ECONOMICS, TRADE AND THE EU in Summer 2020 (EC2091)

It is both an exciting and anxious time in the history of the European Union. With the looming prospect of Brexit, the continuing challenge of immigration, and a steady rise of nationalism, there is a palpable and unrelenting sense of crisis that challenges the very existence of the EU.

This course will focus on the EU’s history, institutional structures, and several policy areas in order to explore the positive and negative effects of this grand experiment at integration. To evaluate the achievements and workings of the EU, we will pursue an understanding of the following:

1) Fundamental concepts of economic integration: resource scarcity, production factors, labor, goods, services and capital.

2) A short history of Europe after WW2: move toward building a European community.

3) EU institutions: Parliament, EU Commission, Council of Ministers, and Court of Justice.

4) Theoretical underpinnings of the customs union, common market, Economic and Monetary Union, and Maastricht Treaty.

5) Economic and social implications of EU integration: capital and labor movements, production of goods and services in agricultural, industrial, transportation and services sectors.

6) Macroeconomic harmonization policies: fiscal and monetary policies, stabilization, regional, social policies, and economic disparity.

7) EU challenges: member expansion, Brexit, bilateral/multilateral relations (USA, China, Canada, etc.), immigration, and nationalism.