Trade students, Sorry it took me so long to finish writing your final exam. Click
HERE for the exam. I think the questions are pretty straightforward,
so if you read the material, you should do well on this exam. You've got
a lot of work to do, but you should do well on this exam. As I've mentioned before, if you do better on the final exam than
you did on the mid-term, then I'll drop the mid-term grade, so that the
final will count as 80% of your grade for the course. Conversely, if you
do worse on the final exam, then I'll take the weighted average of your
mid-term (35%) and final (45%). I want everyone to do well on the final, so work hard and write
a good final exam! Good Luck, - Eric Doviak ps: The final exam is on Thurs. 21 Dec. from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
...
last class and final
(posted 03 Dec. 20.40)
Trade Students, As I mentioned in class, I would like to discuss "Trade Policy in
Developing Countries" next Thursday (7 Dec.). Please read chap. 10 in the
Krugman-Obstfeld textbook and Rudiger Dornbusch's 1992 article in the Journal
of Economic Perspectives. Thursday will also be our last class, so I will distribute a copy
of the exam questions after class. The final exam will cover:
Lecture 4: Economies of Scale and Imperfect Competition
Lecture 5: International Factor Movements
Lecture 8: Trade Policy in Developing Countries
The final exam will be on Thurs. 21 Dec. from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. If you do better on the final exam than you did on the mid-term,
then I'll drop the mid-term grade, so that the final will count as 80%
of your grade for the course. Conversely, if you do worse on the final
exam, then I'll take the weighted average of your mid-term (35%) and final
(45%). The idea here is to give everyone a strong incentive to do well
on the final.
- Eric Doviak
...
bring a blank check to class tomorrow
(posted: 29 Nov. 11.45)
Trade Students, When we meet tomorrow, we will discuss the Friedburg-Hunt and Card
articles. We'll be paying particular attention to the empirical methods
discussed in those articles, so expect a question about them on your final
exam. Let's also have some fun with this topic. Here is a link to an article
about Hazleton, PA's response to immigration -- click
HERE. In August, they passed an ordinance requiring everyone who rents
a home, apartment, etc. (both owner and tenant) to get a license/permit
from City Hall. One of the conditions for approval of a tenant's occupancy
permit is that he/she show that he is either a citizen or legal resident
of the US. Then in September, they passed an ordinance that suspends the
business license of any firm that employs "unlawful workers" (immigrants
without work permits) and suspends the rental license of any owner who
rents to an "illegal alien." The trouble with the ordinance is that it forces firms to fire any
worker who is suspected of being an "unlawful worker" and forces landlords
to evict any tenant who is suspected of being an "illegal alien." Only
after the immigrant has lost his job and his home is he allowed to appeal.
Not surprisingly, the Latino community is fleeing the City. So read the articles and bring a blank check to class and let's
send Hazleton a response! - Eric Doviak ps: No, this will not cost you any money! I promise.
...
articles for next week and for make-up
(posted: 10 Nov. 03.30)
Trade Students, As I mentioned in class, for next week I would like you ALL to read
the Downes (NYT 2006) article, the Card (JEL 2001) article, the Friedberg-Hunt
(JEP 1995) article and the Borjas (JEP 1995) article. The Downes article is simple and straightforward (After all, it's
a newspaper article!), but the others articles come from the academic journals.
Obviously, grad students will understand the material better than undergrads,
but: "You still have to try, undergrads!" I don't expect you to read these articles line by line and pick
through each equation. I just want you to pull out the main ideas. Hint:
read the first five pages, skip to the key regression results and then
skip to the conclusion. Bowing to popular demand, I have posted the articles for the Make-Up
Exam and the articles for next week's lecture online. Rather than use my website and incur the risks of copyright infringement
issues, I decided to post the articles to BlackBoard. In fact, I went ahead
and posted everything to BlackBoard!
At the bottom of the orange column on the left-hand side is a "Log-in"
link. Click there.
On the next page ... If you already have a Portal Login, just enter
your username and password.
If you don't have a Portal Login yet, then it's high time you got one!
Click the "Register Now!" link and the system will verify your status by
using your last name, Social Security Number, date of birth, etc.
After you have logged in, you'll see a "My Page" window with a whole
bunch of bubbles. In the bubble in the upper left ("SSO Applications
for Faculty and Staff"), there is a link to "Blackboard." Click on that
link.
On the next page, you'll be asked to choose your CUNY school (kinda
stupid, isn't it?). Select the Brooklyn College link and you'll be be
taken to another screen with a whole bunch of bubbles.
In the "My Courses" bubble, you'll see a link to the Trade course. Click
on that link and you'll finally be in BlackBoard.
All of the files for the course are in the "Course Documents" page,
which you can get to by clicking on the "Course Documents" link in the
green column on the left-hand side.
