I/08 Foundational Courses

Microeconomics

This course introduces MILE students to the very basics of microeconomics. Special regard is given to those students without any prior exposure to the study of economics. As our principal reference we adopt the widely acclaimed textbook by Mankiw and Taylor, which will occasionally be integrated with handouts distributed during the lectures. The course is organised in a manner to provide ample opportunity for in-class exercises around the lectures, and a final tutorial will be entirely devoted to making students feel fully at ease with sitting the mid-term exam.

Foundational Assumptions of Trade Policy Analysis II 

The purpose of this lecture is to introduce MILE students to some of the foundational assumptions underlying the economic analysis of trade theory and policy. It is meant as an early introduction to the two weeks of lectures devoted to international trade theory taught in the Second Term.
Key issues covered in the lecture include: the relationship between income and the trade balance; why trade policy should primarily be seen as an instrument of micro-economic adjustment; trade, welfare and allocative efficiency; the distributional consequences of trade liberalization; common fallacies in trade policy debates; the underlying assumptions of the Ricardian model of comparative advantage and the key theoretical evolutions – and concomitant policy insights – deriving from two centuries of refinements to Ricardian analysis.

Semester long courses in law, economics and global political economy are not open to the public.