Intermediate International Economics 5 credits

Understanding how economies interact through international trade and finance is essential in a globalised world. This course offers an intermediate-level exploration of international economics, designed for you who have completed an introductory course in the subject. You will deepen your understanding of how international trade and financial linkages shape national and global outcomes and examine how policy choices influence competitiveness, growth, and stability. You will study the factors that determine trade patterns between countries, including differences in resource endowments, technology, and market structure. The course analyses how imperfect competition affects trade outcomes and welfare, and how exchange rates, interest rates, and national output interact in open-economy models. You will also explore the benefits and costs of fixed exchange rates and when having a common currency is beneficial. By connecting theory to real-world contexts, the course helps you apply economic models to contemporary challenges in trade, international finance, and policy. You will strengthen your ability to reason analytically about global interdependence, interpret international data, and evaluate policy measures from an economic perspective. The course also provides a strong foundation for later empirical and data-driven coursework in international economics. To succeed in this course, you should already be familiar with core concepts such as comparative advantage, exchange rate determination based on interest parity and purchasing power parity, interest rate determination in the money market, and Keynesian output determination under fixed prices.