It's a veritable treasure trove of material for your Trade course! Have fun! - Eric Doviak
...
a couple of files
(posted: 04 Nov. 00.30)
Trade Students, Bowing to popular demand, I have posted two files. One file contains an example of the Stolper-Samuelson Effect --
click HERE. The Stolper-Samuelson
effect is a critical part of the Factor Price Equalization Theorem, so
I highly recommend these notes to anyone who is doing the make-up exam. To keep the example simple, I used Cobb-Douglas production functions
to derive a relationship between the relative price of cloth and the relative
wage. The example assumes that you know how to take the first derivative
with respect to labor to obtain the marginal product of labor. If you're
not familiar with derivatives, then maybe these notes on Calculus Tricks
will help you -- click HERE. The other file contains the email that I sent about Comparative
Advantage in the Specific Factors Model. The file explains why it is WRONG
to say that the US has a comparative advantage in manufactures because
the US has a higher capital-land ratio than Africa. For that file -- click
HERE. Hope this helps, - Eric Doviak
...
make-up exam -- factor price equalization
(posted: 28 Oct. 12.10)
Trade Students, For a copy of your make-up exam -- click
HERE. Students who missed the in-class mid-term exam are (obviously)
expected to submit answers to this exam. The exam is also for students who did not do well on the mid-term
exam and would like to improve their grade. If you get a better grade on
the make-up than you did on the mid-term exam, then the mid-term grade
will disappear. To assist you, I have scanned a copy of my notes on Factor Price
Equalization -- click HERE.
a few words of advice
Write thorough and complete answers to the questions. EXPLAIN.
EXPLAIN. EXPLAIN. For example, "... because the United States has a higher opportunity
cost of producing shoes" is NOT an answer! Why does the US have a higher
opportunity cost of producing shoes? Oh and by the way ... if the Production Possibilities Frontier is
concave to the origin, then wouldn't the US and its trading partner both
produce at the point where their opportunity cost of producing shoes is
equal to the world relative price of shoes? ... Yes, they would! So answer the questions thoroughly and completely
and provide detailed explanations! Also, I have given you a copy of my notes to assist you, NOT to
give you the answers! If you understand factor price equalization, then
you should be able to explain the theorem in your own words. So don't rewrite
my notes! Copying somebody else's work doesn't teach you anything. Teach yourself
the factor-price equalization theorem and then explain it to me. Show
me that you understand this material! Good Luck, - Eric Doviak
...
mid-term exam
(posted: 13 Oct. 00.35)
Trade Students, For a copy of your mid-term exam -- click
HERE Good Luck, - Eric Doviak
...
class schedule and upcoming exam
(posted: 1 Oct. 12.00)
It took more time Heckscher-Ohlin model again last Thursday, but I think
the extra time helped you develop a strong comprehension of the model and
of the Rybczyński and Stolper-Samuelson effects. You can be sure that those
topics will appear on the exam on 12 Oct. Undergraduates -- be sure to read KO chaps. 1 - 4 thoroughly and
do HW # 1 - 3. Grad students -- be sure to read Feenstra chaps. 1 - 3 and the two
Jones articles and do HW # 1 - 3. On Thursday, we'll discuss HW #3 and conduct a review for the mid-term
exam (Thurs. 12 Oct). For your convenience, click
HERE to download HW #3. - Eric Doviak
...
career corner
(posted: 1 Oct. 12.00)
Target will be holding an information sesssion about career and
internship opportunities on 12 Oct. at 1:30 pm. They'll also be holding
interviews at Brooklyn College on 9 Nov. If you're interested, see their flier -- click
HERE. - EMD
...
Homework #3 and Class Schedule
(posted: 22 Sept. 15.30)
Students, Homework #3 -- click HERE Thank you for your patience yesterday. I apologize for not giving
you a break. Please understand that I needed to finish the description
of the Heckscher-Ohlin model before the end of the class period. Now that we have finished a survey of the three basic trade models
(Ricardian, Specific Factors and Heckscher-Ohlin), it is time to discuss
the predictions of those models in more depth. To that end there is no
new reading for next week. Instead, I want you to catch up on the reading. You should have
read the first four chapters of Krugman-Obstfeld. Graduate Students should
have read the first three chapters of Feenstra and the Jones articles. Once you finish reading them, READ THEM AGAIN
!!! I want you to learn this material in depth. When we meet again on Thursday, I will finish discussing the the
Heckscher-Ohlin model and then we will begin discussing Homework #3 --
click HERE. It's a very long set of questions and it will take at least two
weeks to get through it all, but it will help you learn the material in
depth. All the best, - Eric Doviak
...
Links to Homework and My Notes
(posted: 15 Sept. 12.36)
Students, Here is a link to Homework #2 which we will discuss in class on
Thurs. -- click HERE You should also
read about the Heckscher-Ohlin model in Chap. 4 in the Krugman/Obstfeld
textbook. Grad students: I hope the discussion of the Heckscher-Ohlin
model will resolve all of the troubles you're having with the Jones articles.
And to make sure that it does, I will incorporate a lot of Jones' material
into the undergraduate lecture. I have also scanned the answer to the graduate problem in HW #1
-- click HERE I also scanned my notes on the "General Properties of Production
Models" (taken from Jones/Scheinkman) -- click HERE Keep working hard. I'm confident that we'll turn a corner next week. - Eric Doviak
...
Homework #1
(posted: 07 Sept. 06.45)
Students, I have posted a copy of Homework #1, which we'll discuss in class
next week -- click HERE. Also grad students: Please remind me to walk through the textbook
and articles and tell you what to focus on. See you tonight, - Eric Doviak
...
Welcome Message for Fall 2006 Students
Welcome to the course website. Please check this site regularly. I've posted a copy of the syllabus -- click
HERE. I've posted a PDF file of some notes on the Ricardian Model --
click HERE. The notes and the syllabus are
best viewed using Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or 7.0. You should download the latest
version of Acrobat Reader -- click
HERE. Looking forward to working with you, - Eric Doviak