California State University-FullertonDr. Denise Stanley
Department of Economics, MCBESGMH 3339
Office Hours: T, TH 11:30-12:30657-278-7498
And by
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY Honors 303-T
Countries of the world are increasingly more interdependent through flows of products, capital, and labor. This rate of “economic globalization” is occurring at a rapid scale which is unprecedented in modern history. This offers opportunities for countries and individuals to both succeed and to fail at levels which are more pronounced than those of previous generations. Global competition offers both positive and negative paths for nations and households to improve their standard of living. Economic globalization has also created different forms of “international inequality” which is constantly changing over time. Labels of “developing” and “developed” or “Third World” and “First World” nations are becoming more fluid. This course will include components of several sub-disciplines within economics and other social science disciplines to examine the flows of globalization and how they have impacted human outcomes. In particular, the literatures from international economics, economic development, economic geography, economic history and international political economy have all offered important perspectives on globalization.
Important topics include:
How is the “standard of living” measured? How is globalization measured?
What is a summary measure of a country’s economic relations with the rest of the world?
Why are some countries poor, on average, while others are not?
How has globalization affected different sectors of an economy?
What are the differences across geographical regions of the world in terms oftheir background characteristics and globalization experience?
How do freer trade, freer capital flows, and freer labor migration affect sending and receiving countries, and their populations, differently?
How have different political economy trends in the last century moved globalization?
What institutions have managed globalization and freer movements, and are these institutions (such as NAFTA, the WTO, and the IMF) good or bad, for whom?
Objectives and Approach:This course will provide you with an introduction to the relationships and dynamics of the global economy, and help you to develop an appreciation for the diversity and complexity of the economies around the world. At the end of the course you should be able to independently form defensible judgments about the accuracy and meaning of reports about patterns of economic growth, trade, international financial arrangements, exchange rates, the benefits and risks of global integration, and related issues. Economic theories and concepts that are useful in understanding the interests of competing and cooperating regions, and the historic patterns of trade and economic development, will be developed and applied extensively in discussions, small group exercises, exams, quizzes and written essays.
The course will generally follow the structure of the main textbook, Eckes’ The Contemporary Global Economy. There will be three substantive modules including the context-setting we do in the first week. The first parts measures of economic achievement and globalization and the current status of the major regions of the world in these areas; the second integrates the theories behind product, capital and labor movements within economic globalization while the third looks more at the role of historical policies and regional institutionswithin economic globalization.
Required Book:
Eckes, Alfred., Jr. The Contemporary Global Economy: A History since 1980. (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).
Other Course Materials (on reserve): These are listed in the relevant week of the Course Calendar below. They will be available for a 2-hour period in the library. Generally, these can also be seen on the Blackboard webiste for the course. The authors include:
Bhagwati, J.“In Defense of Globalization: It Has a Human Face.” Rivista di politica economica. 94: 9-20, 2004.
Greenwald, B. and Kahn, J. Globalization: The irrational fear that someone in China will take your job. (New York: Wiley & Sons, 2008). Chp. 1.
IDB America. “Is geography destiny?” March-April 2000.
King, P. “International Economics and International Economic Policy: A Reader” 4th5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.) Chps. 7, 14, 16, 18.
Landes, D. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998).
Lechner, F. and Boli, J. The Globalization Reader; 4th ed. (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). Chps.20,23,27.
Los Angeles Times. “Rising Stars of the Global Market”. August 21, 2011.
Popov, V. The Long Road to Normalcy: Where Russia Now Stands.” UNU-Wider Working Paper No.2010/13.
The Economist Magazine.“The New Champions” and “A Bigger World” September 18, 2008. (1)
“Why the Tail Wags the Dog” August 8, 2011. (2)
“Puns and Punditry’ December 10, 2011. (3)
“How to Get A Date” December 31, 2011. (4)
“Briefing Africa’s hopeful economies” December 31, 2011. (5)
The World Bank. The Day After Tomorrow, Synthesis. (Washington, DC: IBRD, September 2010).
World Development:1.Lal, D. “India and China: Contrasts in Economic Liberalization?” 23:1475-1494, 1995.
2. Zheng, J. “Can China’s Growth be Sustained? A Productivity Perspective” 37; 874- 888, 2009.
3. Williams, A. “Shing a Light on the Resource Curse.” 39: 490-505, 2011.
Email and Internet-usage:I will be transitioning this course to Moodle, but for now a Blackboard web-site complements the in-class experience by providing links to relevant information, Power Point slides, important websites, and timely grade access. You should be automatically enrolled as you registered: go to and click on the Blackboard tab. Then look for the Honors 303 website. Please note that the Blackboard distribution list allows me to contact you only through your campus email (so please check that often). I answer emails promptly, but usually not on weekends.
