blinder
• Sanctions by Kimberly Ann Elliott and Gary Clyde Hufbauer
• China imposed a tariff on US auto exports to punish the US -news
• Let Africa Trade With Africa – nontariff barriers in Africa
• Why the theory of comparative advantage is wrong – Ian Fletcher

• Introduction to trade policies : subsidies, tariffs-South Africa
• Industrial policy: theory -govt attempt to pick winners
• Industrial policy: evidence

• Observatory of econ complexity – visualize trade by country
• US international trade commission tariff schedule -US tariffs
• Homework 3

• read ch 10,11
• Exchange Rates -explanation with S-D graph
• Currency Peg explained
• International Monetary Systems – global edge
• International monetary relations – chapter form Hart’s textbook
• What is a gold standard? – learn liberty

• The Classical Gold Standard

• Gold Exchange Standard
• Bretton Woods
• Reserve Currencies
• Safe Haven Currencies
• Capital Controls
• Currency Manipulation
• Chinese Currency Manipulation
• FDR Ends Gold Standard in 1933
• Nixon Ends Bretton Woods Monetary System 1971
• The IMF – mruniversity
• IMF website
• US trade balance – census
• Currency wars – countries devalue currencies to increase exports
• U.S. and China’s Exchange Rate  – China wants stong dollar

• Financial crisis, five years on – guardian
• Brief history of financial crises – the economist
• Gambling with Other People’s Money: How Perverted Incentives Caused the Financial Crisis -Mercatus Center
• Homework 6

7. Developing countries and international finance 

• read ch 14,15 (skip chapters 12,13)

• What If China Collected on U.S. Debt?
• Major holders of US government debt – treasury
• “Black Wednesday” – Soros’ speculative attack 1992 on Pound
• Asian Financial Crisis of 1997
• Mexico and the 2008 Financial Crisis
• The End Of Globalisation  – consequences of fin liberalization in East Asia, Bolivia, Russia, fin crisis of 1997, IMF conditional loans
• Recipients and Donors: Basic Facts about foreign aid
• Does Foreign Aid Increase Growth?
• Knowledge Problems and Incentive Problems -mruniversity
• Examples of Aid that Works -mruniversity
• How poor countries develop rich countries – Guardian
• L.Brown Plan B– failing states and problems created
• External Factors of the Debt Crisis
• Domestic Factors of the Debt Crisis
• Resolving the Debt Crisis
• The World Bank
• Critical voices on the WB and IMF – Bretton woods project
• Geography and Development, Trade
• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Very Long Run – history & geography
• Guns, Germs and Steel movie – long film by National Geographic
• Geography and Development, Disease
• Homework 7

• Statistics links:
• CIA world factbook country comparisons – stats
• Human Development Report – world bank
• World Bank data – stats, info by country
• Global Edge country rankings -stats

Final project: Expert paper based on current events

The purpose of this paper is to develop expertise in a narrow topic within IPE (6-7 pages). Your task is to come up with a research question inspired by current events, explain the events, discuss pros and cons of the central issue, analyze both sides of the debate.  Your paper should include at least 3 references to articles in major media outlets published in the last two years. In evaluating your paper, I will be considering: Is it well organized? Well researched, including both sides or a possibly controversial issue? Does it have a clear theme or thesis? Are sources adequate and cited properly? Are the arguments developed coherently?  To choose an issue, review

• War in Ukraine and the end of globalization – inet
• Project syndicate – economics section
• Dani Rodrik @ project syndicate – current IPE issues

For further research:

• Comparative perspective on ISIS
  • ISIS-a history  – European perspective, book talk
  • The secret history of ISIS – US perspective, film
• Current economic issues in the EU
  • Brexit and the EU – Khan
  • Why U.K. Could Leave EU Trade Bloc Amid Brexit-bloomberg
  • The Eurozone crisis – bbc
  • The Three Sides of the Crisis -mruniversity
  • The Case for Optimism
  • The Case for Pessimism
  • The costs of leaving the Eurozone
  • Remarks on individual countries
  • Currency union collapse in history
  • Indicators for Eurozone progress
  • Life on the precipice
  • Will austerity work?
  • Effects on other multilateral agreements
• What makes Denmark the world’s happiest country?
  • Happiness Institute publications – read ‘The Happy Danes’
• Where are our foreign assistance money spent, and how well?  Start your research at foreignassistance.gov
• Current economic developments in Russia, China, Nigeria or another country.
• The international political economy of drug trafficking
• A reaction paper to a film or a book:
  • John Perkins: Confessions of the Economic Hit-Man- book talk
  • Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine: Rise of Disaster Capitalism
  • Dani Rodrik,  Has Globalization Gone Too Far? – online book
  • The Corporation-film – long documentary
• Critical look at the globalist conspiracy theory
  • The globalist Agenda-overview
  • The true story of the Builderberg group -book review

