ECON 462/662 (International Trade)

Grading:

Group homework (totaling 30%), with peer evaluations.

Quizzes (totaling 20%).

Midterm examination (25%) - tentatively scheduled for October 21.

Final examination (25%) - Monday, December 14, from 2:15-4:15 PM.

Homework will be assigned weekly, and be done in groups (you will grade the contribution of your classmates to the group). Quizzes will be announced in advance, and are intended to check your understanding of the basic models. Exams will be generally problem-oriented, as based on the textbook and the lectures. The exams will be long, difficult, and in class, with no books, notes, headphones, or cell phones allowed. Makeup exams will be given only under very unusual circumstances.

The final examination will be given at the time listed in the Fall Schedule, and university policy forbids early exams. Note that this rule applies to your other instructors too: they are not allowed to give their finals early, nor schedule their finals for times other than those given in the schedule. They are required to hold class at the finals time. My final is not intentionally comprehensive, though material in the last half of the class obviously builds on material in the first half.
Good participation and attendance will help your grade if you are on the margin; I expect that you will not arrive late or leave early without explanation, and I expect you to keep up with the assigned readings and contribute to class discussion.

Exams from prior semesters are available for study and practice:

Fall 2008: Quiz 1 (w/key), Quiz 2 (key), Quiz 3 (key), Quiz 4 (key), Quiz 5 (key) , Midterm (key), and Final Exam (key).
Fall 2007: Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Midterm, Quiz 3, Quiz 4, Quiz 5, and Final (with key).
Fall 2006: Quiz 1 (Key), Quiz 2 (Key), Quiz 3 (Key), Midterm (Key), Quiz 4 (Key), Quiz 5 (Key), Quiz 6 (Key), and Final (with Key).
Fall 2005: Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Midterm, Quiz 3, Quiz 4, Quiz 5, and Final.
Fall 2004: Quizzes, Midterm, and Final.
What is the Difference between A and C students?

Cheating:

Any cheating will be severely punished, ranging from failing the exam or assignment at a minimum to failing the course and even expulsion from the university, in egregious cases or in cases where there is evidence of any prior offenses. Students who are caught cheating also lose their chance at college scholarships. Cheating includes both copying someone else's work as well as letting your work be copied, bringing in notes, text messaging or taking pictures of the exam, plagiarizing other people's words or ideas and passing them off as your own, et cetera. I am serious as a heart attack about this.

School and Work:

Economics is essentially about making decisions when resources are scarce, and time is often our most scarce resource. Many of you work, but working too much while going to school makes it hard to focus on your studies and succeed in school. The College of Business recommends the following maximum relationship between work and school:

Work Hours Per Week	Credits Taken per Semester
10	15
20	12
30	9
40	6

These maximum recommendations work both ways. For example, a student working 10 hours per week should not take more than 15 credits and conversely, a student who is taking 15 credits should not work more than 10 hours per week. Of course, many of you will choose to exceed these maxima, but you should know that unless you have superpowers or take extremely easy courses, you are setting yourself up for lower grades, inadequate sleep, or other trouble. If you do not have scholarships or other means of support, then you might consider taking fewer credits per semester and an extra year or two to graduate.

Students with Disabilities:

Any student who qualifies with a disability is to provide his or her instructor with a letter from the Disability Resource Center stating the appropriate accommodations for this course. If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss how these academic accommodations will be implemented for this course, please contact the instructor during the first two weeks of class

Graduate Student Requirements:

To receive graduate credit for this course, significant additional work is required. Graduate students must do additional problems on the exams, do the homework, and also write a research paper. The group homework will count for 25% of the grade, the midterm will count for 25% of the grade, the final will count for 25%, and the research paper will count for 25%. Quizzes will not be graded, though graduate students may take them for feedback. Any deviation to these weights must be negotiated with the professor by the beginning of the second week.

See the graduate student requirements, with details on research paper requirements.

Lecture Schedule:

Lectures will generally follow the order of the chapters in the Feenstra and Taylor (F&T) textbook. The topics are arranged as follows:

I. Introduction to International Trade - 1 week
The Patterns and Effects of Trade: Read F&T, chapter 1; and Krugman, The Accidental Theorist, a book criticism that originally appeared in Slate. Here are my powerpoint lecture notes.
II. International Trade Theory - 7 weeks
A. The Ricardian Model: Read F&T, ch. 2, and Krugman's column, Ricardo's Difficult Idea (1996).
B. The Neoclassical Models: Read F&T, ch. 3-4.

1. The Heckscher-Ohlin Model
2. The Specific Factors Model
3. The Leontief Paradox, and Other Trade Theories
4. The General Trade Model: also bring this indifference curve exercise to class.

C. Imperfect Competition Models: Read F&T, ch. 6.

Lecture notes on Krugman-Obstfeld Model (PDF)

The Midterm Exam is (tentatively) scheduled for Wednesday, October 21.