General Education Objectives: This course meets the General Education (G.E.) requirement in category III.C.2-Implications, Explorations, and Participatory Experience in Social Sciences. It includes the following goals for student learning: a. to understand broad, unifying themes in the social sciences from cross-disciplinary perspectives, b. to solve complex problems that require social science reasoning, c. to relate the social sciences to significant social problems or to other related disciplines. The course includes a significant writing component with evaluations offering opportunities for students to improve their writing.
Grading Policy: Your grade will be based on two exams, two quizzes, two analytical writing assignments related to one region, and class participation. Exams will comprise 50% of the grade (2 @ 15%, 1 @ 20%), open-book quizzes will be worth 15% (3 @ 5%), written essays will add up to 25% of the grade (1@5%, 2@10%), and participation will compose 10%. I will convert all scores to a 500 points basis. Thus, the exams will total 250 points, the quizzes 75 points, the essays 125 points, and participation 50 points.
Exams will focus on the assigned readings and the material covered in class. Longer exam essays will be drawn from a list provided in advance. In-class quizzes will provide a preparation assessment to determine your knowledge of the material. Thus exams will involve not only learning and memorizing new concepts but also understanding and combining different points of view to critically use the material. Both multiple choice and essay questions are included for assessment. Quizzes will occur before each exam. Make-up quizzes or exams are not permitted, and you are advised to note the set dates below. Participation includes both trends in individual involvement (questions and answers) and a small group exercise in which pairs will provide a short summary of a reserve reading.
Analytical assignments will require that you apply information, methods and/or theory from the assigned readings and other sources to actual world events. A separate handout will provide more details. Each individual writing assignment will be about 4-5 pages in length and include a focus on a poor or a rich nation within each of the major regions of the world outside of North America. The first essay will include comments and instructor feedback which should be incorporated into the second and third essay. The first and second essays can be re-written, using the feedback, for an additional 5 points. Be careful to avoid plagiarism and use your own words and cite the ideas and words of others.
- Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. The University Catalog and the Class Schedule provide a detailed description of Academic Dishonesty under `University Regulations.’ I will enforce the university policies (UPS 300.021) as found in your California State University Catalogue: Please also see the link at
Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking the work (words, ideas, concepts, data, graphs, artistic creation) of another whether that work is paraphrased or copied in verbatim or near verbatim form and offering it as one’s own without giving credit to that source. When sources are used in a paper, acknowledgment of the original author or source must be made through appropriate citation/attribution and, if directly quoted, quotation marks or indentations must be used. Improper acknowledgment of sources in essays, papers, or presentations in prohibited. In particular cheating on exams or plagiarism will result in a lower letter grade for the work at hand and may result in an “F” for the course as well as additional disciplinary actions.
- The University requires students with disabilities to register within the first week of classes with the Office of Disabled Student Services (DSS), located in UH-101 and at (657) 278 – 3112 in order to receive prescribed accommodations and support services appropriate to their disability. Students with disabilities have the right to accommodations for documented special needs via the Disabled Student Service Office:
- All students should be aware of the required steps for campus emergencies:
Course Calendar (subject to change):
Date(Week of)TopicReading
Module 1: An Economic Overview of the World
January 23Measures of Economic Success Eckes Chp. 1
Landes Intro.,Chp. 1
IDB Americas
January 30Measures of Globalization & ExchangeEckes Chp. 1
February 7 Regional Differences over time;
Globalization & Poverty/InequalityKing, Chp. 18
Lechner, Chp. 23
February 14Wrap-up: Quiz 1 and Exam 1, Paper 1 due
Module 2: Why Does the World Look This Way?
February 21The Logic of Trade: rationales, institutionsEckes Chp.5 (to p. 92) King, Chp. 14
February 28The Logic of Trade: rationales, institutionsEckes Chp.6
March 5The Logic of Capital Flows: movementsEckes Chps. 8, 7 from p. 157)
& crisesKing, Chp. 7
March 12 The Logic of Labor Flows: migration Eckes Chp. 10 (to p. 229),
Chp. 1 (8-14)
March 19Quiz 2; review Exam 2, Paper 2 due
March 26 (Spring Break)
Module 3: How After Human Actors affected the Economic Overview, and How Will it Look?
April 2The Role of History & Policies 1870-1980Eckes Chp.2, p. 93-95
Greenwald, Chp. 1
April 9 The Role of History & Policies 1980-2007 Eckes Chp. 5, after p. 95
April 16Specific Regional Characteristics:Eckes Chp. 3
The “Rich” Countries (US, Europe)Landes Chp. 27
Popov, V.
April 23Regional Characteristics:Eckes Chp. 4
The “Poor” Countries (Africa, Asia,LAC)Landes Chp. 28
The Economist5
World Development 1,2,3
April 30The New Era, CritiquesEckes Chps. 9,11
Lechner, Chp. 27
Bhagwati, J.; King, Chp.16
May 7Wrap-up: Review and Quiz 3, Paper 3 dueLos Angeles Times
The Economist1-4
World Bank (Day after)
May 15 Finals week:Exam 3 9:30-11:20 AM