Published Dec 26, 2022
An analysis of the main issues in international finance. Topics include international borrowing and lending, intertemporal gains from trade, current account and balance of trade movements, the determination of exchange rates, and foreign exchange markets.
Prereq: ECON 201, 202 or ECON 201, 206 or ECON 206, 290. Antireq: (For Mathematics students only) BUS 443W
This course introduces students to basic principles, concepts and tools to analyze standard international monetary economics theories. The course material will help students to analyze current international economic affairs in terms of theoretical models. The theories learnt in this course will address topics like international monetary framework and financial crisis which could be utilized for an in-depth analysis of global economic crises. |
Weeks | Lecture Topic/Chapter |
Part-I: Introduction to International Macroeconomics | |
Jan 09 | Chapter 1: The Global Macroeconomy |
Part-II: Exchange Rates | |
Jan 16 | Chapter 2: Introduction to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market |
Jan 23 | Chapter 3: Exchange Rates I: The Monetary Approach in the Long Run |
Jan 30 | Chapter 4: Exchange Rates II: The Asset Approach in the Short Run |
Part-III: The Balance of Payments | |
Feb 06 | Midterm I |
Feb 13 | Chapter 5: National and International Accounts: Income, wealth, and the Balance of Payments |
Feb 20 | Reading Week - No Class |
Feb 27 | Chapter 6: Balance of Payments I: The Gains from Financial Globalization |
Part-IV: Applications and Policy Issues | |
Mar 06 | Chapter 7: Balance of Payments II: Output, Exchange Rates, and Macroeconomic Policies in the Short Run |
Mar 13 | Chapter 8: Fixed Versus Floating: International Monetary Experience |
Mar 20 | Midterm II |
Mar 27 | Chapter 9: Exchange Rate Crises: How Pegs Work and How They Break |
Apr 03 | Chapter 11: Topics in International Macroeconomics |
Apr 10 | Review |
Title / Name | Notes / Comments | Required |
---|---|---|
Robert C. Feenstra and Alan M. Taylor, “International Macroeconomics” 5th edition, Worth Publishers, 2021, ISBN:978-1-319-21850-8 | eTextbook | Yes |
Additional Resources:
Additional resources (e.g. lecture slides, practice problem sets) are posted on LEARN. Students are responsible for downloading and saving course material on LEARN before the access to their courses is shut off.
Component | Value |
---|---|
Practice Midterm I - Saturday, February, 04 via LEARN - Chapters 1 - 4 | 5% |
Midterm Exam I - Monday, February 06 (In Class) - Chapters 1 - 4 | 25% |
Practice Midterm II - Saturday, March, 18 via LEARN - Chapters 5 - 8 | 5% |
Midterm Exam II - Monday, March 20 (In Class) - Chapters 5 - 8 | 25% |
Final Exam (Cumulative) - TBA | 40% |
Total | 100% |
Learning in this course results primarily from lectures, in-class discussions, home readings, and practice problem sets. Students' learning and progress in this course will be evaluated on an individual basis.
Please Note:
Communication and Feedback:
I will be using LEARN to post relevant course material. Students are encouraged to contact with instructor or TA to seek help or to discuss course-related matters. The instructor’s office hours are listed on page 1. If scheduled office hours conflict with your schedule, you can request an appointment with me via email (saeed.rana@uwaterloo.ca). Please ensure that your email has a subject line starting with “ECON 206” this will minimize the risk of your email being overlooked or perceived as spam.
Piazza:
All class-related discussions will be conducted via Piazza. The quicker you begin asking questions on Piazza (rather than via emails), the quicker you'll benefit from the collective knowledge of your classmates and instructor. I encourage you to ask questions when you're struggling to understand a concept—you can even do so anonymously.
Guidelines and Expectations:
For getting the most out of this course grade-wise and in terms of learning, active participation on your behalf is essential. In order to make this journey successful, each student’s cooperation, diligence, sincerity, and above all a great deal of interest and involvement in learning the course material are important. This will ensure that we receive the maximum value-added from the course.
I will deliver my lectures using slides. The slides will be distributed through LEARN. I will also use the blackboard/whiteboard to cover additional material. The slides are not lecture notes. They are mainly providing outlines of what will be discussed in class. I will set the lecturing pace based on the assumption that you have copies of the slides with you in class.
Students are assumed to have read the material ahead of the lectures. Please refer to the Tentative Course Schedule on page 2 for the reading schedule. Students should NOT expect me to talk about every single textbook page. The lectures will focus on the most important and challenging parts of the material. More basic material will be left for the students to study on their own. I will refer to this more basic material in the lectures, hence the need to read ahead to understand the lectures.
No assignment screening will be used in this course.
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It is the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor if they, in the first week of term or at the time assignment details are provided, wish to submit alternate assignment.