University
of Washington-Tacoma
T GEOG 349: Geography of
International Trade
Spring 2012
Contents of this syllabus:
COURSE SYNOPSIS
This content of this course can be expressed as a
matrix of theory,
policy, practice, and effects of international trade and
foreign direct investment.
INSTRUCTOR, TIMES, and PLACES
Professor
James
W.
Harrington; GWP 312; jwh@u.washington.edu;
253-692-5646
Class meetings: TTh
4:15-6:20pm, GWP 212
Office Hours: by appointment
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the quarter, a highly
successful student will:
- Be able to articulate her/his own learning goals
relevant to the course, and assess progress toward
them.
- Learn the basic outlines of world trade patterns,
and explain these outlines using international trade
theory (ITT).
- Use an understanding of ITT and its assumptions to
understand and assess the critiques of liberalized
trade policy.
- Gain empirical grounding in the trade relationships
of Canada, China, or Mexico, emphasizing the trade
patterns and trends with the United States.
- Distinguish the varied forms of international
business (IB), and the choice criteria among them.
- Ask and begin to answer questions about the
logistics of international trade.
- 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.
The assigned readings are listed in
full below, and are referenced in the Schedule. To
check library reserves online, go to http://www.tacoma.weashington.edu/library/reserves/.
(You
can
also
find
this
by
going
from
the
UW homepage to
"Libraries" to "Electronic Reserves".) Several of
the articles below are available online through the UW
Libraries links
to electronic journals. (You have to log into the
Libraries website using your UWNetID.)
Citation
|
Access
|
Ahearne,
A. et al. 2007. Global Imbalances:
Time for Action. Policy Brief
07-4, Peterson Institute for International
Economics.
|
available
online |
Atkinson,
G. and Hamilton,
K. 2002. International trade and the
'ecological balance of payments.' Resources
Policy 28: 27-37.
|
UW
Libraries |
Bergsten, C.F., Gill, B.,
Lardy, N.R., and Mitchell, D.
2006. China in the world economy:
opportunity or threat? Ch.4 in China:
The Balance Sheet. New
York: Public Affairs.
|
E-reserve
|
Bosworth, B.P., Collins,
S.M., and Lustig, N.C., eds. 1997.
Coming Together? Mexico-United
States Relations. Washington
DC: Brookings Institution Press.
|
UWT
reserve
|
Boughton,
J.M. and Bradford, C.I.
2007. Global governance: new players, new
rules. Finance & Development
(Dec.): 10-14.
|
available
online |
Breau,
S. and Rigby, D.L. 2010.
International trade and wage inequality in
Canada. Journal of Economic Geography 10:
55-86. |
UW
Libraries |
Clement,
N.C. et al. 1999. North
American Economic Integration: Theory and
Practice. Cheltenham, UK: Edward
Elgar. |
UWT reserve |
Dadush,
U. and Nielson, J.
2007. Governing global trade. Finance
& Development (Dec.): 22-25. |
available
online |
(DRS) Daniels,
J.D., Radebaugh, L.H., and Sullivan, D.P. 2007.
International Business: Environments and
Operations, 11th ed. Upper
Saddle River NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. |
E-reserve
(selected chapters);
Opt’l purch
|
Davidson, C. and Matusz,
S.J. 2004. International Trade and Labor
Markets: Theory, Evidence, and Policy
Implications. Kalamazoo MI: W.E. Upjohn
Institute.
|
UWT
reserve
|
Dicken, P.
2007. Global Shift: Mapping the Changing
Contours of the World Economy, 5th
ed. New York: Guilford Press.
_____. Global shift: changing geographies
of the global economy, Chapter 2 in Global Shift.
|
Opt'l
purch
E-reserve
|
Elliott,
K.A. 2004. Labor Standards, Development,
and CAFTA. Policy Brief 04-2, Institute
for International Economics. |
available
online |
Faber,
B. 2007. Towards the spatial
patterns of sectoral adjustments to trade
liberalization: the case of NAFTA in
Mexico. Growth and Change 38(4):
567-594. |
UW
Libraries |
Fallows,
J. 2007. China makes, the world takes.The
Atlantic 300(1): 48-72.
