Syllabus for Economics 268 Spring 2010
Professor Edward Tower
December 10, 2009 version
Current Issues in International Trade and Economic
Development
Or informally: “Neat New Books in Trade and
Development”
Room 227A Social Sciences
919-660-1818 office phone
919-332-2264 cell phone
tower@econ.duke.edu
Class meets Tuesday and Thursday 4:25PM-12:55PM in 107 Social
Sciences.
This course is titled “Special Topics in International Trade and Economic
Development.” I think of it as “Neat New Books in International Trade and Economic
Development. In the course we read and comment by blackboard and in class on one
book each week. All but Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations are recent. I like to close
the course with Adam Smith and ask whether we have learned anything since Smith
wrote. In addition to reading and commenting, each student is required to write a book
review for publication in a scholarly journal of a book of his or her choice. Last time I
taught the course over two thirds of the students did publish their review in a scholarly
journal. I strongly encourage students to discuss their book with the author. The vast
majority of authors have enthusiastically worked with their student reviewer. If you go
to the Duke Journal of Economics web site on the Econ Dept. web site you can find
the list of books they reviewed and journals they published in.
There is lots of reading in this course. Each student is asked to hand in an essay on one
chapter of the book and hand it to all the students at the class when we discuss that
chapter. No more than one page please. This forces you to focus on what is important.
This semester’s readings are ecletic, covering a number of different areas. That is
intentional. I tried to find a set of books that give worthwhile insights into economics
and are written in novel ways.
Class attendance is required. Part of the grade will depend on it. If you cannot make a
class, it is important that you let me know in advance.
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The book list:
Writing
1. Diedre McCloskey, Economical Writing, Waveland Press, ISBN 1-57766-063-3,
2000, paperback, 98pp., $11.95.
International Trade
2. Doug Irwin, Free Trade Under Fire, Princeton University Press, 2009, 313pp.
paperback, ISBN 978-0-691-14315-6. $19.62 from Amazon
3. Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential
Agreements Can Undermine Free Trade, 2008, Council of Foreign Relations, $8.16
from Amazon. ISBN 978-0-19-533165-3. 127pp.
Development
4. Paul Holden, Swimming Against the Tide? An Assessment of the Private Sector in
the Pacific, Asian Development Bank. 2004. Paul is one of my first PhD’s at Duke.
This book is an effective advocate for wise economic policy. Paul will talk to us about
it in person on on a video/audio connection. He has given me a free copy for each
member of the class.
5. Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms, Princeton University Press, 2007, $18.95,
$12.89 from Amazon, paperback. ISBN 978-0-19-533165-3. 418pp.
6. Robert E. Anderson. Just Get out of the Way: How Government Can Help Business
in Poor Countries. $24.95. Cato Institute. 2004. On the Amazon web site some are
available for $0.70 plus $3.99 shipping. ISBN 1-930865-54-6. Hardbound. 274pp.
7. Steve Rosefielde’s book on China and India, in press. He will give us stuff to read
and will talk with us.
8. Robert Barro, Determinents of Economic Growth: A Cross-country Empirical
Study, Lional Robins Lecture, Paperback, 1999, second edition, MIT ISBN 0-26252254-3. 145 pages. $12.90 from Amazon.
War and Terrorism
9. Alan B. Krueger. What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism.”
Princeton University Press, Princeton and Woodstock, UK. 2007. 14.99/$24.95. ISBN:
978-0-691-13438-3. 194pp. $10.17 from Amazon.
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10. Jurgen Brauer and Hubert Van Tuyll. Castles, Battles and Bombs: How Economics
Explains Military History. Paperback, August 2009. $18.00. From Amazon $12.96.
University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0-226-07163-3. 403pp.
The Environment in History
11. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, Penguin,
ISBN 0-670-03337-5. 2005, 575pp. $2.82+$3.99 shipping from Amazon.
Great Minds at Play
12. Stephen Levitt and David Dubner. 2009. Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and
Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (hardcover). $29.99. $12 from
Amazon. Hardcover. ISBN:?270pp.
Here is a neat web site that allows you to find the cheapest source of each book. It
was set up by two undergraduates.
http://www.campusbooks4less.com/cgibin/bookSearch/bookstoreSearch.cgi?searchBy=isbn&searchVal=061852844X&func=submit
Class Schedule:
Book Titles are Still Tentative.
January 2009
Th14 Introduction
Tu19 Irwin Part 1 Book list of five possible titles for review due. You might look
at Amazon and at publisher’s web pages.
Th21 Irwin Part 2 Book list of five possible titles for review due.
Tu26 David Bleaney will explain the readers project to you. You will also discuss
McCloskey and the Duke econ dept. writing manual.
http://www.econ.duke.edu/ecoteach/undergrad/manual.pdf. The McCcloskey book
is short, so one class period should be enough.
Th28 Bhagwati Part 1. Essay due on what makes a good book review and what
makes a bad one with examples from the Economist, the Journal of Economic
Literature and the New York Times. 2-4 pages.
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February
Tu2 Bhagwati Part 2 Description of your book and why you chose it.
Th4 Holden Part 1 List of journals to which you will submit your review, at least
5 with a ranking of best to worst prospects, with a brief explanation of your
choices. You need to have examined recent journals at Bostock library.
Tu9 Holden Part 2
Th11 Clark Part 1 A one page outline of your review is due.
Tu16 Clark Part 2 First draft of your review is due. Discussion of draft
Th18 Anderson Part 1 Emailed comments on draft of your colleague’s review is
due. Each student comments on one other review.
Tu23 Anderson Part 2
Th25 Barro Part 1Second draft of your review is due. Discussion of draft
March
Tu2 Barro Part 2 Discussion of draft
Th4 Rosefielde Part 1
Tu9Th11 Spring Break
Tu16 Rosefielde Part 2
Th23 Discussion of draft
Tu25 Levitt Part 1
Tu30 Levitt Part 2 Final draft of your review is due.
April
Th1 Krueger Part 1 Email review to author for comments.
Tu6 Krueger Part 2 Discussion of draft
Th8 Brauer Part 1 Revision of your review is due in light of author’s comments.
Discussion of draft
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Tu13 Brauer Part 2 Review is emailed to journal. Please do not email review to
journal until I approve the review. We do not want to poison the well. It is important
for journal editors to know we send out only the best reviews for publication.
Th15 Email review to journal.
Tu20 Diamond Part 1
Th22 Diamond Part 2
Tu27 Pick an historical event and see how accurately a news story predicted its
consequences. Some students have found good stories in the Economist.
SEVEN OF THE 12 MA AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN
MY 2009 ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND ECONOMIC
DEVLOPMENT COURSE PUBLISHED THEIR BOOK REVIEWS IN
SCHOLARLY JOURNALS. Prior to publication they get lots of
comments, instruction on writing and ask the author of the book
reviewed for suggestions:
 Sorana Acris, Poverty, Livelihoods, and Governance in Africa, by Kempe
Ronald Hope, Sr. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. African Affairs,
(published by the Royal African Society and edited in London) scheduled for
April 2010 publication.

