Dr M Manger, LCH 2.08

Course intended primarily for MSc International Political Economy. It is an optional course for students on MSc Comparative Politics, MSc Political Science and Political Economy, MPA Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public Policy and Management/MPA International Development/MPA European Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public and Social Policy and LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs. Also available to students taking MSc International Political Economy as part of the LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Affaires Internationales programme. Open to other interested students where degree regulations permit.

All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the Student Statement box on the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.

The study of the choice of trade policy and the institutional context in which it takes place.

This course investigates how theories of emphasising distributional interests and institutions can explain trade policy choices. Particular emphasis is placed on giving students an understanding of the fundamental models of political economy. The course then applies these various issue-areas of trade policy, among them the role of the GATT and the WTO, regional trade agreements, trade in services, and the relationship between trade and foreign direct investment. While there is no formal pre-requisite for the course, it would be preferable for students to have already completed an introductory course in microecnomics and basic knowledge of quantitative analysis. Students without a previous background in quantitative methods can attend lectures from M1451 and M1452.

A series of 21 lectures (IR457) including one revision lecture , and 18 seminars (IR457) based on student presentations. Lectures begin in week one of the MT and seminars begin in the third week of the MT. Ten lectures on Introduction to Some Concepts in Economics will also be given as part of IR450.1, explaining the law of comparative costs, purchasing power parity, the quantity theory of money, the balance of payments and other concepts currently used in the literature. These lectures, starting in week one of the MT, are highly recommended for MSc IPE students without any background in economics. Students will be required to submit three 2,000-word essays over the course of MT and LT..

The bulk of this course will be taught using journal articles. In addition, students will find it useful to consult several overview texts on the political economy of trade and the workings of the global trading system, among them Paul R. Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld, and Marc Melitz (2011), International Economics, 9th ed. Prentice Hall; Bernard M. Hoekman and Michel M. Kostecki (2010), The Political Economy of the World Trading System, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press; Douglas A. Irwin (2009), Free Trade Under Fire, 3rd edition, Princeton University Press; and Robert Feenstra (2004), Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence, Princeton University Press. A detailed reading list will be made available on Moodle.

ST formal three-hour examination, three questions to be chosen from 12.