Note: This is in the
July-August 2007 issue.
|
UW
Libraries;
Atlantic Monthly
site
|
Guthrie,
D. 2006. China and Globalization:
The Social, Economic, and Political
Transformation of Chinese Society. New
York: Routledge
|
UWT reserve
|
Hakim, P.
and Litan,
R.E., eds. 2002. The Future of
North American Integration.
Washington DC:
Brookings Institution Press. |
UWT reserve |
Hart,
M. 2002. A Trading Nation:
Canadian Trade Policy from Colonialism to
Globalization. Vancouver BC: UBC Press.
|
UWT reserve
|
Huang,
R.R. 2007. Distance and trade:
disentangling unfamiliarity effects and
transport cost effects. European Economic
Review 51(1): 161-181. |
UW Libraries |
Hummels,
D. 2007. Transportation costs and
international trade in the second era of
globalization. Journal of Economic Perspectives
21(3): 131-154. |
UW Libraries |
Kletzer,
L.G. 2002. Understanding the links between
increasing foreign competition and domestic
employment and job loss. Ch. 2 in Imports,
Exports, and Jobs: What Does Trade Mean for
Employment and Job Loss? Kalamazoo MI:
W.E. Upjohn Institute.
Kletzer,
L.G. 2002. Conclusions and policy
implications. Ch. 8 in Imports,
Exports, and Jobs: What Does Trade Mean for
Employment and Job Loss? Kalamazoo MI:
W.E. Upjohn Institute.
|
E-reserve;
book at UWT
|
Leichenko,
R.M. 2000. Exports, employment, and
production: a causal assessment of U.S. states
and regions. Economic Geography 76(4):
303-325. |
UW Libraries |
Liu, H., Xi, Y., Guo, J., and
Li,
X. 2010. Energy embodied in the
international trade of China: an energy
input-output analysis. Energy Policy
38: 3957-3964. |
UW Libraries |
MacDonald,
I.T. 2003. NAFTA and the emergence of
continental labor cooperation. The
American Review of Canadian Studies
33(2): 173-196.
|
E-reserve
|
MacDonald,
L.I., ed. 2000. Free Trade: Risks
and Rewards. Montreal:
McGill-Queen's University Press. |
UWT reserve |
Peters, G.P.
and Hertwich,
E.G. 2006. Pollution embodied in
trade: the Norwegian case. Global
Environmental Change 16: 379-387. |
UW
Libraries |
Rodrik,
D. 1996. Labor standards in international
trade: do they matter and what do we do about
them? Ch.2 in Emerging Agenda for
Global Trade: High Stakes for Developing
Countries, ed. by R.Z. Lawrence, D.
Rodrik, and J. Whalley. Washington DC:
Overseas Development Council.
|
UWT reserve
|
Sen,
S. 2010. International Trade Theory and
Policy: A Review of the Literature.
Woking Paper 635. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY:
Levy Economics Institute.
|
available online
|
Sun, H. and
Parikh,
A. 2001. Exports, inward foreign
direct investment (FDI) and regional economic
growth in China. Regional Studies 35(3):
187-196. |
UW Libraries |
US Department of
Commerce, International Trade Administration.
2012. A
Basic Guide to Exporting, 11th
ed. Washington DC.
|
|
Waldkirch,
A. 2010. The effects of foreign
direct investment in Mexico since NAFTA. The World Economy
33(5): 710-745. |
UW Libraries |
Whalley,
J. 1996. Trade and environment, the WTO, and
the developing countries. Ch.3 in Emerging
Agenda for Global Trade: High Stakes for
Developing Countries, ed. by R.Z.
Lawrence, D. Rodrik, and J. Whalley.
Washington DC: Overseas Development Council.
|
UWT reserve
|
Papers. There are two
research-paper assignments to help students toward the
learning objectives. Each student will focus on
Canada, China, or Mexico, for both papers. You'll
want to make use of the information
resources compiled by the UWT Library, and the
instructor's guide
to formatting papers.
