Master of International Affairs   Master of Public Policy   Master of Data Science for Public Policy  

The political economy of world trade

For decades, trade has been a driver for economic growth and job creation. However, these times seem to be over. Great power politics, a competition of ideas and systems, cold and hot conflicts as well as wars threaten to divide the world into new blocks – large autocracies on one side and liberal democracies on the other, with many in the middle. Trade is increasingly viewed through a security lens: as a source of national vulnerabilities on one han, and as a coercive, strategic instrument on the other. This will massively impact trade flows, accelerating the re-regionalisation and re-nationalisation of value chains, which started a few years ago and gained momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic, also fueled by the power competition between the United States and China. At the same time, the WTO, which is already fragile, is threatened to be weakened even further – at a time when a strong institution is more important than ever.

Following up on the introductory economics classes of the first semester, “The Political Economy of World Trade” aims at providing a hands-on approach to the analysis of international trade relations. This course, while grounded in academic research, has a strong policy orientation, using current issues and challenges in trade policymaking as the starting point of each session. Economic research and theoretical elements will be studied to come to concrete policy options. Our class features five sections: 1. drivers of world trade; 2. the political economy of trade policymaking; 3. the multilateral trading system; 4. preferential trade agreements, 5. a critical look at trade.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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