Economics 188 -
Management and the Global Economy
Spring
Quarter 2014
Professor
Alan Spearot
Overview
and Expectations
In
this course, we will study the behavior of firms in the international economy,
and the motivations for governments to regulate international commerce. To do so, we will incorporate the
modern theory of the firm within standard models of international trade. Doing so requires economic theory, so I
will expect that everybody give a honest effort in
working through the derivations that we cover in class. Further, we will also cover various
empirical studies. As such, I will
expect that students read through these studies in preparation for class. Finally, we will cover a handful of business
case studies to study how individual firms made decisions related to
participation in the global economy.
Coursework
and Grading
Grading
will be based on five items. There
will be two quizzes that follow critical sections of the course. Each will be worth 25% of your final
grade. The rest of the grade will
be based on various steps in developing a paper/presentation for the
course. I will discuss the paper/presentation
below. The precise grading
breakdown is summarized in the following table:
|
5% Paper
Topic |
10% Paper Outline |
15%
Paper Presentation |
|
25%
Exam 1 |
25%
Exam 2 |
20%
Paper |
Cheating
will be dealt with harshly. You
will fail the course and be reported for academic misconduct.
Readings
Reading
and assignments are posted on the webpage. Readings are linked for download. Most readings must be downloaded from JSTOR, in which case
you must download them from a university computer or be logged into the library
prior to download. Please plan
ahead. If you have a problem with
downloading these papers, please let me know.
Business
case studies must be downloaded from Harvard Business publishing. Please use the following link to access
the 188 course module:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/26241651
The
cost of each study is roughly $4, so you will have to pay via credit card when
downloading each case.
Paper/Presentation
In
this course, 50% of your grade will be determined by a paper and
presentation. The assignment is to
pick an industry that interests you, and to write a paper summarizing that
industry and how it interacts in the global economy. Who are the major players? What expansion strategies did these players choose? What are the major global policies that
affect this industry?
There
will be various stages to this project, which are listed below. No late work will be accepted at any
stage.
The
order for presentations can be found here.
Office
Hours
My
office hours will be 9:30-11:30 on Wednesdays. My office is 459 Engineering 2. My email is acspearot@gmail.com. The Course website is the following:
http://people.ucsc.edu/~aspearot/Econ188197.htm
Exam
Re-grades
Exam
re-grade requests must be submitted in writing, and only after looking at the
answer key. I reserve the right to
re-grade the entire exam during a re-grade.
Course
Schedule and readings:
|
Week |
Section |
Title |
Reading |
Notes |
Assignments |
|
March 31 - April 4 |
Intro |
Review and Intro |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Modeling Firm
Behavior |
|
|
|
|
|
Exporting |
Firms and
Exporting |
Optional Reading: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 7-11 |
|
Firms and
Exporting |
|
Optional Reading: Helpman 2.1-2.3, 2.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ben and Jerry's |
Harvard Case |
|
|
April 14-18 |
|
Policies that
affect exporters |
Optional Reading: Helpman 2.1-2.3, 2.7 |
Proposal April 18th |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 21-25 |
Writing Practicum |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exam 1 |
|
EXAM April 25th |
||
|
April 28 - May 2 |
FDI |
Which firms invest
and why? |
Optional Reading: Helpman 2.4, Helpman 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Offshoring
of America |
Harvard Case |
|
|
May 5 - 9 |
FDI |
Policies that
affect foreign investment |
Ireland, FDI in
China, 60 Minutes
Video on Tax Havens |
Harvard Case |
|
|
|
FDI |
FDI Case Studies |
Walmart
in Germany,
Autos, NAFTA |
Harvard Case |
Outline May 9th |
|
May 12 - 16 |
Management |
Management Practices |
|
|
|
|
|
Management |
Management
Practices |
|
|
|
|
May 19 - 23 |
Policy |
GATT/WTO and Trade
Agreements |
|
|
|
|
|
Policy |
GATT/WTO and Trade
Agreements |
Tokarick, Cambodia, HongKong |
Harvard Case |
|
|
May 26 - 30 |
Presentation
Practicum |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exam 2 |
|
EXAM May 30th |
||
|
June 2 - 6 |
|
Presentations |
|
|
Paper Due June 6th |