During the first part of the course, we will analyze the meaning of economic or trade integration with a focus on the main goal of any integration process, such as the strengthening of trade relations between integrated countries through the creation of a wider economic area, as intensive as permitted by the various forms of integration. We will also study the different effects derived from trade integration, which affect economic competition, investment, and scale economies. Then, we will focus on the EU integration process, covering not only historical aspects from the Benelux creation to the Treaty of Rome, but also the Community institutional framework and how it operates, as well as the successive enlargement processes which shaped the current EU-27. We will examine the most relevant Community policies and the instruments for their development and financing. We will also study the monetary integration process, the need of creating a European area of monetary stability, and the steps to consolidate the monetary integration and the implementation of the single currency. We will also present and analyze the extra-Community commercial relations and the importance of the EU in world trade.
During the second part of the course, we will cover the Spanish economy within the Community framework with a strong focus on economic theory. We will analyze Spain’s productive structure during the autarchy and its interventional trade policy. We will also study the Spanish economy from 1960-1985, examining Spain’s structural changes as well as the development of monetary and trade policy in Spanish economy up to Spain’s integration into the EU. We will analyze the impact of integration on the different spheres of Spanish economy: foreign trade, trade pattern, foreign direct investment, and growth and convergence. Finally, we will study Spanish foreign trade, focusing on the evolution of its main indicators in comparison to Community average values, the foreign trade in the various sectors, and the geographic distribution of foreign trade.
Prerequisites:
Intermediate to advanced level of Spanish and previous studies in Economics or professor’s permission.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will prove to have acquired ample knowledge on the general meaning of economic integration and, more specifically, on the EU integration process. They will demonstrate a familiarity with the economic aspects involved in any integration process, regardless of its intensity or scope. Students will have to prove their acquired knowledge in class discussions and student presentations.
Specifically, by the end of the course, students will also prove to have acquired a deep knowledge on the following key aspects through exams and written work:
• Students will demonstrate knowledge about the importance of international trade for economic growth, as well as effects of tariffs on the efficiency of economies.
• Students will understand how integration alters the comparative benefits of integrated countries, as well as effects such as “trade deviation” and “trade creation” involved in any integration process.
• Students will demonstrate proficient understanding about the construction of the European monetary integration as well as its goals.
• Students will be able to identify the phases of evolution of Spanish economy from a radical isolation and an exacerbated interventionism up to becoming one of the top ten economic powers.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, supported by PowerPoint presentations. Students will be provided with summaries of class contents so that they can better concentrate on the instructor’s explanations instead of simply taking notes. Classes will be as interactive and participatory as possible.
Throughout the course students will be provided with photocopies of specialized newspaper articles (Información Comercial Española –ICE-, Expansión, El Economista, etc.) which will be used for class discussions.
Required work and form of assessment:
Mid-term exam (25%)
Final exam (35%)
Participation (20%)
Research paper (20%): topics will vary every year – next year’s topic will be “Impact of Spain’s integration into the EU on foreign trade”. Length: 10 pages. Students will be provided with an extended bibliography on the topic in order to help them conduct research and screen resources. After the research paper is submitted, the topic will be discussed in class. The instructor will choose topics for the research paper that arouse different opinions among students so that they can personalize their paper and contrast opinions.
Paper structure:
1. First of all, students will have to describe the situation of Spanish economy during the autarchy.
2. Then, they will have to explain the Stabilization Plan (1959) as well as the measures for trade liberalization up to Spain’s integration into the EU.
