BrandeisInternationalBusinessSchool
FinalDRAFT - Econ 201a,
Global Economic Environment
Fall2015,Tuesday afternoon, Friday morning
Dr. John W. Ballantine, Jr.Global Economic Environment, Econ 201a
978 371-2652 (home, fax)limit to 40 +/- students (8-9 groups)
e-mail:
Class meetings:Tuesday 12:30 – 3:20 pm, Friday 9:30-12:20 pm
Office hours:after or before class or by appointment (please email me and TAs)
ICourse description:
Global Economic Environment (GEE) is about how business decision-makers, politicians, and policy-making institutions operate in our changing/conflicted global environment. The process of globalization -- the interconnection of financial and goods/real markets, and information -- brings together a series of disparate topics, cutting across many disciplines, particularly politics and economics. We will look how people approached these issues over timeand today through case discussions, debates, readings, papers and problem sets.
We begin the class, with basic macro-economic concepts (GDP, inflation, money, growth) and the theory of trade – why countries trade and the gains from trade. From here we will move to the reasons for foreign investment (FDI) and capital flows – how and why companies invest in other/foreign countries…and then back to financial crises (FX). A review of these topics will let us examine productivity, growth, capital markets,and foreign exchange rates.
We will also look at the changing institutional arrangements governing the economy and the broader policy issues that are part of the political debate – distribution of income, labor practices, environmental impact, the role of the state, corruption, human rights, and, of course, our economic well-being / current state of our global recovery / political crises. These issues will form the core questions in our class debates.
Student debates about current topics will take up much of our class time. This will give small groups of students the opportunity to present information and arguments clearly, respond to other perspectives / points of view, and persuade your fellow students of the strength of your debate position. The debates bring a lot of energy to our class discussions.
In addition to debates about economics and politics, students will be actively involved incase discussions that contain confusing data. Students will learn to make recommendations with incomplete information. Each student will also work on draftingshort memos – how to present recommendations and back up arguments with relevant data that are to the point.
By the end of the class, you should have a good sense of economic principles, be familiar with economic data, be able to write strong memos, be ready to debate almost any topic with passion, logic and humor, and be comfortable with case discussions.
GEE is FUN, challenging and exciting. Welcome Aboard!
Learning Goals:
Through a combination of cases, readings, debates, discussion, and research, GEE students will gain a better understanding of the complexities of our global economy. Throughout the semester the course will focus on the following learning goals.
- Understanding of economic concepts:
- monetary policy, money supply, credit creation, money demand and inflation
- fiscal policy, multipliers; aggregate supply and demand, and economic growth
- National economic measures (GDP, etc); Balance of payments
- Trade theory, comparative advantage, FDI, capital flows,
- Financial markets, international financial flows, exchange rates, currency crises
- regulation and controls of global markets
- economic growth, productivity, and development - Appreciation of political economy
- different political systems and the role of institutions
- role of people, leaders and how various groups are represented in the state
- different perspectives / backgrounds and history of the key players
- rule of law and ways of “doing business”
- government policy, decisions and economic consequences - Development of professional skills
- case analysis and discussion
- debate positions / presentations, questions & answers,
- data analysis, graphs and presentation
- memo writing and written communication / recommendations
- team participation, leadership and group work
- research and bibliographic resources - Grasp of the complexities of globalization
- interaction of various forces / people / institutions
- principles of economic, politics, sociology, history, and culture
- complexity of change and the challenges facing our global economy - Be excited about learning
Course Structure
The schedule lays out the general structure of the course. We will cover four broad areas:
- Macroeconomics / economic principles
- Trade theory / foreign direct investment
- Capital markets, crises and foreign exchange
- Economic growth and development
These economic topics will be explored through a combination of readings, background material, data analysis, and case discussions. The first 80 minutes of class will be spent:
- first, discussing the economic theory / principles illustrated by the case.Our focus will be on the intuition of economics through a quick economic principles lecture with slides (10 minutes)with the online text providing a more structured review.
- Secondthe case discussion with involve understanding theDATA exhibits/ issues: read the cases, think about the questions on the syllabus, and look at the data.
- Third, the class will break into separate role playsto understand the perspective of various players involved in the case. I will provide a description of the role play before our case discussion and an online student forum to discuss the roles. The role plays is a dynamic and somewhat confusing part of the class, however, it will engage everyone in the case discussion.
