Radford University Graduate Catalog for 1999-2000 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS Prahlad Kasturi, Chairperson John Roufagalas, Graduate Coordinator Graduate Faculty Mohammad Ansari, Nozar Hashemzadeh, Prahlad Kasturi, John Roufagalas, George Santopietro, Douglas Woolley The M.S. Degree program in International Economics is designed to prepare students to serve in professional roles involving international economics. The program will provide students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to qualify for doctoral studies as well as professional careers in areas related to international economics. With a specific emphasis in international trade and finance, students will be exposed to international negotiation procedures, joint ventures, the role of international banking and investment, and the forecasting of international trade and balance of payment flows. (For more information, follow the link above to the department's Home Page.) ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS Minimum overall grade point average of 3.0 required. Minimum major grade point average of 3.0. An acceptable test score on the Graduate Record Examination. Provide evidence, if any, of fluency in a major foreign language. A written essay on why (s)he wants to enter and complete the program. Two letters of reference. An official transcript demonstrating that the student has obtained, or is in the process of obtaining, a bachelor's degree from an institution accredited by one of the regional accrediting agencies. It is expected that the student will have obtained the bachelor's degree before enrolling in the M.S. program. Degrees from outside the U.S. will be evaluated on an equivalency basis. International students whose native language is not English must submit a score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A minimum of 550 points is required. Prerequisites - 15 hrs. ECON 305. Intermediate Macro-economic Theory. ECON 306. Intermediate Micro-economic Theory. STAT 205. Business Statistics or STAT 208. Statistics for the Social Sciences. MATH 151. Calculus and Analytic Geometry. ECON 407. Mathematical Economics. Courses equivalent to the above, as determined by the Registrar or the Coordinator of the program, may be substituted. Also, students are expected to complete the prerequisites of the elective courses they choose. Students will be informed at the time of their application, or upon inquiry, about all deficiencies in their prerequisites either for formal admission to the program or for registration into specialized courses. Students may be admitted into the program on a provisional basis if prerequisite deficiencies are minor. This will allow them to combine their work such that they may progress as rapidly as possible to the completion of the degree. Students will not receive credit toward the graduate degree for prerequisites taken at Radford. All candidates for the M.S. in International Economics will be required to complete a minimum of 30 semester hours for a non-thesis option or 33 semester hours for a thesis option. The hours are classified as follows: Program Requirements for Thesis and Non-Thesis Options - 30-33 hrs. Economic Theory Core - 9 hrs. ECON 605. Macroeconomic Theory. - 3 ECON 606. Microeconomic Theory. - 3 ECON 621. Applied Econometrics. - 3 International Economics Core - 9 hrs. ECON 641. International Trade Theory and Policy. - 3 ECON 642. International Monetary Theory. - 3 ECON 643. International Economics Institutions. - 3 Foreign Language Electives - 0-6 hrs. Electives - 6-12 hrs. ECON 662. International Industrial Organization. - 3 ECON 651. Managerial Economics. - 3 ECON 672. Collective Bargaining. - 3 ECON 673. Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy. - 3 ECON 695. Current Topics in Economics. - 3 ECON 675. International Environmental Economics. - 3 ECON 680. International Labor Markets and Institutions. - 3 FINC 631. Financial Management. - 3 FINC 635. International Finance. - 3 MKTG 602. International Business. - 3 PSYC 652. Industrial Training and Development. - 3 Additional Requirements for Thesis Option ECON 699. Research and Thesis. - 6 hrs. THESIS The thesis project (ECON 699) will be conducted under the guidance of a committee of three members of the faculty chosen by the student. One member of this committee can come from another department. The candidate will submit a prospectus of the thesis to the committee. The committee will meet with the candidate to review and approve the prospectus with final approval by the dean of the Graduate College. The thesis will be written under the supervision of the candidate's committee. The committee must approve the thesis. After the thesis has been completed but prior to its submission to the dean of the Graduate College, the committee will meet with the candidate for an oral presentation of one hour on the topic of the thesis. The presentation must occur at least two weeks prior to graduation. FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT All students have to demonstrate proficiency in a second language as a requirement for graduation. Proficiency is defined as satisfaction of the following criteria: a) ability to understand conversation; b) a command of the spoken language sufficient for the exchange of ideas in conversation with a native speaker; c) the ability to read primary sources and other material with accuracy and relative speed. The Foreign Language Department at Radford University will administer the testing. ECONOMICS COURSES ECON 605. Macroeconomic Theory. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program, or graduate status and ECON 305 or equivalent. The course will focus on theories dealing with the determination of national output, measurement of national income, causes of unemployment and inflation, and the forecasting of growth and short-term interest rate fluctuations. A special emphasis will be placed on the impact that exports, imports, and exchange rates have on macroeconomic indicators. ECON 606. Microeconomic Theory. