Professor Patrick Conway 300-F Gardner Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 2-3 pm and by appointment E-mail: patrick_conway@unc.edu

Quick links: Cases Archive page Questions for negotiation Notes on Learning with Cases

INTRODUCTION

This course builds upon the knowledge of international economics you accumulated in previous semesters and applies it to a series of specific case studies of international trade, international finance, and government policies to influence these.  We will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 am in Gardner 106.  International Economics (Economics 460) is a prerequisite for this course.  

The semester is divided into two parts.  The initial section will be an extension of your knowledge on six topical areas central to international economic relations -- including trade, finance, and investment theory -- through case studies, class discussions and student presentations.  In the second part -- in fact, interspersed with the cases -- each student plays a role in negotiating a treaty between the US and China on trade and financial relations.
  
 By the end of the semester, each student will have been graded on a 15-page paper (30 percent), participation in the case studies and treaty negotiations (20 percent), a midterm (20 percent) and a cumulative final exam (30 percent).  The midterm will be held in class on 26 February.  The paper will be due the last day of class, 24 April, at the beginning of the class period.  Late submission will be penalized.  The final examination will be given on 6 May at 8 am.
 
 There is no text for the course; each student is expected to have an international economics text for reference.   The materials gathered on this website are also required materials; these materials include those linked to the archive page.

The course organization is a non-standard one, and relies heavily upon student participation; the following pages give greater detail on the roles that students will be asked to play.
 

COURSE FRAMEWORK

(1) We will extend our understanding of international economics through discussion and analysis of the theory and practice of six current issues in international economics.

The theoretical issues, and case applications, are:
 

We will have roughly 2 weeks for each topic.  We will begin with the case study for identification of relevant questions.  We will then introduce the theory available for the analysis of these questions, and will at the end return to the case for conclusions and extensions.

There will be substantial student involvement in the preparation, presentation and extension of each case.  The 20 percent of the grade associated with participation will be assigned based in part upon the presentations made and the responses to written assignments associated with the case studies.  Use of cases in the classroom may be new to you; if so, read "Notes on Learning with Cases" to prepare.
 
(2)  We will also apply our knowledge to the issues of US-China economic relations through negotiation of targeted agreements; each student will represent a different interest group in these negotiations. There will be negotiations after each case discussion. In the final two weeks the results of the negotiations will be summarized in an economic treaty between the US and China.  Participation in these negotiations will also be factored into the class participation grade.
 
On the final day of class, the students will be debriefed by the Presidents of the two nations in a policy review session.
 

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

The final product expected of the student includes:
    • a 15-page paper presenting the importance of US/China trade and finance issues to the actor he/she represents. The class presentation during the course will be a report on work in progress on this paper. Follow this link to a discussion of expected form and content of the paper.
    • a one-page outline of the goals with which the actor enters negotiations.
    • a mid-term exam covering lecture and discussion materials from the first six weeks of class.
    • a comprehensive final exam.
Participation in the case studies and the treaty negotiations will also be a graded component of the course, with weight as assigned above.
 

TREATY NEGOTIATIONS

The negotiations for the US/China economic treaty will address salient contentious issues in relations between the two countries: exchange rate policy, access to financial services, intellectual property protections, environmental protection, foreign investment, and protection against surges in merchandise imports. 

Here is a candidate "table of negotiators" for this treaty.

 

If enrollment is the anticipated 25 students, there will be one or two students for each "actor".  You will then divide the duties as you wish.  Clearly, issues will overlap the two negotiations; exports, for example, are important to China for both the employment and the US dollar receipts they generate.  The negotiators will have to reconcile differences in the last week, and are encouraged to "keep in touch" even earlier to avoid irreconcilable differences.  Follow this link to short biographies of these actors.