Once the class is underway, we willDebatesome of the key issues confronting decision makers throughout the world. We will discuss the debate issues and divide into small teams to debate the issue during the second half of the class (60 + minutes). See details later in the syllabus.
This is a reading, discussion, writing, and research intensive course with a good deal of prepared work that will be passed in on a regular basis. See the schedule: eight assignments during the semester, plus two debates OR, 9 assignments including the debate paper. TAs will be available for assistance with the material (not the answers, but how to approach).
Course material:
Required: Course packet, use Harvard Business school web site, see HBS registration instructions on next page 4 with link.
Background text online: Krugman and Wells, Economics (KW), or Feenstra and Taylor (FT) available on LATTE,Hard copies are also on reserve
Debate material will be posted on latte as background for your debates. The debate teams are expected to go beyond this material as they prepare the debates.
Please read Financial Times or The Economist to keep current with our changing world.
You are responsible for obtaining the materials prior to each class. Additional material will be made available on the course latte web site or passed out in class.
Come to class PREPARED
Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites for the course and ALL IBS students are expected to take a global political economy class at IBS. Many students have some familiarity with economics and the business press. We encourage you to look at the online text material in Aplia.com
GRADING:
Course grades will be determined according to the following schedule:
Case write-ups(4)30%
Problem sets(3-4 short online)20%
Debates, two (2)(groups of 4)20%
Final debate paper (groups of 2 or 3 students)15%
Class participation15%
DUE DATES
Written assignments (9including final debate paper and global essay):
Case write-ups are due during the week -- Uploaded to LATTE --marked on the syllabus:
A. Class 2 (Sept 4, 8) - Globalization CHALLENGES from YOUR perspective, 1-2 pagewith some supporting data / example, THEN country Data memos (class 3)
A. Class 3:(Sept 18, 22) Country data down load memo
1. Class 4 (Sept 25, Oct 6) – small group case
2.Class 8, (Oct 23, Nov 3) – individual case
3. Class 11(Nov 13, 24) – individual case
Problem set / online quizzes (4, plus bonus):
During the semester there will be three-four (4) short take home (online) problem sets to make sure that you have an understanding of the economic concepts that are illustrated through the case discussions / readings. The problem sets will be drawn from the online economics text (aplia.com KW, FT) and cases. You will have one week to prepare (and practice problems too). The problem sets will be taken and scored online.
B. Practice Problem set: monetary, fiscal policyDUE Sunday, Sept 20, 27th
- Class 5 online problem set 1, DUE Monday, Oct 12
- Class 9/10 online problem set 2, DUE Monday, Nov 9
- Class 12 online problem set 3, DUE Tuesday, Dec 1
NAME cards: Students should keep name cards upthroughout the semester, and sit in the same seat!
NO computers should be open in class, except for debates / case material. (No email, facebook, OR WEB cruising)
Pay attention to class discussion and participate!
Instructions to Access the Harvard Business Course Materials Online:
Course link at HBS: link to course packet
Thank you.
COURSE DETAILS
For technical assistance, please contact the Harvard Business Publishing Tech Help line at 800 810-8858 (outside the U.S. and Canada, call 617 783-7700 ); or email . Our business hours are 8 am - 8 pm ET, Monday-Thursday, and 8 am - 7 pm ET on Friday.
Additional instructions for accessing the Aplia onlineKrugman (KW) text and Feenstra (FT) problem sets will be emailed and posted on Latte.
Academic Honesty: All students are expected to be familiar with and abide by the academic honesty policies of Brandeis.
Academic Integrity:
The University has request that course syllabi include the following passages:
“Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person – be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner – without proper acknowledgement of the source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet or created by another student.
“Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section Three of the Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, or in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification.
“If you are working in groups that I have authorized, I will expect your answers to resemble those of your partners; otherwise I expect you to do your work separately from your friends, classmates, family members, and so on. You are not permitted to have anyone other than your professors help you on written assignments outside of class. If you have questions on the type of help you may receive, please ask me before you seek help from someone.”[1]
NOTE,
We will check your essays and papers through TURNITIN for academic honesty. I will also expect that the work you submit is your work; however, you may consult and work with others on problem sets and memos. NONETHELESS, you are expected to follow the class instructions regarding group work and consult with TAs if you have questions.
