The goal is learning to apply economic theory and the theory of economic policy to real world problems related to international trade, capital movement and migration, with a particular emphasis on the issues of technology, distribution and market imperfections. Empirical tasks for a country study paper help to learn handling data and trade indices.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE IS BASED ON THE COURSE SETUP PRIOR TO THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS. AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE CRISIS, COURSE COORDINATORS MAY BE FORCED TO CHANGE THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS USED. THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING/ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS. We look at globalization in the form of international trade of goods and outsourcing of tasks, reduction of non-traded goods, real capital movements, migration, global externalities, and the global food crises. As causes of globalization we consider incentives stemming from international differences in sectoral productivities, factor supplies of labour (low, medium, high skill) and capital (physical, human, environmental), demand for goods (peoples tastes), national and international policies, institutions, transport costs or their (a)symmetric changes, market imperfections and government failures. They create advantages from trade, capital movements and migration, but also the following problems of distribution, restructuring costs and market imperfections: shifting comparative advantage, wage inequality and polarization, global and national environmental externalities, shrinking of non-traded goods sectors; technology (non)transfer and north-south wage inequality; threatening of the middle class; leapfrogging under learning-by-doing, uncertainty in food supply and prices, and the food crisis through protectionism and speculation, brain drain or gain.