Overview of Course

How do nations differently organize their economy? What is the appropriate balance between government and markets in achieving desired economic objectives? This course introduces students to different economic systems building on the countries and regions visited during the voyage. The course commences with an introduction to the origin and development of capitalism in Europe. It proceeds to survey the Varieties of Capitalism, a key theoretical framework for analyzing institutional differences across developed nations. We will be looking at case studies of the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Japan. This discussion is followed by a further examination of alternative command economy models in China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In this section, we explore the arguments for and against government intervention in an otherwise competitive market.