Semester Overview
This course engages the students directly in the real world of domestic and international economic policy work in Washington, DC. Our classroom venues range from the palatial boardroom of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to a small conference room of the AFL-CIO labor union federation.
The first half of this course studies American domestic economic policy in the context of globalization, comparing and contrasting U.S. policy with the economic policies of other countries. The second half focuses on American international economic polices and the economic policies of multilateral financial institutions based in Washington, D.C., such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Globalization is transforming many aspects of life. In the domestic economic realm, monetary, fiscal, and labor policy cannot be rationally made without taking into consideration the global context, the global impact, etc. U.S. domestic economic policy must be studied in a global context.
The Economic Policy Semester has increasingly attracted international students, both from American colleges and universities and from our International Certificate Program. Our classes have included students from China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Haiti, and Canada. This has affected how what is covered during the semester. For example, during the “domestic” economic policy half of the seminar, we address U.S. monetary, fiscal, and labor policies, and compare and contrast these to olicies in the home-countries of the current students. This makes it into a course in comparative domestic economic policy.
In the second, “international” economic policy half of the seminar, the course covers U.S. trade, finance, and investment policy along with the international economic policy of the multilateral financial institutions located in Washington, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. We compare and contrast trade policy as made in various types of countries: advanced countries such as the US, France, and Canada; emerging economies such as China and India; and poor countries like Ghana and Kenya. Likewise, in looking at the IMF and the World Bank, we see how the US often takes different policy positions than that of France, of Brazil, or India. Also, we compare how different countries are adapting to globalization: the different strategies of the US and France, the response of South Korea to recent protests, etc. International comparisons and contrasts are constantly being made.
Photo of Ben Bernanke (with Alan Greenspan in background)
This is Ben Bernanke, chair
of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the central bank
of the US. Along with the twelve presidents of the Federal Reserve District
Bank, and the other six governors, Mr. Bernanke makes monetary policy
for the US every six weeks in Washington, DC. He is one of the two top
economic policy makers in Washington. If you come for the spring semester,
you can see Mr. Bernanke testify in congress on current interest rate
policy.
Photo of Henry
Paulson
This is Henry Paulson, Secretary of the US Treasury and the other one of the two top economic policy makers in Washington. He is in charge of exchange rate policy, that it, US dollar policy. He is the top economic advisor to President Bush. He works on the economic relations between the US and China. He will be involved with social security reform. You may have the opportunity to see Mr. Paulson testify before congress.