ECON 136, International Economics, Fall 2011

Last update: Feb. 14. Please scroll down to find the latest stuff, in red.

Sections

Contact info

Syllabus and text

The syllabus is here. Your text is Sawyer and Sprinkle, “ International Economics,” 3rd ed., Prentice Hall 2006, ISBN 013-1704168. The publisher provides a student web site which you may find useful.

Quizzes

There will be a 5-question quiz most Wednesdays.

Midterm exams

There will be midterm exams on Oct. 5 and Nov. 23

Class participation

I encourage all students to participate in class with questions, comments, arguments, etc. If your course score is a borderline between letter grades I may, at my discretion, bump your grade up based on your class participation.

Extra Credit

The Economics Department sonsors the Provocative Lecture series. Three lectures are given each semester, and you can obtain extra credit by attending. Those whose schedules preclude this will be given an alternative opportunity.

Final exam

There will be a comprehensive final exam.

Three takeaways from the class

Long after you have forgotten graphs, formulas, and even some of the concepts, I hope you will remember three things from this class:

  1. Free trade, whether domestic or international, benefits everyone in the long run.
  2. Free trade and international peace go hand in hand.
  3. Our current system of floating exchange rates is wasteful and destructive relative to the gold standard.

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Additional reading assignments

Watch this space for reading assignments or recommended but non-required reading.