Prof P Sinclair and Dr V Rappoport.

This course is optional for BSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc Economics, BSc Economics and Economic History, BSc Economics with Economic History, BSc Government and Economics, BSc Philosophy and Economics and BSc Social Policy and Economics.

Students should have completed Microeconomic Principles I or II (or equivalent) and Macroeconomic Principles (or equivalent).

The course will concentrate on various important economic policy issues and relevant economic tools. It will treat the issues at a level appropriate for students with the knowledge of economics provided by the courses already taken.
The topics covered are likely to include some of the following:

i. Globalisation: effects on welfare, development and income distribution.
ii. Instruments of trade policy.
iii. International negotiations and trade policies
iv. Global imbalances
v. World trade collapse
vi. Tax policies
vii. Monetary policy and exchange rate frameworks
viii. Financial integration and currency unions
ix. Financial crises and relevant policies

Lectures EC303: 20 MT and LT.

Classes/seminars EC303.A: 20 Sessional.

There is no course textbook. However, reference will be made during the course to particular chapters in at least some of the following books:

1. A book on international economics: during the first term, students are likely to find the following useful:
P. Krugman and M. Obstfeld International Economics: Theory and Policy, 7e Pearson 2010

2. Books that provide useful background reading for the second half of the course, in Lent Term 2012:

        (a) General books on the European economy / Union and the Eurozone:
R. Baldwin, C. Wyplosz The Economics of European Integration, 3e McGraw Hill 2009
P. de Grauwe The Economics of Monetary Union 8e Oxford UP 2009
F. Allen, E. Carletti, G. Corsetti (eds), Life in the Eurozone with or without Sovereign Default, Wharton School, U Penn 2011

        (b) Other financial crisis books
V. Acharya et al, Guaranteed to Fail Princeton UP 2011 (USA: the mortgages debacle)
D. Mayes, R. Pringle, M. Taylor (eds), Towards a New Framework for Financial Stability, Central Banking Publications 2009 (global / analytical)
A. Sheng, From Asian to Global Financial Crisis Cambridge UP 2009

        (c) Other books
J. Gruber Public Finance and Public Policy 3e Worth 2011
P. Krugman and M. Obstfeld International Economics: Theory and Policy 7e Pearson 2010
L. Mahadeva and P. Sinclair How Monetary Policy Works Routledge Taylor and Francis 2005

A three-hour written examination in the ST.