Objective

Content

In a world that is quickly integrating, the setting of the rules of the games that firms play is increasingly done by international institutions. Among them the European Union takes pride of place. So it is important to assess in what way these institutions impact on business' decisions.

The set up of the course is in five main parts.

1. Fundamentals
   The first two lectures give the fundamentals of the modern theory of institutional economics. Related branches of theory will also be covered, notably the theories of public goods, transaction cost, public choice and collective action. The main focus is on the economic rationale for the existence of international institutions and on the way they tend to develop under the pressure of new demands.
    
2. Global organizations
   In the second part we will go into the institutions that deal with important economic problems on the global level. For each of these institutions we present the rationale of their activities, the way they are organized to cope with their tasks, their rule or regime setting specifics and finally their impact on private and public actors (such as national states and business firms). The lectures cover:
   • Trade and competition and the role of the WTO
   • Finance and monetary and the role of the IMF/WB
   • Environment and the role of UN affiliates and specialist regimes
   • Sectoral organizations such as IATA for air transport and the internet
      
3. From global to regional
   Intermediate lecture on the solution regional institutions may give to transnational problems where global solutions are not feasable. We describe the general features of several of them:
   • Regional organizations the role of the EU , NAFTA, ASEAN, Mercosur etc.
      
4. The European Union
   The institutional development of the EU is far advanced and reveals already many characters of a federal state. The EU has given regimes for a number of subjects that we have also come to study in the global context. We will present the rationale of these regimes and give their main characteristics and their development over time:
   • Trade, internal market; competition
   • Environment
   • Sectoral aspects such as transport and telecommunication
   • Finance and Monetary Union
   • Labour and Social Policy
      
5. Synthesis
   The fifth part consists of two elements:
   • a workshop, in fact an interactive session with the students. During this workshop a number of general conclusions will be drawn as to the why international institutions matter;
   • a final lecture will give an overview of the main elements of knowledge and understanding of international institutions. In case time is available we will deal with the aspects of collective action (lobbying).

Required Literature

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					29-1-2002