POSC 214 Political Economy of International Trade

This course is a PhD-level introduction to the International Political Economy (IPE) of trade. The primary objective of the course is to teach students to conduct original research on IPE-related topics. To that end, the course covers basic theories and reviews cutting-edge research. The course is organized by substantive topic area. The first half of the course covers sources of trade policy preferences, preference aggregation by domestic institutions, and interstate cooperation in trade. The remainder of the course covers multinational corporations, foreign direct investment, and trade in services. Overall, the course covers the most prominent areas of IPE research in trade, leaving other, equally interesting topics, for students to pursue in other courses and independently in their research projects.

Course offered: Fall 2016, Winter 2018, Winter 2020, Spring 2022