3. Finally, students will have to evaluate the impact of Spain’s integration into the EU on foreign trade.
content:
Week 1-Elements of the economic theory of integration
1.1. Economic integration: meaning
1.2. Effects of economic integration: “trade deviation” and “trade creation”
1.3. Other effects arisen from economic integration
1.4. Forms or types of economic integration
Reading: Economía de la Unión Europea (pp. 27-33)
Week 2-Process of European integration
2.1. Antecedents: Benelux – the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community)
2.2. Treaty of Rome
2.3. Institutional framework
2.4. Enlargement of the EU
Readings: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 65-69); Economía de la Unión Europea (pp. 51-52); Economía Internacional: Globalización e integración regional (Chapters 1-4)
Week 3-Main Community policies
3.1. Common Trade Policy: Conventional Trade Policy and Autonomous Trade Policy
3.1.1. Common External Tariff and special regulations
3.1.2. Export and import procedure
3.1.3. Trade defense policy
3.1.4. TBR (Trade Barriers Regulation)
3.2. Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
3.2.1. CAP reforms
3.3. Regional Development Policy
3.3.1. Structural Funds
3.3.2. Cohesion Fund
3.3.3. European Investment Bank (EIB)
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 125-158); Economía Internacional: Globalización e integración regional (Chapters 6-7)
Week 4-Community budget
4.1. Budgetary principles
4.2. Sources of Community revenue: traditional revenue and new sources of revenue
4.3. Expenditure structure
4.4. Redistributive impact of budget: Member States’ financial balance
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 95-110)
Week 5-European monetary integration
5.1. Crisis of International Monetary System (IMS) and energy crisis: need of creating a European area of monetary stability
5.2. European Currency Snake
5.3. European Monetary System (EMS): elements of the EMS
5.4. Maastricht Treaty: criteria of convergence
5.5. Single currency: effects of the euro
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 169-192)
Week 6-External dimension of the European Union
6.1. Importance of the EU in world trade
6.2. Trade balance EU-NAFTA
6.2.1. Trade balance EU-USA
6.2.2. Trade balance EU-Mexico
6.2.3. Trade balance EU-Canada
6.2.4. Commercial relations between the EU and other geographical areas
Readings: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 113-123); dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 7-Economic development of Spain
7.1. Spanish economy during the autarchy
7.2. Initial steps towards liberalization: Stabilization Plan (1959)
7.2.1. Monetary policy and trade policy
7.3. Structural changes in the Spanish economy
7.4. Labor productivity as deciding factor for economic growth
7.5. Stages of economic recovery
7.6. Stages of recession and economic recovery
Reading: Lecciones de economía española (pp. 47-69)
Week 8- Evolution of Spanish economy 1960-1985
8.1. Preferential Trade Arrangement (1970)
8.1.1. Effects of Preferential Trade Arrangement on Spanish foreign trade
8.2. Spanish economy between the two energy crises: 1974-1979
8.3. Period of adjustment: 1980-1985
Reading: Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 9-Spain’s treaty of accession to the EU: the entailing decisions
9.1. Adjustment of Spanish economy to the EU
9.1.1. Adjustment of national legislation to Community requirements
9.1.2. Tariff dismantling: the transitional period
9.1.3. Adoption of the VAT (Value Added Tax)
9.1.4. Adoption of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)
9.1.5. Approximation of Spanish trade pattern to EU standards
Readings: Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura (pp. 441-447); dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 10-Impact of integration on Spanish economy
10.1. Effects on productive specialization
10.2. Effects on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
10.3. Effects on growth and convergence
Reading: Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 11-Spanish foreign trade: evolution of trade policy
11.1. Main indicators of foreign trade behavior pattern
11.1.1. Foreign Openness Degree
11.1.2. Trade Coverage Rate
11.1.3. Competitiveness Trend Index
11.2. Spain’s trade policy between 1960-1985
11.3. Spain’s trade policy after its integration into the EU (1986-2008)
11.4. Trade pattern
11.4.1. Productive and commercial specialization
11.4.2. Analysis of the various sectors
11.4.3. Geographic distribution of trade: main customers and suppliers
11.5. Problem of trade deficit: causes and solutions
Reading: Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura (pp. 417-432)
Week 12-Review of course content
Required readings:
Bonete Perales, Rafael. Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura. Madrid: Edit. Pearson, 2009. Pp. 417-432, 441-447.
García Delgado, José Luis. Lecciones de economía española. Navarra: Edit. Thomson-Cívitas, 2003 (6th edition). Pp. 47-69.
Jordán Galduf, J. Mª. Economía de la Unión Europea. Navarra: Edit. Thomson-Cívitas, 2005. Certain chapters: 1, 10, 13, 14. Also pp. 27-33, 51-52.
Muñoz de Bustillo, R. and R. Bonete Perales. Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía. Madrid: Edit. Alianza Editorial, 2009 (4th edition). Chapters: 8, 9. Also pp. 65-69, 95-110, 113-123, 125-158, 169-192.
Tugores Ques, Juan. Economía internacional: Globalización e integración regional. Madrid: Edit. McGraw Hill, 2006. Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7.
Several articles from the specialized newspaper Expansión. (Students will be provided with photocopies of those articles)
Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Recommended readings:
Alonso, José Antonio. Lecciones sobre economía mundial. Navarra: Edit. Thomson, 2007. Chapters: 8, 9, 11, 12.