In addition to readings assigned for
specific class meetings, general trade policy issues are
discussed by:
Clement et al.
Davidson & Matusz (re labor issues)
Dicken, Chs.17-19
Economist series
Rodrik 1996 (re labor issues)
Whalley in Lawrence et
al. (re environmental issues)
Canadian trade issues (including some sub-national,
regional issues) are discussed by:
Hart
Clement et al.
Davidson & Matusz (provides empirical work on labor
impacts)
Hakim & Litan Ch.2
MacDonald 2000 (all students focusing on Canada must
read Hart's chapter for Paper 1; other chapters
will be useful)
MacDonald 2000 Part Four on environmental issues
MacDonald 2003 (re labor issues)
Chinese trade policy issues are discussed by:
Bergsten et al., Ch.4
DRS, pp. 364-7
Fallows
Guthrie, Chs. 4 & 8
Mexican trade policy issues are discussed by:
Bosworth et al.
Clement et al.
Hakim & Litan Ch.3
MacDonald 2000: chapters on Mexico; Part
Four on environmental issues
First
paper. Describe the changes in your
country's largest trade partners, export sectors, import
sectors, and amount of inward FDI over the past 30
years. What does this suggest are your country's
sources of comparative advantage, and has that changed
over the 30 years? Describe changes in your
country's trade policies over that time period. Do
those changes help explain the changes in trade partners
and sectors? Are there other domestic policies that
have had a major effect on the country's trade patterns?
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 3000
words. See the linked grading
rubric for this paper.
Second
paper.
First, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll focus
on
- a sector (e.g., automobiles, clothing, financial
services, etc.),
- an interest (e.g., energy resources, environmental
impacts, unskilled labor, or skilled manufacturing
labor), or
- a sub-national region (e.g., Canada’s oil and gas
region, Canada’s manufacturing belt, China’s southeast
or northeast, Mexico’s border regions, northern
provinces, or agricultural south).
Explain what traditional trade theory would suggest are
the likely impacts of increased international trade
between your country and the US on that sector, interest,
or region. (You'll have to do some reading and
thinking to come up with this). Then, do some
empirical research (using peer-reviewed articles or books,
or using secondary data collected by national censuses) to
assess what the actual
impacts have been. Explain how and why the
actual impacts conform or do not conform to expectations
drawn from trade theory. Explain one policy measure
that your country has developed to try to ameliorate a
negative impact or to increase a positive impact.
Use materials referenced in this syllabus (see the
suggestions above; Part 3 of Dicken's book provides
global overviews of several sectors), information
resources available through UW Libraries, and at
least three additional
good references. Try to limit your writing to
3000 words. See the linked grading
rubric for this paper.
Tests.
There
will
be two in-class tests (1 May and 31 May): they
will not be explicitly cumulative. Each test will
likely employ a range of question formats.
Response papers.
Each
student
will
prepare
six
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.
GRADING
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. Wednesday 6 June.
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.
Table 1: Schedule of Assignments and
Points
Response papers 1-6, @ 4
points each |
24 |
2 tests, @ 16 points each |
32 |
2 papers, @ 17 points each |
34
|
In-class activities
|
10
|
TOTAL
possible points
|
100
|
Total scores (on a scale of 0 - 96) 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.
Table 2: Schedule of Points and
Grades
TOTAL SCORE
|
FINAL GRADE
|
86.5
- 100 points |
3.6 - 4.0
|
72.0
- 86.4 points |
2.5 - 3.5
|
57.5
- 71.9 points |
1.5 - 2.4
|
48.0
- 57.4 points |
0.7 - 1.4
|
0
- 47.9 points |
0.0
|
Incomplete work. [From the University
Registrar's website] A grade of “I”
(Incomplete) is given only when the student has
been in attendance and has done satisfactory work
until within two weeks of the end of the quarter and has
furnished proof satisfactory to the instructor that the
work cannot be completed because of illness or other
circumstances beyond the student's control. To obtain
credit for the course, an undergraduate student must
convert an Incomplete into a passing grade no later than
the last day of the next quarter. The student should never
re-register for the course as a means of removing the
Incomplete. An Incomplete grade not made up by the end of
the next quarter is converted to the grade of 0.0 by the
Registrar unless the instructor has indicated, when
assigning the Incomplete grade, that a grade other than
0.0 should be recorded if the incomplete work is not
completed. The original Incomplete grade is not removed
from the permanent record.