Disabilities:
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
IIGeneral Course explanation / guidelines:
Class sessions will be devoted to a discussion shorteconomics lecture, case discussion role play. It is expected that each student will come prepared to class ready to discuss the readings and the case.
A. Lecture and readings: MOST of the classes/sections will start with a short conceptual economics lecture that should be explored in greater depth in the online economics texts. The purpose of the lectures and readings in the course is to give the students the concepts that are illustrated in the case. The text book readings are assigned for their relevance to the case and to re-emphasize the economic principles.
B. Cases Discussions: We will usually start each case discussion by looking at the data, identifying thebig issues/questions in the case and then getting into our role plays.
- Case discussion questions are on the syllabus. These questions are designed to stimulate your thinking rather than structure or limit your analysis of each case.
- Additional case preparation emails / role plays will be sent to you before class
- Case role play instructions will be posted on our Latte Forums before each case discussion. We will break into separate groups to talk about the perspectives/ roles of the different players in the case? Therole playwill help us understand the challenges of coming to a decision.
Emails: I will usually send a follow-up email to everyone after each class. This helps summarize some of the material covered in our class discussion, clarify the confusing points and remind all of what we are supposed to do for the next class.
C. Written memos cases: Students are also expected to turn in three (3 cases) three page case write-ups during the semester (with data exhibits). The write-ups should address the general issues and be specific (refer to relevant data). Students will work in small groups for one of the case write-ups, and submit two individual case write-ups.
(1 small group case (2/3 people) and 2 individual case write-ups)
The basic memo guidelines (structure) for case write-ups (we will review in class and I will post sample memos on latte): GRADING rubic will be posted on Latte.
- What are the issues (describe the situation); What is the problem / challenge?
- What is your analysis and your recommendations.
- How do you support your analysis and recommendation with relevant data,
- What are your caveats and issues / concerns? What don’t you know…what concerns you about your recommendations.
Some additional case write-up tips (organization and structure matter!) Case write-ups should be 2-3 pages long, not more than 1000 words, with exhibits.
Use a bullet outline to organize your memo with descriptive headings for each section.
- Introduce the case by identifying the issues. You don’t need to restate the details of the case (you should assume the person grading the cases has read them). Present the essence of the problem and causes. What is the problem? Your recommendation?
- Analyze the problems and use evidence from the case and the exhibits. You may need to manipulate the data to come up with useful figures. Refer to the exhibits in the case. A summary table or graph that supports your analysis and position is important.
- Think in terms of political and socioeconomic circumstances at both the country-level as well as the global perspective where appropriate. Use your knowledge of economic and other theoretical concepts.
- Given your analysis of the situation, decide whether the strategy followed in the case was a good one or not. Defend your position and if you disagree, then put forward your recommendations.
D. Debates: Discuss ISSUES… class / online. Select NEW 2015debate topics
During the semester we will have eight(maybe nine) debates. Students will divide into teams of four/five per team and be prepared to debate both sides of an issue. The actual position that you will take will not be decided until a day or two before the debate. Teams must prepare both sides of the debate. (You will debate twice during the semester)
The debate topics will be decided during the first three weeks of the semester. The final list of topics and debate team schedule will be SET by third/fourth week of class. For example we might debate in week 5:
“The Federal Reserve should taper QE#. The economy is growing”
The general structure of the debate will be as follows:
(You should have a brief handout or power point slides with (8-10) summary slides / data.
- each side opens with a brief statement (5 minutes each)
-a response is made by each side after the opening statement (4 minutes each)
-twoquestions from the opposing team and response (2 minutes for each question)
-audience and professor ask questions of each team (4) with 12 minutes of response
-restatement from each team of their argument and other questions (3 minutes)
-final summary statement (2 minutes)
-Final class vote, position and feedback on the debate topic (3 minutes)
Each debate should be quite interactive and take approximately 50-60 minutes with five minutes of preparation before we get started. The debates are a fun way to illustrate the challenges confronting our peoples in various parts of the political economy.
Debate paper:
At the end of the semester, the debate team will divide up into smaller groups (2 /3 each) and prepare a 6-8 page paper supporting one of their debate positions. Students will do the paper as a subset (two / three) of the debate team. The papers are due by December in hard copy.