Krugman, Paul R. Economía internacional: Teoría y política. Madrid: Edit. McGraw Hill, 1995. Chapters: 5, 6, 9, 10.
During the first part of the course, we will analyze the meaning of economic or trade integration with a focus on the main goal of any integration process, such as the strengthening of trade relations between integrated countries through the creation of a wider economic area, as intensive as permitted by the various forms of integration. We will also study the different effects derived from trade integration, which affect economic competition, investment, and scale economies. Then, we will focus on the EU integration process, covering not only historical aspects from the Benelux creation to the Treaty of Rome, but also the Community institutional framework and how it operates, as well as the successive enlargement processes which shaped the current EU-27. We will examine the most relevant Community policies and the instruments for their development and financing. We will also study the monetary integration process, the need of creating a European area of monetary stability, and the steps to consolidate the monetary integration and the implementation of the single currency. We will also present and analyze the extra-Community commercial relations and the importance of the EU in world trade.
During the second part of the course, we will cover the Spanish economy within the Community framework with a strong focus on economic theory. We will analyze Spain’s productive structure during the autarchy and its interventional trade policy. We will also study the Spanish economy from 1960-1985, examining Spain’s structural changes as well as the development of monetary and trade policy in Spanish economy up to Spain’s integration into the EU. We will analyze the impact of integration on the different spheres of Spanish economy: foreign trade, trade pattern, foreign direct investment, and growth and convergence. Finally, we will study Spanish foreign trade, focusing on the evolution of its main indicators in comparison to Community average values, the foreign trade in the various sectors, and the geographic distribution of foreign trade.
Intermediate to advanced level of Spanish and previous studies in Economics or professor’s permission.
By the end of the course, students will prove to have acquired ample knowledge on the general meaning of economic integration and, more specifically, on the EU integration process. They will demonstrate a familiarity with the economic aspects involved in any integration process, regardless of its intensity or scope. Students will have to prove their acquired knowledge in class discussions and student presentations.
Specifically, by the end of the course, students will also prove to have acquired a deep knowledge on the following key aspects through exams and written work:
• Students will demonstrate knowledge about the importance of international trade for economic growth, as well as effects of tariffs on the efficiency of economies.
• Students will understand how integration alters the comparative benefits of integrated countries, as well as effects such as “trade deviation” and “trade creation” involved in any integration process.
• Students will demonstrate proficient understanding about the construction of the European monetary integration as well as its goals.
• Students will be able to identify the phases of evolution of Spanish economy from a radical isolation and an exacerbated interventionism up to becoming one of the top ten economic powers.
Lectures, supported by PowerPoint presentations. Students will be provided with summaries of class contents so that they can better concentrate on the instructor’s explanations instead of simply taking notes. Classes will be as interactive and participatory as possible.
Throughout the course students will be provided with photocopies of specialized newspaper articles (Información Comercial Española –ICE-, Expansión, El Economista, etc.) which will be used for class discussions.
Paper structure:
1. First of all, students will have to describe the situation of Spanish economy during the autarchy.
2. Then, they will have to explain the Stabilization Plan (1959) as well as the measures for trade liberalization up to Spain’s integration into the EU.
