ITF-225: The Future of Globalization: Issues, Actors, and Decisions

Semester: Spring

Credit: 1.0

Faculty: Robert Lawrence, Lawrence Summers

Schedule

Day Time Location
First Day
Meet Day FAS
Review

Description

This course examines the economic, political, and social issues raised by globalization -- its impact on jobs, inequality, poverty, and the environment -- for citizens, societies, and nations. These issues are addressed with a focus on the economic interests and political powers of the actors that constitute the international system and the structures within which those actors operate to produce decisions and outcomes. We provide conceptual and empirical foundations, such as the economics of trade and of international finance, and use these to illustrate the issues and actors. We use analytical frameworks to understand hotly debated issues of the day -- such as Greece and the Euro crisis and the rise of China -- and also how structures and institutions created today will shape the decisions of the future. We do this through lectures, in-class debates, readings, and simulation exercises that place students in the shoes of the decision makers facing complex choices.