The United States and most other countries make frequent use of international trade policies, sometimes to protect their producers, sometimes to protect their consumers, and sometimes to achieve foreign policy objectives. This course will examine the international rules for using such policies and the framework for enforcing those rules in the World Trade Organization. This will be done in the context of notable examples of such uses, both recent and in the more distant past. Examples include, among others, the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930; the voluntary export restraints imposed by the US and Europe on automobiles exported from Japan in the 1980s; many countries uses of anti-dumping duties against imports that threaten domestic producers; export restrictions on food products by agricultural producers during the 2006-2008 world food crisis; and the economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the US and Europe in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine in 2014, and the Russian response.

The course is taught by an economist, and it will take the perspective of economics. But its use of mathematical economic models and tools will be minimal, the focus being much more on qualitative than on the quantitative effects, both directly and indirectly, of these policies. Explanations for why countries use trade policies in these ways are inevitably as much political as economic, but the perspective on the "political economy" of trade policy will be primarily that of economics.

There is no textbook for this course.
There are instead a large number of shorter readings. Most of these are accessible on the web, and links to them are provided here for you to view them online or to download and print. The readings that are not on the web will be posted under Resources on CTools, also with links here.

You should read the readings assigned for each class before that class and be prepared to discuss them.

Finally, I will be watching for trade-policy related news items and will alert you to them as they arise. You will be expected to read these news items, posted on CTools, and we will discuss them in class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Participate in class discussions (20%)
  (includes preparing 3 discussion questions for one assigned class)
• Two 2-4 page Issue Briefs (20% each)
  #1 Due 2:30 PM on CTools, Wednesday February 25
  #2 Due 2:30 PM on CTools, Wednesday March 25
• Term paper, 8-10 pages (40%)
  Topic due 2:30 PM on CTools, Wednesday March 11 Paper due 2:30 PM on CTools, Monday April 20
  (A few students may opt to do 5-min presentations, probably on April 15. Then paper=30%, presentation=10%)

COURSE POLICIES

ASSIGNMENTS

• Discussion Questions

  You will select one class from the courses schedule (one student per class - I'll post a signup sheet online) and be responsible for preparing a set of at least three discussion questions to be posted on CTools by midnight the day before class for all members ot the class to read and be ready to discuss in class.

  These questions should not be just about the facts of the issue addressed in the class or about what opinions were expressed in the readings. (These will both be discussed during the class, but we don't need guidance for those.) They should instead be thoughtful questions about the implications of the issue or about the policies that have been or might be used to address it.

• Issue Briefs

  You will write two Issue Briefs, each on one of the topics that will be discussed in class. You don't need to tell me what topics you've chosen before you turn it in, and more than one student will undoubtedly choose the same topic. You are welcome to choose a topic that we will have already discussed in class before your write the brief, and to draw on that discussion in writing your brief. You are also welcome to discuss your topic with other students, including others who have selected to write on the same topic. But the Brief that you write must be your work alone.

  Each Issue Brief will be 2-4 pages, double spaced. It should lay out the facts of the issue and the main points of disagreement, but not attempt any analysis or or draw conclusions. Instead it should explain any alternative views on the issue and perhaps what may motivate those views.

  You should think of the audience for your brief as other students with an interest and perhaps some knowledge of trade, trade policy, and trade institutions, but who are uninformed about the particular issue. Indeed, my hope is that the best of these issue briefs will be appropriate for me to assign as readings in my other courses. I will grade these on the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the presentation, including the writing.

• Term Paper

  Your term paper will be on a topic that you select that is not covered explicitly in any of our classes. I will provide a list of topics from which you can choose, or you can find one that is not on that list. Either way, I will ask you to report your topic to me by Wednesday March 11. If you select a topic from my list, that's all I need. If you select a topic not on my list you should turn in a short paragraph explaining the topic, similar to what I will provide for the topics on my list. I will let you know within a week if I think your topic is inappropriate for this course, and/or if I think it needs to be modified to make it manageable.

  In contrast to your Issue Briefs, the term paper should go beyond a statement of the facts and controversies of your topic and provide a thoughtful analysis of the issues's pros and cons. If you are able to form a conclusion and/or policy recommendations, please do. If instead you feel that such conclusions would require more information than you have, explain what that information would be and how it would matter.

  Your audience for the term paper is the same as for your Issue Brief: students with an interest in trade but no knowledge of the topic. Grading will be based on the quality of the presentation, but also on the quality of the analysis.

• Optional Presentation

  Those who wish can do a 5-minute presentation on their term paper, with the grade for the term paper then including the quality of their presentation. With only five minutes to present, you will not be able to explain, or even mention, everything in your paper. The challenge will therefore be to distill the essence of your paper into something that will fit into five minutes without rushing, and still accomplish the same objective as the paper: to inform your audience about the issue and the main points of your analysis. A successful presentation will make your audience want to explain the issue to others and also to read your paper to learn more about it.

  Presentations will be in class on April 15. I'll need to know by April 8 if you want to do one.

WHERE TO FIND ME

Office:	Room 3314 Weill Hall (this building)
Phone:	764-6817
Office Hours:	Mondays 10:15-11 AM & Thursdays, 9-10 AM
	(subject to change; check my homepage)
E-mail:	alandear@umich.edu
Course Home Page:	http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/courses/495/495.html    (Also accessible through UM CTools.)