III. Trade and International Investment - 2 weeks
A. International Factor Movements: Read F&T, ch. 5, and my notes on the Intertemporal trade model. Also see macro definitions for use in class.
B. Exchange Rates, Investment, and the Balance of Payments: lecture notes, and F&T's International Economics book, chapter 13 and 16, if you have it).

IV. Commercial Policy, and the Political Economy of Trade Policy - 5 weeks
Read F&T, ch. 8-11.

A. Tariffs, Subsidies, and Non-Tariff Barriers
B. Trade in Developing Economies: also read Krugman's column, In Praise of Cheap Labor (1997).
C. The Case for and against Protectionism
D. The Political Economy of Trade Policy: also read my lecture notes (PDF)

The Final Exam is scheduled for MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2:15 - 4:15 PM.

Assignment Schedule:

Homework Set	Assignment	Due Date
1	Feenstra & Taylor (F&T), chapter 1, problems 1, 2; Supplemental problem for HW#1	Wednesday, Sep. 2
2	F&T, chapter 2, problems 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10; Supplemental problem for HW#2.	Wednesday, Sep. 16
	Quiz 1	Wednesday, Sep. 23
3	F&T, chapter 3, problems 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11.	Monday, Sep. 28
	Quiz 2	Wednesday, Sep. 30
4	F&T, chapter 4, problems 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12; Supplemental problem for HW#4.	Monday, Oct. 5
5	F&T, chapter 6, problems 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11; Supplemental problem for HW#5.	Wednesday, Oct. 14
	Midterm Exam	Wednesday, Oct. 21
6	F&T, chapter 5, problems 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12.	Monday, Nov. 2
7	F&T, chapter 7, problems 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12.	Monday, Nov. 9
8	F&T, chapter 8, problems 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, and 12; Five supplemental problems for HW#8.	Wednesday, Nov. 18
	Quiz 3	Monday, Nov. 23
9	F&T, chapter 9, problems 1, 2, 5, 7, and 9; Supplemental problem for HW#9.	Wednesday, Nov. 25
	Quiz 4	Monday, Nov. 30
10	F&T, chapter 10, problems 1 to 7; Supplemental problem for HW#10.	Wednesday, Dec. 2
11	F&T, chapter 11, problems 1 to 4, and 8.	Monday, Dec. 7
	Final Exam	Monday, Dec. 14

Homework is done in groups of 3-4 students, and each group turns in one complete set. Though work may be divided up, your group is expected to discuss the entire homework together, and you are all responsible for your joint answers. It is unacceptable to not meet once per homework assignment, or to assemble the homework in a mad scramble at the start of class. It is also foolish, because if you don't understand the homework you will find the exams to be impossible.

Your group's homework is due at the start of the class period on the due date, and late homework will be penalized. Each chapter will receive a separate grade, but it can be turned in together. The homework assignment is expected to be in order, complete, and legible, otherwise your grade will be marked down. It will usually take me a week to return the graded homework.

On the day your homework set is turned in, you must turn in a confidential evaluation of your group members rating them for their contribution to all chapters assigned in the set. "Confidential" means that you can't show it to your group members and you can't discuss it with them. On a piece of paper or an e-mail, put your name first so I know whose evaluation it is, then list the other members of your group. For a three-person group, give yourself no more than 34% (you may give yourself less), and then divide the other 66% between the other two members. For a four-person group, give yourself no more than 25% (you may give yourself less), and then divide the other 75% between the other three members. Round to the nearest percentage (no fractions, please), and make sure that the total adds up to 100%, or I may send it back to you and treat it as a missing evaluation. For example:

Turn your evaluation in on an evaluation form (you can print it off here) or on simple piece of paper, folded over. Or you can just send me an email at elliottp@unr.edu. (Be sure not to send it to the class email list!) I will then sum up the scores to determine your overall evaluation, and your individual grade is the group's grade for each chapter times your overall evaluation for the set. I will report your group grade and each student's overall evaluation score when I return your homework, but not how each student evaluated you. It is not acceptable for students to discuss evaluations in advance, or to try to uncover the evalution given by any individual group member.

It is important that you turn this in, and you need to identify yourself on it. If I cannot determine who turned in the evaluation, I will treat it like a missing evaluation. If your evaluation for your group is not turned in to me before I grade the homework, I will assign you 10% and divide the other 90% equally among your partners, and you will be unpleasantly surprised when you get your grades back. For example:

There are two exceptions: 1) if all but one member of a group turn in evaluations, and they are all consistent, then I will approximate the missing evaluation; 2) if a student drops the course, then I will divide his or her points among the other group members only for homework in which they were depending on him or her. Then I will reduce the group size and/or readjust the groups.

If your group is not satisfied with the results of an evaluation (perhaps because some evaluations were not turned in), then you may be re-evaluated. In order to ensure that such a re-evaluation is a Pareto Improvement, all members of your group must re-submit their evaluations to me in individual e-mails. Once I receive e-mails from all members, I will then notify your group by e-mail if the evaluation has changed.

I reserve the right to adjust groups and their evaluations as I see fit. If I can correct small errors, I will.