Rotating international Chair

The holder of the Chair Ganshof van der Meersch 2024-2025 established by the Foundation Wiener Anspach is Professor Meredith A. Crowley, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Research Fellow at CEPR (London). 

This course will examine the European integration project within the context and under the umbrella of the post-WWII multilateral system. The emphasis will be on the deepening of goods market integration through trade within Europe and around the globe from 1980 until the early 2000s and the slowing down, stalling and/or reversals of market integration that have taken place since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. It will explore the institutional origins of tensions that have always been present in the multilateral system between greater global integration and deeper regional integration. It will present different concepts economists use to define and measure market integration and will touch upon various policy approaches to increase market integration. 

The course will proceed through an analysis of domestic policy interventions such as government-financed support for industries that impact international market integration. It will describe the approach taken by the United States and European Union to address past tensions in their economic relationship and ask if that approach can be applied to current tensions between the United States and European Union over American’s Inflation Reduction Act or between China and its trading partners over its widescale use of government support for industry. It will review recent policy initiatives that create pressure for geoeconomic fragmentation including Britain’s departure from the European Union, Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, America's Inflation Reduction Act, economic and trade sanctions against Russia, and the US-China trade war. Lectures will examine the stated objectives of these policy initiatives and, when available, the existing evidence of their impacts on market integration and human welfare. 


Lecture outline:

1. An introduction to the post-WWII multilateral trading system
2. European integration and regional trading agreements under the multilateral trading system
   1. Part 1. Institutional tension between regionalism and multilateralism
   2. Part 2. Policy approaches to deepen integration including trade negotiations, common currency, and transport and communications infrastructure
3. Government interventions in domestic industry: theory and evidence
   1. Part 1. Justifications for intervention: first-mover advantage, declining cost curves in learning by doing industries, accelerated technology adoption
   2. Part 2. Empirical evidence that government intervention achieves its goals
4. Government interventions in domestic industry: case studies of international problems, resolutions, and lessons learned
   1. Part 1. US and EU tensions over Boeing and Airbus; Japan and Korea tensions over DRAMs
   2. Part 2. Solar panels, China, and the EU
5. Recent policy initiatives that could drive or support geoeconomic fragmentation
   1. Part 1. Policies and intended objectives (e.g. climate mitigation, technological acceleration, improved labour market opportunities)
   2. Part 2. Empirical evidence on adverse or unintended consequences (e.g. trade fragmentation, trade circumvention, higher costs for consumers)

 

This course aims to:
- introduce students to revisit some of the specific topics related to market integration while aiming to develop their knowledge
- provide students with knowledge of some of the principal challenges facing Europe. 
- help students develop their knowledge and skills 
- develop students’ ability to critically discuss at a Masters level the relevant themes of the course
- encourage students to develop further their particular interests in market integration.

Required and Corequired knowledge and skills

Not applicable. 

The course is composed of two parts: the main one consists of the lectures taught by Professor Crowley. The class will be conducted as a seminar with Professor Crowley taking the lead and encouraging class discussions. The remaining sessions are devoted to group presentations moderated by Prof. Chloé Brière.
 

Contribution to the teaching profile

The course offers the possibility to the students to benefit from the expertise of renowned scholars and to explore further the ways different academic disciplines approach issues related to European integration. 

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

The readings will be available on the Université virtuelle : TRAN-O607 - Rotating international Chair - 202425

Course notes

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

Prof. Chloé Brière (chloe.briere@ulb.be)

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Oral presentation
• Other
• Written report

Oral presentation

Other

Written report

Final grades will be awarded as a combination of three elements:

1. A written paper (max 2,500 words) on a topic set by Prof. Crowley (40%). The bibliography should include a minimum of 10 academic articles or books as citations. Citations of newspaper articles or blogs etc. are in addition to these minimum of 10 citations of academic work.
2. Participation throughout the whole class (30%) NB. The class format will facilitate participation through discussion of texts and group work. Only active participation in class discussions and group activities will merit marks.
3. A group presentation on a topic set by Prof. Crowley (30%) – see details below

On the presentations: group presentations will be scheduled after the end of the lectures taught by Professor Crowley. They will be moderated by Professor Brière. More details will be shared at the beginning of the course. Each presentation should be no more than 15 minutes long.
 

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

A written paper (40%), participation (30%) and group presentations (30%)

Language(s) of evaluation

• english