Instructor: Dr. Laura Brown INTERNATIONAL TRADE ECON3670 COURSE OUTLINE (July 2012 may be revised again before September) Office: 549 Fletcher Argue Building Office hours: Tuesday, 4:00 5:00 and Friday 1:00 2:30 (exceptions will be announced in class) or by appointment. Tel: 474-9393 Email: Laura_Brown@umanitoba.ca Notes on communication with Prof. Brown outside class: a) Students who are struggling with material should come to my office for help. You are strongly encouraged to come for help as early as possible in the term. Feel free to come as often and for as long as you need. b) All students are expected to use email as a method of communication and to receive readings from me in this format. Email is a great way to set up an appointment outside office hours. Students are also expected to be use the web as requested. I will try to answer email or phone messages within 48 hours on weekdays. c) After class is a good time to deal with short questions from the class. Major issues should be dealt with during office hours. DO NOT let major problems, like lack of access to website or availability of textbook drag on. d) I am also available outside office hours, by appointment. Do expect to supply me with a reason if you do not come to office hours but want an appointment. I am fairly flexible concerning acceptable reasons, but prefer students come in office hours. Prerequisite: 2 nd year microeconomics. For general students 2450 is required and 2460 is strongly recommended. For Honours students 2700 is required and 3700 is recommended. Text: International Economics: Theory and Policy. by Krugman & Obstfeld, 9 th Edition with MyEconLab. You can also purchase an online textbook instead of a hard copy. Note: If you do not need the book itself, the online textbook is much less expensive. Online learning and some assignments: Use MyEconLab that comes with the textbook. 1
Other readings as assigned I may assign occasional readings that deal with current topics that are brought to my attention and that should be of interest to the class. These will be posted on JUMP and/or emailed to students. Computer Requirements: All students must have an email address. All students must submit an email address to Aurora to ensure that I can email the entire class. If a student s email address as submitted to Aurora does not work, it is the student s responsibility to fix the problem. The course uses both JUMP and MyEconLab. Notes will be posted on JUMP. Assignment announcements will usually be emailed and/or announced in class. I will use both JUMP and MyEconLab to email the class. Therefore, you should have your working email address on both sites. Classroom expectations: Students are expected to attend lectures, listen attentively, participate in group activities and take notes. Students should arrive on time. Cell phones should be off during class. If a cell phone is used, the professor can confiscate it until the end of the day, and the student can pick it up at the Economics office, 501 Fletcher Argue Building. Please bring writing implements and a calculator to all classes. You will be asked to do exercises in class. Questions are welcome during class. In particular, if a student does not understand a concept or explanation, then I would very much like to provide further clarification. This helps the entire class. Course expectations: Questions are also welcome after class. There is no time limit for student questions. Students are expected to approach me with questions as early in the term as possible. Students are expected to complete assigned readings from the textbook either before the lecture, or immediately afterward. In this way, any questions can be addressed in a timely manner, and students can keep up with the course. Come to see me if you need help. Welcome Welcome to the study of international trade theory! The purpose of this course is to make you acquainted with current theories and questions in international trade. In this course you will learn about the classical models of trade, the principle of comparative advantage, and the advantages and disadvantages of trading to different groups within a country. We will also introduce questions affecting the well-being and the sovereignty of nations: economic integration and international environmental issues). To even begin to understand trade issues, however, requires a good understanding of economic theory. 2
By the end of the course, you should be able to: 1. Understand some of the basic concepts and theories of International Trade: define concept / state theoretical results list assumptions needed for theory to hold analyze changes in trading behaviour and policies graphically using microeconomic graphing tools. apply theories to the analysis of hypothetical or realistic situations 2. understand some of the expected effects of trade policy on different segments of a country s economy, including owners of capital and different groups of workers and consumers. Topics: Course Organization: Recently, I started using a new textbook. Therefore the course will very closely follow the textbook. However, the course notes are revised each year. Topics align with the textbook chapters. There are two major sections to the course and book: International Trade Theory and International Trade Policy. The first part of the course teaches you why countries trade and how trade works under competition and under markets characterized by scale economies. The second part describes the effects of tariffs as well as trade policy in developing countries. Chapter 1 Introduction Section I: International Trade Theory Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 World Trade: An Overview Labor Productivity and Comparative Advantage: The Ricardian Model Specific Factors and Income Distribution Resources and Trade: The Heckscher-Ohlin Model The Standard Trade Model External Economies of Scale and the International Trade Location of Production Firms in the Global Economy: Export Decisions, Outsourcing and Multinational Enterprises Section II: International Trade Policy Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 The Instruments of Trade Policy The Political Economy of Trade Policy Trade Policy in Developing Countries Controversies in Trade Policy 3
