29 Jan The efficacy of protectionism,

International Economics— Conceptual Study Guide

Knowledge, Exchange, Institutions and the Human Action Model:

1. Comparative Advantage

2. 3 P’s what are they and why do they matter—how do they affect people, their choices, their institutional environment

3. Economic view of institutions (rules of the game) formal and informal

a. How are they codified

b. What role do norms play

4. Policy: the what to do versus the how to do it problem

5. Unintended consequences: seen versus the unseen

6. Specialization: Division of labor

a. Why are these important for growth, trade, expanding opportunities,

b. Marginal productivity of labor and economic growth

7. Voluntary vs. coercive trade –what are the implicaitons? (how do sanctions and other protectionist measures affect trade, growth, international trade)

8. Growth patterns (health and wealth over the past 200 years)

9. Subjective value—why this matters for trade and for policy making

10. Cultural aspects of trade—how is it affected?

11. I, Pencil—coordination and cooperation of market process—emergent order

12. Knowledge Problem: knowledge is tacit, man on the spot, decentralized: what are best mechanisms for harnessing knowledge; what is the economic problem we are trying to solve; modern examples for overcoming knowledge problems and better coordination; how do prices give us knowledge that we couldn’t otherwise get

a. What practical politicial and social problems arise from this? What are the mechanisms that can overcome knowledge issues? What are the private versus public incentives at play here?

13. Socializing process of trade—promotes cooperation and peace: why and how

14. Emergent ordersthrough prices, property rights, profits/losses

Public Choice

1. Politics as exchange

2. What are the institutional problems associated with political choices and the incentives

3. Why governments who transition from central planning suffer (credibility, public choice issues)

4. Cronyism as a means of extraction from middle classes and poor classes to wealther classes

5. Winners and losers in government exchange and collective choice

6. Iron Triangle and Titanium Square

7. Market Failures vs. Government Failures

Economic Freedom

How do we measure flourishing, what does EF tell us about a society?

1. The best and the worst countries: what makes them so different: extractive vs. inclusive insitutions—and why those matter for trade, cooperation, etc. (Or the lack theorof)

2. What are the measurements and outcomes of Economic Freedom (health, child labor, environment, etc)

3. What story does it tell of economic health

4. What are the five pillars and which have most impact on economic growth

5. What GDP alone misses

Quantiative and Qualitative impacts of the Industrial Revolution, what to expect in the future, demographic transitions and inequality.

The efficacy of protectionism, social costs of constraining choice, how does protectionism affect the matrix of comparative advantage and production, does it work as a policy tool

After War

Nested vs. Meta Games and cultural constraints of change

Why is planning for liberal democracy fraught with trouble

What is the success/failure rates and implications for future policy

What is the rent-seeking cronyism story—why did Haliburton benefit from government contracts

How does this thinking affect future policy efforts