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Admission to M.S. in International Economics program, or graduate status, ECON 306 (or equivalent), MATH 151 (or equivalent). The course analyzes the behavior of the consumers and the firms, and how the interaction of the two determines the prices in a market economy. It studies the role of prices in allocating consumer and producer goods, in distributing incomes, and in effecting efficient combinations of resources in production. The welfare implications of the production, exchange and distribution prices are also examined. ECON 621. Applied Econometrics. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status, STAT 205 (or equivalent) and MATH 151 (or equivalent). Course coverage includes the use of statistical methods in order to test economic hypotheses and to estimate parameters. Special emphasis will be placed on applied econometric studies utilizing both cross section and time series data. Problems associated with multiple regression analysis will be explored in depth. Other topics include specification errors and missing data, multicollinearity, autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity, lagged dependent variables, forecasting, and models of qualitative choice. Students will become familiar with the basic computer models, data bases, and programs used in the profession. ECON 641. International Trade Theory and Policy. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status and ECON 306 (or equivalent). This course will examine theories of the causes and consequences of international trade. The policy implications of each theory will be explored and the impact of various trade policy instruments on the world economy will be analyzed. ECON 642. International Monetary Theory. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program, or graduate status and ECON 305 (or equivalent). This course will focus on balance of payments accounting systems, various systems of exchange rate determination in the context of both theory and practice, and international monetary policy recommendations and practices. Also, the history of the international financial system will be studied from the demise of the gold standard, Bretton Woods, single currency for the EC, to the development of the internal/external/third World debt crisis to the present. ECON 643. International Economic Institutions. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status and ECON 305 (or equivalent). The course will describe important international institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, Multinational Corporations, the European Economic Community, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Emphasis will be placed on the impact of these organizations on the economic competitiveness of U.S. firms. ECON 651. Managerial Economics. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Regular MBA admission status. Study of selected topics in economic theory and their application to management problems. Topics include demand and supply, revenues, elasticity, production and cost, incremental decision-making, market structure and pricing and investment analysis. Elementary quantitative methods developed and utilized. ECON 662. International Industrial Organization. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status and ECON 306 (or equivalent). This course examines productive and allocative institutions in addition to the market. Focus will be on the structure, conduct, behavior and performance of firms and industries in the international arena. Emphasis will be placed on approaches that extend and/or complement neoclassical theory (e.g. behavioralist, neo-Ricardian, post-Keynesian). ECON 672. Collective Bargaining. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Graduate standing. Explores nature of collective bargaining in the United States and deals with the process of negotiating agreements. Emphasis on practical decision-making in solving problems under the collective bargaining contract; employs considerable case material in labor law and arbitration. ECON 673. Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Graduate Standing. Deals with general and specialized roles of financial institutions as well as their structure, regulation, markets and sources of funds. Monetary theory explained with particular emphasis on its effects on financial markets. ECON 675. International Environmental Economics. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status and ECON 306 (or equivalent). Course examines nature, origin, and classification of trans-boundary environmental problems, as well as policies and international accords designed to deal with such problems. The effects of environmental policies and problems on the rate and sustainability of growth are also analyzed. ECON 680. International Labor Markets and Institutions. (3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.S. in International Economics program or graduate status and Economics 306 or the equivalent. This course is concerned with examining the operation of labor markets and related institutions and employment policies across industrialized and non-industrialized countries. Students will also study the interrelationships among individual countries labor markets and institutions, especially with regard to structures and policies that encourage and/or restrict labor migration in the global economy. ECON 695 Current Topics in Economics. (3:3) Three hours lecture. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Investigates topics of current and continuing interest not covered in regularly scheduled graduate courses. Topics announced with each offering of course. May be taken twice for a total of six semester hours credit. ECON 698. Directed Study. (1-4) Prerequisites: Regular status and approval of the directed study supervisor, adviser, and department chair. The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an opportunity to develop expertise in a chosen research area and to conduct a supervised research project on a prearranged subject. See Directed Study. ECON 699. Research and Thesis. (1-6) Hours and credits to be arranged with the approval of the student's thesis supervisor, adviser, department chairperson, and the dean of the Graduate College. See Thesis.

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