This course focuses on international economic policy. Topics in this area range from combating climate change, international trade agreements, international tax competition to the tasks and development of the European Union. To address those issues effectively large groups of countries with different starting points and backgrounds need to cooperate and find joint solutions.

The discussions in this course are strongly data driven, but the course starts by revisiting the economic circumstances which make international cooperation necessary and more generally the basis for economic intervention of governments. Furthermore, the structure and institutions of international political processes are introduced. The second parts discusses the current state of international cooperation, as well as data and empirical findings in various fields of international economic policy making. Proposals from economic literature, think tanks and political actors to advance the development in some of these topics are presented and weighed against each other. During this process, the transfer of knowledge from research to policy decisions and frameworks for evidence-based policy making are touched upon. The third part of the course shows the practical challenges to achieve international cooperation, the empirical success or failure of previous approaches, as well as the political economy of implementation and negotiation processes.

After the course, students should be able to critically discuss topics of international economic policy and have knowledge about data, empirical findings and key contributions to the literature related to them. They should be able to compile and interpret data in relation to specific policy questions and should know the institutional and procedural setup at the international stage. Furthermore, they should understand why international cooperation would be necessary in many areas, but also why joint solutions are hard to accomplish.

Attendance and active participation is mandatory in all units. However, one unit can be missed without losing points.

The course will be a mix of lectures, presentations by students, group discussions and simulations, as well as written contributions. Most parts of the course require an active participation of all students and involve intensive discussions among all participants.

Regular short quizzes (30%)

Data research and analysis (30%)

Presentation (10%)

Written paper (30%)

wolf.reuter@wu.ac.at