Rashmi Bhat, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty and Human
Development, by S. Mahendra Dev, Oxford University Press, 2008. Journal of
South Asian Development, edited in Australia and the U.K, forthcoming.

Tara Iyer, Globalization n. the Irrational Fear that Someone in China Will Take
Your Job, by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn, Wiley, 2009, Foreign Trade
Review (published by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi),
forthcoming April-June 2009.

Wishnu Mahraddika, Making Poverty A History, by Thomas Lines, Zed Books,
2008, ASEAN Economic Bulletin, forthcoming probably in December 2009.

Angsoka Yorintha Paundralingga, Indonesia Betrayed: How Development Fails,
by Elizabeth Culler Collins, University of Hawaii Press, 2008, ASEAN Economic
Bulletin (published by the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore),
forthcoming probably in December 2009.

Lina Rondon Arredondo, The War for Wealth: The True Story of Globalization,
or why the flat world is broken, by Gabor Steingart, McGraw-Hill, April 2008.
Journal of International Trade and Logistics, Volume 7, No. 1 (published by
Inha University in the Republic of Korea).
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
Hiromi Tanigaki, The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive
Advantage, by Alexandra Harney, Penguin, 2008, China Review International,
forthcoming.
From the previous year we have:

Megha Bisarya, Escape From Empire: The Developing World’s Journey
Through Heaven and Hell, by Alice Amsden, MIT Press, 2007, Asian
Journal of Social Science, forthcoming in early 2009.

Mark Curtis, What Do We Know About Globalization? by Guillermo de
le Dehesa, Blackwell, 2007, Journal of Economic Issues, December
2008.

Johannes Fritz, Europe's Troubled Region: Economic Development,
Institutional Reform and Social Welfare in the Western Balkans, by
William Bartlett, Routledge, 2008, Journal of East European and Black
Sea Studies (published by the Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy and Routledge in Great Britain), September 2008.

Ikee Gardner, Capital Rules: The Construction of Global Finance, by
Rawi Abdelal, Harvard University Press, 2007. Journal of Economic
Issues, December 2008.

Chamindra Goonewardene, The Future of Microfinance and Poverty
Alleviation, by Tazul Islam, Ashgate, 2007, Journal of South Asian
Development (published in Australia), August 2008.

