Professor Andrés Velasco

This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Sciences Po), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo), MPA in Data Science for Public Policy, Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically very high. Priority is given to students from the School of Public Policy.  Students from other programmes will be considered if places remain.

The expectation is that students will have previously taken PP440 and PP455 or equivalent courses. Students who have not taken PP440 and PP455 (including MPA Dual and Double Degree students spending Year 2 at LSE) will require permission from the course lecturer to attend the course.

Over the past two centuries, the global economy has become increasingly interconnected.  This course studies the policy implications of this globalization.  It considers the causes and consequences of increasing international economic integration, focusing particularly on the challenges and opportunities that globalization creates for policy makers.  Key areas covered include: international trade, innovation and growth, migration and wages, international capital flows, borrowing and adjustment in the world economy, monetary and exchange rate policy, and financial crises.  The course builds on the knowledge developed in PP440 and PP455.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 30 hours across Autumn Term.  

The formative coursework will comprise two graded problem sets. The formative coursework will take place throughout the term.

There is no single textbook that includes all the material covered in this course.  Lectures and readings will primarily draw from journal articles.  Five books that will be used during the course are:

• Krugman, P.R., Obstfeld, M and Melitz, M.J. International economics: theory and policy 11th edition (Boston: Pearson, 2018)
• Rodrik, D., The globalization paradox: why global markets, states and democracy can't coexist (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)
• Irwin, D., Free Trade Under Fire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015)
• Catao, Luis and M.Obstfeld (eds.) Meeting Globalization's Challenges: Policies to Make Trade Work for All. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019)
• Markus K. Brunnermeier and Ricardo Reis, A Crash Course on Crises: Macroeconomic Concepts for Run-Ups, Collapses and Recoveries (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023)

In-class assessment (50%), problem sets (25%) and problem sets (25%) in the AT.