* Students will learn how emerging economies have adapted to the rise of Global Value Chains and the changing nature of trade in goods and capital.
* Students will link these evolutions with the proper theoretical and policy framework.
* Students will study the role of multi-nationals in this process, both from developed countries and from emerging economies.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. A RE-EMERGENCE OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND NEW COUNTERMEASURES BY THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT MIGHT FORCE COORDINATORS 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.

New patterns of international trade, production, and employment shape prospects for development and competitiveness. International trade is no longer limited to trade in final goods, but also includes trade in tasks and intermediate goods, due to the international fragmentation of production into Global Value Chains (GVCs, Gereffi, 2015). Besides, developed countries have seen their weight in global exchanges reduced, as more trade has occurred between developing economies. Emerging economies are playing significant and diverse roles in this new context, both attracting foreign investment (FDI) as well as investing themselves (e.g. China in African countries). Yet, concerns arise over the ability of emerging countries to move out of low value-added activities towards more sophisticated stages of the value chain (i.e. upgrading), as well as over issues related to the quality of work and labour standards for example.
This course will study the specific roles of these countries in the global economy, and show how they vary according to their openness to trade and foreign investment; their endowments of natural, human, and technological resources; their geopolitical relationships to the world’s most powerful countries; and the characteristics of their immediate neighbours.
In addition, the course will discuss how the relative bargaining strength of different countries matters for the development of policy (e.g. the role of emerging countries in stalling the Doha Round of trade negotiations) and the impacts of these differing power relations in the development of the current and future trade policy landscape.
Finally, the course will encourage students to think about how current events will impact upon trade and capital flows in emerging markets, examples including recent efforts by some advanced countries to encourage reshoring, or the rise of the robotization.

Collection of academic articles and book chapters.