Caitlin McLaughlin, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business
and the Future of Capitalism, by Muhammad Yunus, Perseus
Publishing, 2008, Linked on the author’s web site:
http://www.muhammadyunus.org

Nur M. Adhi Purwanto, Colonial Legacies: Economic and Social
Development in East and South East Asia, by Anne E. Booth, Hawaii
University Press, 2007, ASEAN Economic Bulletin (published in
Singapore), August 2008, pp. 238-240.

Parul Sharma, India – The Emerging Giant, by Arvind Panagariya, Oxford
University Press, 2008, South Asia Economic Journal (published by The Institute
of Policy Studies, Colombo and Research and Information Systems for
Developing Countries, New Delhi), Volume 9, No. 2., September 2008, 486-488.
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
Gracia Sierra, The Elephant and the Dragon: the Rise of India and
China and what it Means to All of Us, by Robyn Meredith, W. W.
Norton and Company, July 2007, ASEAN Economic Bulletin (published
in Singapore), August 2008, pp. 246-248.
Here is a piece from Duke Today, October 2008, which discusses the experience of
one of my students, Caitlin McLaughlin:
From Duke Today Wednesday, October 22, 2008
DURHAM, NC -- Caitlin McLaughlin didn’t know that enrolling last spring in professor Ed Tower’s
economics course on international trade and development would lead to dinner in Vietnam with a
World Bank official.
But it did, thanks to The Reader Project, a new joint initiative between Duke’s Writing in the
Discipline’s Program and the Office of Alumni Affairs.
The Reader Project matches students who are working on class writing assignments with Duke
alumni and Duke employees who have expertise relevant to the papers students are writing.
These readers give Duke students something valuable: feedback on their drafts from the
perspective of someone who has been working in an area they are writing about.
Tower’s class was one of a handful taking part in the pilot project last spring. Students had the
option of having a member of the broad Duke community help them think about how to put their
ideas on the page in a way that would make sense to prospective readers. That’s how
McLaughlin, who graduated in May, ended up having dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam with Myla
Williams, a Duke alum and country program coordinator for Vietnam at the World Bank.
A grant from Duke’s Center for Instructional Technology provided students and alumni with
webcams that allowed for more personalized interaction. The project also featured “think aloud”
feedback in which alumni or employees used an online audio tool to record themselves reading
the students’ papers aloud, pausing frequently to make comments. Developers of the Reader
Project believe that this kind of feedback could not only help improve the students’ papers but -more importantly -- that it encourages students to take their writing assignments more seriously
and helps them learn to write with readers in mind.
Join the Duke Reader Project
The Duke Reader Project is recruiting volunteer readers of all professional backgrounds from the
Duke community. Being a reader is an excellent opportunity to engage with students on issues of
interest while improving student writing, and the commitment is only 3-4 hours. To volunteer, click
here.
Faculty who are interested in finding out whether a particular course would be a good fit for the
project can click here for more information or contact Cary Moskovitz at cmosk@duke.edu.
For more information about the program, contact Project Manager David Bernay at
dib2@duke.edu.
Professor Tower, who listened to some of the think-aloud responses for his students after the
course ended, thought so too: “I think [the student] is learning from this discussion to think about
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each thing he says and decide whether he really means what he’s saying and whether he can
support what he’s saying,” Tower said. “I think this is highly productive. … This personal contact
has the potential to really make a big difference.”
The Reader Project grew out of an idea that Cary Moskovitz, director of the Writing in the
Disciplines Program, began experimenting with in his own health-science-oriented writing class a
few years ago. Moskovitz sought out health care experts on campus who would be willing to give
his students feedback on drafts of their papers as a way to extend the audience for their writing
beyond the classroom.
He was thrilled with the people who volunteered and the feedback they gave, but he realized that
to offer this experience to students in a wide range of majors at Duke, he’d need to tap into a
larger pool of volunteers, such as alumni.
George Dorfman, associate director of Alumni Affairs, liked the idea of engaging Duke alumni
directly in the education of students.
Past volunteers have brought a broad and fascinating range of professional experience to the
project: Duke employee volunteers have included the director of the Duke Diet and Fitness
Center, an internist, a computer support specialist for the Academic Advising Center, a dietician
from Student Health, and even the Associate Dean for Information Technology. Alumni
volunteers have included the executive editor of CIO Magazine, a lawyer specializing in
immigration, labor and employment litigation, and a former director of a management association
office in Kazakhstan.
Because of the positive feedback from students and readers, the Writing in the Disciplines
Program and Office of Alumni Affairs will continue the project, offering it in about eight classes
next spring.
Cary Moskovitz
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