3. Finally, students will have to evaluate the impact of Spain’s integration into the EU on foreign trade.
Week 1-Elements of the economic theory of integration
1.1. Economic integration: meaning
1.2. Effects of economic integration: “trade deviation” and “trade creation”
1.3. Other effects arisen from economic integration
1.4. Forms or types of economic integration
Reading: Economía de la Unión Europea (pp. 27-33)
Week 2-Process of European integration
2.1. Antecedents: Benelux – the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community)
2.2. Treaty of Rome
2.3. Institutional framework
2.4. Enlargement of the EU
Readings: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 65-69); Economía de la Unión Europea (pp. 51-52); Economía Internacional: Globalización e integración regional (Chapters 1-4)
Week 3-Main Community policies
3.1. Common Trade Policy: Conventional Trade Policy and Autonomous Trade Policy
3.1.1. Common External Tariff and special regulations
3.1.2. Export and import procedure
3.1.3. Trade defense policy
3.1.4. TBR (Trade Barriers Regulation)
3.2. Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
3.2.1. CAP reforms
3.3. Regional Development Policy
3.3.1. Structural Funds
3.3.2. Cohesion Fund
3.3.3. European Investment Bank (EIB)
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 125-158); Economía Internacional: Globalización e integración regional (Chapters 6-7)
Week 4-Community budget
4.1. Budgetary principles
4.2. Sources of Community revenue: traditional revenue and new sources of revenue
4.3. Expenditure structure
4.4. Redistributive impact of budget: Member States’ financial balance
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 95-110)
Week 5-European monetary integration
5.1. Crisis of International Monetary System (IMS) and energy crisis: need of creating a European area of monetary stability
5.2. European Currency Snake
5.3. European Monetary System (EMS): elements of the EMS
5.4. Maastricht Treaty: criteria of convergence
5.5. Single currency: effects of the euro
Reading: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 169-192)
Week 6-External dimension of the European Union
6.1. Importance of the EU in world trade
6.2. Trade balance EU-NAFTA
6.2.1. Trade balance EU-USA
6.2.2. Trade balance EU-Mexico
6.2.3. Trade balance EU-Canada
6.2.4. Commercial relations between the EU and other geographical areas
Readings: Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía (pp. 113-123); dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 7-Economic development of Spain
7.1. Spanish economy during the autarchy
7.2. Initial steps towards liberalization: Stabilization Plan (1959)
7.2.1. Monetary policy and trade policy
7.3. Structural changes in the Spanish economy
7.4. Labor productivity as deciding factor for economic growth
7.5. Stages of economic recovery
7.6. Stages of recession and economic recovery
Reading: Lecciones de economía española (pp. 47-69)
Week 8- Evolution of Spanish economy 1960-1985
8.1. Preferential Trade Arrangement (1970)
8.1.1. Effects of Preferential Trade Arrangement on Spanish foreign trade
8.2. Spanish economy between the two energy crises: 1974-1979
8.3. Period of adjustment: 1980-1985
Reading: Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 9-Spain’s treaty of accession to the EU: the entailing decisions
9.1. Adjustment of Spanish economy to the EU
9.1.1. Adjustment of national legislation to Community requirements
9.1.2. Tariff dismantling: the transitional period
9.1.3. Adoption of the VAT (Value Added Tax)
9.1.4. Adoption of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)
9.1.5. Approximation of Spanish trade pattern to EU standards
Readings: Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura (pp. 441-447); dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 10-Impact of integration on Spanish economy
10.1. Effects on productive specialization
10.2. Effects on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
10.3. Effects on growth and convergence
Reading: Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Week 11-Spanish foreign trade: evolution of trade policy
11.1. Main indicators of foreign trade behavior pattern
11.1.1. Foreign Openness Degree
11.1.2. Trade Coverage Rate
11.1.3. Competitiveness Trend Index
11.2. Spain’s trade policy between 1960-1985
11.3. Spain’s trade policy after its integration into the EU (1986-2008)
11.4. Trade pattern
11.4.1. Productive and commercial specialization
11.4.2. Analysis of the various sectors
11.4.3. Geographic distribution of trade: main customers and suppliers
11.5. Problem of trade deficit: causes and solutions
Reading: Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura (pp. 417-432)
Week 12-Review of course content
Bonete Perales, Rafael. Manual de economía española: Teoría y estructura. Madrid: Edit. Pearson, 2009. Pp. 417-432, 441-447.
García Delgado, José Luis. Lecciones de economía española. Navarra: Edit. Thomson-Cívitas, 2003 (6th edition). Pp. 47-69.
Jordán Galduf, J. Mª. Economía de la Unión Europea. Navarra: Edit. Thomson-Cívitas, 2005. Certain chapters: 1, 10, 13, 14. Also pp. 27-33, 51-52.
Muñoz de Bustillo, R. and R. Bonete Perales. Introducción a la Unión Europea: Un análisis desde la economía. Madrid: Edit. Alianza Editorial, 2009 (4th edition). Chapters: 8, 9. Also pp. 65-69, 95-110, 113-123, 125-158, 169-192.
Tugores Ques, Juan. Economía internacional: Globalización e integración regional. Madrid: Edit. McGraw Hill, 2006. Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7.
Several articles from the specialized newspaper Expansión. (Students will be provided with photocopies of those articles)
Dossier prepared by the instructor (provided to students in class)
Alonso, José Antonio. Lecciones sobre economía mundial. Navarra: Edit. Thomson, 2007. Chapters: 8, 9, 11, 12.
Krugman, Paul R. Economía internacional: Teoría y política. Madrid: Edit. McGraw Hill, 1995. Chapters: 5, 6, 9, 10.