International Trade
Concepts:
Comparative versus absolute advantage. What is the difference?
What are the economic indicators of Globalization?
The role of accounting: How do we establish a country's wealth? What are its assets and how are they getting tracked? (for example: Depreciation rules - do they vary by country?)
We always believed that a market economy requires an open society, and a democratic political system. China is the counter-example: It is the biggest economy in the world, has a capitalist economic system, and a Communist party in power. Is "managed capitalism" a more successful model?
There isn’t a single ‘scientific’ way to draw the boundary between market and politics.
Group projects:
Choose a country and analyze its economy in terms of international trade. Aspects to consider: (Examples: Mexico, Iran, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Germany, UK.)
Inflows/outflows, export and import as a percentage of GDP (how did this develop over time, and how does it compare to other countries or the region?),
Structure of the economy (what does it produce, what are its strength and weaknesses.)
currency issues, inflation/deflation, Government budget, debt, etc.
population dynamics, workforce, geography.
How does all this affect the quality of life in this country? WHat are the political challenges associated with it?
Refugee flows and the economic conditions: How are the related? Give some examples and analyze them.
Analyze the development of international tourism. (number of travelers, tourism as a sector of the economy, hotel and car industry, airline traffic, cruise ships, etc.) What are the implications?
Multi-national corporations (MNCs): WHo are they (size, type of industry, governance models? How do they relate to the political environments?
Open borders - except for people? Discuss the cases of the UK/Brexit, and the US border issues.
Statistics
Discussion Questions:
What happened in Greece?
Cyber attacks have become the main frontier of international warfare. (Carnivore software, Snowden, Wikileaks, Sony attack, Russian hacking of US Election in 2016.)
Who controls the speed of the assembly line? (Foxconn, textile companies in Bangladesh, China's factories, Where do Nike shoes come from, etc.)
Is International trade good for everyone?
Investments in China: If the yuan is underrated, is Foreign direct Investment (FDI) from the US to China a good idea? Would the Chinese Gov be in favor of it?