International economics (bachelor degree)
PROF. ROSARIO CRINÒ
COURSE AIMS
The aim of this course is to introduce students to some of the main topics in
international economics. The course covers: trade based on comparative advantage
(differences in productivity or factor endowments); trade based on economies of
scale and product differentiation; international factor movements; trade policy;
current account and balance of payments; law of one price and purchasing power
parity; exchange rates; currency areas.
COURSE CONTENT
1. Stylized facts on globalization.
2. Trade based on comparative advantage: Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin model.
3. Trade based on economies of scale and product differentiation.
4. International migration and transfers.
5. Multinational firms and foreign direct investment.
6. Instruments of trade policy.
7. Main issues in trade policy.
8. Current account and balance of payments.
9. Law of one price and purchasing power parity; long-run determinants of the
real exchange rate.
10. Short-run determinants of the real exchange rate: monetary shocks, sticky
prices, and the nominal exchange rate.
11. Output and the exchange rate.
12. Fixed exchange rates and balance of payments crises.
13. Optimum currency areas and the Euro.
READING LIST
P. KRUGMAN-M. OBSTFELD-M. MELITZ, International Economics: Theory and Policy, Pearson, 10th
Edition, 2015.
Lecture notes available on Blackboard.
TEACHING METHOD
Lectures.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Mid-term exam (90 minutes, written test with open questions) and final exam (90
minutes, written test with open questions).
NOTES
Students are expected to have taken Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.