Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student is able to:
• Use the main theories to explain the nature of international economic relations;
• Identify the potential costs and benefits of international trade and international labour mobility;
• Analyse government policies with respect to trade and to discuss the effects of various trade policies;
• Give a presentation, in collaboration with a fellow student, on a relevant topic.
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Required elective, major-related elective. Cannot be combined with EC2IEEI.
Globalisation refers to the growing interdependency between nations and firms through international trade and factor mobility. Understanding the process of globalisation requires the perspectives of many different disciplines, of which International Economics (international trade) and International Business (international investment and multinational enterprises) are two of the most relevant. The course International Economics, Spatial Interactions combines insights of these two complementary fields and offers an integrated perspective on the (changing) role of nations and firms in the global economy, with a clear focus on the spatial implications.
The course covers the theory and practice of globalisation, including international trade, the multinational enterprise and foreign direct investment (fragmentation, outsourcing). The main theories with respect to international trade will be analysed at length. Special attention will be given to the implications of trade for the distribution of income.
Trade policies are used to stimulate as well as to frustrate the international exchange of goods and services, both at the national and the supranational level (WTO; regional trade blocs). The focus in the second part of the course will be on the theory and practice of trade policies and the main institutions and players in the field of international trade.
Academic skills
This course focuses on the following academic skills:
Communication skills
• Being able to present the content of an article or the results of an (instructed) research.
• Being able to provide useful and correct feedback on a presentation or small paper.
• Being able to accept and process feedback from others on a presentation or small assignment.
Academic reasoning
• Thinking conceptually, thinking in terms of theory.
• Asking critical questions, having a curiosity-driven and critical attitude.
• Analysing questions from different perspectives.
• Identifying links between problems.
Social responsibility
• Being able to work effectively in teams for a specific project with limited intervention or instruction.
Format
Lectures and tutorials.
Assessment method
• Written exam (open questions) (70% of the final grade)
• Presentation (30% of the final grade).
Effort requirements
Attendance (80%) and active participation in the tutorials: students present and discuss the weekly exercises (Thursday meetings) + (team) presentation and discussion of the literature (Tuesday meetings).
Course repeaters
Students, who signed up for the course in previous years, did not drop the course in time and failed the course, will participate in the course repeaters programme.
With respect to the teaching format, this implies that course repeaters:
• Can follow the regular lectures;
• Cannot follow the regular tutorials;
• Don't have effort requirements;
• Will have the possibility to follow a special tutorial before each exam.
With respect to the assessment method, this implies that course repeaters:
• Have an interim exam (50%) and a final exam (50%). The average of these two is the end result of the course;
• Have a possibility for a supplementary or replacement exam if the unrounded final grade is higher than or equal to 4.0.
In case online access is required for this course and you are not in the position to buy the access code, you are advised to contact the course coordinator for an alternative solution. Please note that access codes are not re-usable meaning that codes from second hand books do not work, as well as access codes from books with a different ISBN number. Separate or spare codes are usually not available.
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