SCHEDULE
(with links to on-line notes; optional
reading in parentheses)
Date
|
Theme
|
Reading
|
Assignment
|
Tu 3/27
|
Overviews
|
Overviews
and
intro
The Economist,
overview
|
|
Th 3/29
|
What influences trade flows?
|
Dicken,
Ch. 2
(Huang 2007)
(Hummels 2007)
Inductive Theorizing abt Trade
|
RP1:
Respond
to questions re Dicken's Ch. 2 |
Tu 4/03
Th 4/05
|
International Trade Theory
(ITT)
|
ITT
notes
New
trade theory video 1; 2
Sen
2010
(DRS Ch.6, e-reserve)
Leontief
paradox
|
RP2:
Essay
on your background, learning objectives, &
country choice
|
Tu 4/10
|
Information resources
ITT/policy
|
Competitiveness
Trade
policy
(DRS Ch.7, e-reserve)
|
RP3: Answer q’s
on trade theory |
Th 4/12
Tu 4/17
|
Trade policy
|
Boughton
& Bradford 2007
Dadush
& Nielson 2007
Fallows |
RP4: Q's
re
Fallows
|
Th 4/19
|
Economic integration
|
Economic
integration,
1
Economic
integration,
2
Dicken, pp.180-4, 187-204
(DRS Ch.8) |
|
Tu 4/24
|
Currency; exchange
rates
|
Currency
markets
and foreign exchange
Ahearne
et al. 2007
(DRS, pp. 353-63)
|
|
Th 4/26
|
catch-up, if needed
Paper 1 discussion
review
|
Review
Notes |
|
Tu 5/01
|
Test 1
|
|
|
Th 5/03
|
Forms
of IB; FDI
Strategic management
|
Forms
&
contexts
Dicken, pp.106-17
(DRS Ch.14)
webnotes on strategic
thinking and international
operations; Dicken, pp.153-68
International
dimensions of strategic decision making
|
Paper 1 due
|
Tu 5/08
|
International marketing as
an example of integrating and implementing
strategy
|
International
marketing
DRS Ch. 16, e-reserve |
In-class
learning
from Paper 1 |
Th 5/10
|
Logistics
|
Trade
logistics
The Economist
on trade logistics
(Dicken Ch.14} |
|
Tu 5/15
|
Macreoeconomic,
sectoral & subnational effects of IT & FDI
|
All: Impact of FDI;
Kletzer Chs. 2 & 8 |
RP5: Q's on the reading |
Th
5/17
|
Labor
|
Impact
of trade on labor
Managing
international
human
resources
"Workers
of the world"
Elliott
2004
MacDonald 2003 |
|
Tu 5/22
|
Global
supply chain management
Resources and the natural environment
|
DRS
Ch.17
overview
notes
(Peters & Hertwich 2006)
(Atkinson and Hamilton 2002)
(Liu et al. 2010)
|
RP 6: Q's on the reading
|
Th
5/24
|
Corporate
strategies,
national will |
Dicken
Ch. 6
International
dimensions of strategic decision making
The Economist:
The diminished state?
MNC-Government
negotiation |
|
Tu ..5/29
|
Catch-up and
review
|
|
|
Th 5/31
|
Test 2
|
review
notes
for second test
|
|
Mon
6/4
|
no class meeting
|
|
Paper 2 due (see grading
rubric)
|
copyright James W. Harrington, Jr.
revised 27 May 2012
|