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Extra resources

• Marx and Engels, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO – text
• Failures of Marx – Yale lecture
•  Marx- BBC Documentary   -Marx’s views relevant today?
• Karl Marx Life and Philosophy – youtube audio, no video
• Niall Ferguson: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order
• Empire – The decline of the American empire –  Aljazeera
• Empire – The new arms race – Aljazeera-why military spending?
• World Bank’s book Beyond Economic Growth
• Online books free at Paterson Institute for Internat’l Economics
• Book online – Macro from NYU Stern
• Todaro and Smith:Theories of development textbook chapter  
• www.Bized.co.uk:  Models of Econ Growth and Development  
• http://baselinescenario.com/
• http://www.bea.gov/international/index.htm – stats on trade
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Non-Enterprise Industry – global edge -tech, education, piracy
• Trade and financial crises – a .pdf file
• Your coffee dollar – a story on global coffee market from PBS

• Naomi Klein and Joseph Stiglitz on Economic Power
• Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism
• Keynesianism Part I – It’s All About Spending
• Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two  – song
• Masters Of Money: 1/3 – John Maynard Keynes  – documentary
• Masters Of Money: 2/3 – Friedrich Hayek-BBC Documentary
• The History of Economic Thought (Economic Ideas and Thinkers)
• Peter Orszag – “The New U.S. Political Economy” econ trends
• Excerpts from Commanding Heights by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, 2002

• The Crisis of Capitalism Animated
• What Is China Doing Right? – the atlantic
• The Capitalist Manifesto, L.Kelso
• James Fallows, “How the World Works”
• NY Times article on modern Dutch Socialism, Going Dutch
• www.henrygeorge.org
• www.freetrade.org
• www.politicaleconomy.org
• www.commongroundnyc.org
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – for managers
• Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim – TED
• Government regulation creates problems-click video

• The Economic Fairy Tale – crisis story
• Recession and Recovery
• The animated history of the Financial crisis, five years on
• Punk Economics 1: The European Debt Crisis amination
• North Korean prison camps -map
• CAPITALISM: SUCCESS, CRISIS, AND REFORM – Yale course
• The greatest economic collapses of world history 
• http://sites.middlebury.edu/ipefall09/  podcasts
• Financial crisis, Asia to Argentina – intro chapter by Desai
• Hans Rosling: Stats that reshape your worldview
• Zeitgeist movie -free online
• Cuba 2012 (BBC Documentary)
• A NEW WORLD SYSTEM – 48min video from the Venus Project.
• World governance indicators  – accountability, stability, effectiveness, rule of law, regulatory quality, corruption
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
• Polanyi, The Great Transformation
• Paying people for being alive proposal
• Animated history of poverty – video
• Global competitiveness report 2014 – world economic forum
• Commanding Heights Episode 1 – The Battle of Ideas

• Milton Friedman – The role of government in a free society video
• Interview with Milton Friedman – video, free market theory
• The Machinery Of Freedom -libertarians, David Friedman
• Free the world – economic freedom index for all countries
• British Empire In Colour – 3 part documentary -famine, injustice
• The Road To Serfdom – Hayek 1940s, too much govt = tyranny
• Napoleoni: The economics of terrorism – internat’l econ crime
• 50 Years of Communism in China – NYTimes
• Economic growth chart – the economist
• Joseph Stiglitz – The Price of Inequality
• T.Friedman: That used to be us – talk
• After the Washington Consensus: Restarting Growth and Reform in Latin America – book online
• TED  Duarte: The secret structure of great talks
• Economic globalization – long documentary
• Conflict in Israel and Palestine – history crash course
• IPE maps – metrocosm
• Free to choose – video series with Milton Friedman
• Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis -movie
• History of US immigration in 3 charts – wef

• IZA DP No. 12973: The Rise of American Minimum Wages, 1912-1968 – Politics econ of min wage

• Commanding Heights: The Battle of Ideas- Episode One (Official Video)

• The March of History: Mises vs. Marx – Capitalism vs. Socialism Rap Battle

• this course should be a collection of issues such as from here:
• Foundation for Economic Education – youtube channel
• Stossel resources – videos
• Moshe Adler: video on policies, incentives – discussion -good or bad policy?