Tuck Courses

Global Economics for Managers will expand students' knowledge of economics in two directions. First, we expand the scope of inquiry to cover the economics of the nation in a global economy. This portion of the course will cover international economics and macroeconomics. We will study the larger economic forces that shape production, trade flows, capital flows, interest rates, exchange rates, and other variables that create the global economic landscape. The second direction is international microeconomics, which will apply the tools of microeconomics and international economics to illustrate how globalization influences performance, strategy, and policy within firms. Our ultimate objective is to help students develop a framework for analyzing both opportunities and risks in a global economic environment.

This mini-course focuses on countries, firms, and the interactions between them in the arenas of international trade, investment, and finance. The first half of the course focuses on the economic analysis of countries. Case studies provide a quick tour of the opportunities and challenges faced by nations at various stages of development. The objective is to understand the country analysis required to analyze the global problems and possibilities facing today's firms. The second half of this course focuses on the causes and consequences of exchange-rate fluctuations and country risk. Cases are used to study the following topics in a variety of global industries: corporate operating decisions on pricing, output, and investment; corporate valuation; cross-border financing; and corporate hedging policies. Throughout the course in every class session, current events are evaluated in light of the course frameworks.

This seminar-style mini-course will introduce the concept and practice of Nowcasting in the context of the global economy. Nowcasting refers to the use of alternative (often high frequency) data sources such as Google Trends to improve our understanding of the current state of economic activity. The use of such data is increasingly commonplace at Central Banks across the globe and is beginning to spread to the private sector, especially to financial institutions and consumer goods companies. The heart of this course is a hands-on, group oriented exercise. This course will start with an introduction to the statistical techniques needed to develop simple prediction models for economic variables such as unemployment claims and auto sales. Both model choice and goodness of fit will be the focus of the early sessions. Working in teams, students will choose an economic variable and develop and present their own Nowcasting model.

The past seventy years have seen unprecedented expansion in the breadth and depth of economic links across countries. Global supply chains span oceans and continents as never before, just as workers and capital are also increasingly mobile. Increasing integration of the world economy poses fundamental challenges and opportunities for firms and policy-makers alike. In this research to practice seminar, we explore the interplay between firms and public policy through the lens of current research in economics. We focus on important practical and political issues related to international trade, immigration, and foreign direct investment.  The course emphasizes the role of individual firms and managers in responding to and shaping policies while asking broader questions of how policies tradeoff the interests of all constituents, whether or not they have a political voice in the process.

Firms are central actors in the world economy.  Their decisions determine which goods and services are traded internationally, the patterns of multinational production, and the flow of knowledge across borders.  In this research to practice seminar, we will study how globalization affects managerial decisions about where to locate production, whether to own or outsource fragmented production, and whether to adopt new technologies.  We will then analyze how these firm-level decisions affect industry and country-level outcomes, such as employment, wages, productivity, and innovation.  A framework for analyzing these future implications of globalization is critical for managers to remain competitive in both the short and long term.

TBD

The 21st century global economy will be defined by how government and business leaders respond to today's complex policy challenges.  This course centers on a handful of critical economic policy issues organized around the central theme of cooperation and competition.   Topics include the rise of global value chains, national security, and the innovation race; rising market power and international data security; the deterioration of global governance rules and norms; and the challenges of sustainable and inclusive globalization, including the coming battles over carbon taxes.  We will leverage economic tools and data to inform and refine our understanding of market outcomes, market failures, and the scope for policy.  These economic principles will be balanced with an emphasis on the interplay between firms, governments, and international institutions and agreements in practice.