INSTRUCTOR,  TIMES, and PLACES
Professor James W. Harrington;  416C Smith Hall;  jwh@u.washington.edu;  206-616-3821;  fax 206-543-3313
Class meetings:  MW, 2:30 - 4:20 p.m., 407 Smith Hall
Office Hours:  MW 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., and by appointment

STUDENT  LEARNING  OBJECTIVES
By the end of the quarter, a highly successful student will:

1. Be able to articulate learning goals and assess progress toward them.
2. Learn the basic outlines of world trade patterns, and explain these outlines using international trade theory (ITT).
3. Use an understanding of ITT and its assumptions to understand and assess the critiques of liberalized trade policy.
4. Gain empirical grounding in the trade relationships of Canada, China, or Mexico, emphasizing the trade patterns and trends with the United States.
5. Distinguish the varied forms of international business (IB), and the choice criteria among them.
6. Ask and begin to answer questions about the logistics of international trade.
7. Present a nuanced perspective on trade-policy recommendations for the United States and one other country, to benefit each side.

INSTRUCTOR'S  TEACHING  OBJECTIVES
As instructor, my objectives are to:

• present lectures and on-line notes that provide both substantive content and some synthesis of readings and assignments;
• design individual and interactive activities that get students to do something and thereby learn the material, in addition to passive listening and reading;
• give assignments and tests that assess the learning objectives;
• assess students in ways that reward individual effort while encouraging students' learning from each other.

REQUIREMENTS

Meetings and readings.  The course meets twice a week;  each student needs to be at each meeting.  (I will not take attendance, but we'll have frequent in-class exercises).  Read the assigned material before the class;  we will discuss and at times have in-class exercises to reinforce the assigned readings. 

First paper.  What are at least two key activities (sectors, products, or stages of production) in which your country seems to have comparative advantage (especially with respect to the US)?  How did you decide this and support this?  What are the bases for these advantages (they could be based on factors or policy)?   Characterize the trade policy of your country, especially with respect to the US.  Use materials referenced in this syllabus, data sources available through UW Libraries, and at least three additional good references.  Try to limit your writing to 2500 words.

In addition to readings assigned for specific class meetings, general trade policy issues are discussed by:

Tests.  There will be two in-class tests (24 October and 5 December):  they will not be explicitly cumulative.  Each test will likely employ a range of question formats.

Response papers.  Each student will prepare six 250-500-word responses to questions that I will provide to guide your reading of assigned articles (see the schedule of topics and assignments, below).  These are due at the beginning of the relevant class meeting, during which we will discuss the responses in groups.

Grades on tests and assignments.  Each test and assignment will be graded on a percentage basis.  Content, clarity, writing, and format all count in the grading of the assignments.  Be especially careful about plagiarism:  more than three words in the order you read them somewhere else (including on the WWW, including my own lecture notes) must be set off in quotation marks and given a full citation.

Late assignments.  Tests must be taken on the scheduled day, except by prior arrangement with the instructor or ex post written communication with the instructor based on illness (in this latter circumstance, the instructor will need documentation of your illness or that of someone in your care;  this will be handled on a case-by-case basis).  Other assignments are due at the beginning of the specified class period;  20% of the assignment's value will be deduced for material submitted after the specified class but by the following class period;  50% of the assignment's value will be deducted for material submitted later than this, until 5:00 p.m. Monday 10 December.

Final grades.  The final grade for the course will be calculated as follows.  Each graded item can contribute up to a specified number of points toward the quarter's total that can equal up to 100 points.  Each student’s final grade reflects the number of these 100 points the student has earned during the quarter.

    
Total scores (on a scale of 0 - 100) will translate into final grades (on a scale of 0.0 - 4.0) approximately according to the  scale below:  the instructor may be more lenient than this. 

SCHEDULE  (with links to on-line notes;  optional reading in parentheses)