Evaluation I have tried to design evaluation components to encourage students to keep working steadily on class material, as well as to get feedback on student understanding in a timely manner. Feedback on evaluation will be appreciated. EVALUATION 18.3670 Weight 1. Test 1 October 4, 2012 (possibly evening) 20 % 2. Test 2 November 1, 2011 (possibly evening) 25 % 3. Final exam in examination period (3 hours) 35 % 4. Problem sets & tests (approx. 12 - one for each chapter) 10 % 5. Journal, submitted bi-weekly 5 % 6. Class/group participation, in class problems 5 % Total: 100% Note: I am willing to move the in-term exams up to one week back or forth depending on the number of students with exams on the same date. However, I will only make the change within one week of the start of classes. My course outline must be finalized by September 14, 2011. Conversion: Less than 50 % F 70 % to 74.9 % B 50 % to 59.9 % D 75 % to 79.9 % B+ 60 % to 64.9 % C 80 % to 89.9 % A 65 % to 69.9 % C+ 90 % to 100 % A+ BRING A CALCULATOR TO ALL EXAMS. No cellphones in exams, cellphones off during class. All exams are cumulative. Evaluation will be provided before the voluntary withdrawal date, November 14. This means you will have the results of the first term test and the early problem sets. It is up to you to retrieve your test and assignments to receive your marks. All final grades are subject to review by the Department. Please refer to the current University Calendar for university policy on plagiarism and cheating (check the web Calendar). Please note that the penalties for cheating are severe. Also note, I send all materials on which cheating is suspected directly to Arts BEFORE I inform the student. 4
Any student who uses a personal communication device in class will either lose 5% of the mark per occurrence or complete an extra assignment per occurrence. No text messaging. No internet or facebook (or reddit, twitter, tumbler etc ) scanning. This should not even need to be stated. QUESTIONS ON TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS will be based on lectures and all other course materials including lecture comments that are not in notes. All tests and examinations must be written. If any student is unable to take a test on the designated day, because of a clash with a religious holiday or other valid reason, he or she is asked to notify me at least two (2) weeks before the test date. If illness or an emergency prevents the student taking a test he or she is asked to notify me immediately and obtain a medical certificate from a doctor or proof of emergency, which I can confirm. Students will only be allowed to write a makeup test for documented medical or compassionate reasons. The final examination will include essay questions. These will be marked on writing style as well as content. IMPORTANT: Any student who speaks or communicates in any way to another student during an exam, including while handing in the exam, will be given a zero and reported to their Faculty. If the final exam is in a room with dividers between desks, any student who leans back during the final exam will be asked to hand in the exam and given a zero. Leaning back with partitions facilitates cheating, and if you lean back, we will presume you are attempting to cheat. Consider yourself warned. PROBLEM SETS are designed to give you practice, to spur discussion and generally to make you think. Students are encouraged to work together on problem sets, they are a good preparation for examinations. Copying problem set answers will almost certainly lead to a horrible examination result, and is strongly discouraged. Problem sets may include: 1. Multiple choice and graphing quizzes from the textbook website: http://www.myeconlab.com 2. Questions based on class presentations 3. Questions from the text 4. Classroom questions that are not completed in class may be added to a problem set. Students are free to discuss with peers as they tackle the problem, but MUST do the final work themselves. Each problem set will have a deadline for submission. This is necessary to facilitate their marking and return, and also ensures that I can hand out 5
answer keys as soon as possible. The textbook website can be accessed freely for all students, and will be used for many assignments. How to do the problem set! Practice, practice, practice! For some chapters, Myeconlab provides a limited number of questions. For others, it can generate many questions to give you practice in using the analytical tools needed to understand International Trade. This is the main reason I have switched textbooks! Here is how you use it: Go to the MyeEconlab website. Register for this textbook. Next time, you can log in. Click on study guide. When you go into the course site, you can use the ask my instructor tab to ask me a question. You can also use this if you find an error in the textbook answer. I will receive your question as well as a link to the screen you were looking at when you send the question. I can then provide you with a clear answer. Feedback through the ask my instructor guide has led to several corrections being made to the question bank as well as to the software. Journal submissions Journal submissions are due every 2 nd week. The schedule will differ for different groups of students and will be determined once the class starts. I will post the schedule on JUMP. Since only a small portion of students will hand in an assignment each class, I hope to hand them back the following class. The journal submission is meant to give me an opportunity to engage in a bit of a discussion with students and to provide an opportunity for students who need help to improve their writing (and for students who write well to keep in practice and possibly show off). Journal submissions will be marked on a 0-1-2 basis. ZERO if the submission is not handed in on time. ONE if the submission (after about the mid-point of the term) is really bad. TWO if the submission is handed in on time and reasonable for a third year economics course. Marking of class participation and group work. Attendance will occasionally be taken, either directly, or by asking students to submit an individual or group problem with names attached. This, along with in-class work, will be worth 5% of the final mark. Note: Students have tried to cheat on this activity. This resulted in both the absent student and the friend who cheated losing a letter grade (from an A to a B+). The mark for any individual class attendance is not worth a letter grade. PLEASE DO NOT CHEAT. Return of tests, assignments and exams (any paper marked material) 6
After a particular item is marked, I will bring it to class once and hand it out to the students in attendance. If a student does not collect the work at this point, he or she may pick up term work during my office hours during the term. I do not commit to retaining term work more than three months beyond the end of classes. All paper related term work will be destroyed after one year. Term work submitted by email may remain on the server longer, and I would be happy to send this to students who need it for future work, upon request. Results for MyeconLab assignments are provided to the students immediately and sent to me automatically. Note, the software has been updated for this text. There may be glitches along the way. If there are problems, I will always try to resolve them as fairly as possible to all students. 7