Introduction to ECO480

Prepared by Kerem Cantekin

General Information on Instructor
• Name: Kerem Cantekin
• Email: keremcantekin@gmail.com
ckerem@metu.edu.tr
• Office: TZ 39
• Office Hours: By Appointment
Some Additional Information on Myself

• I studied mechanical engineering as an

undergraduate student in METU, Ankara.
• I have studied economics in New School
University in New York and Utah University.
• I taught economics courses, in TRNC, Turkey,
USA and China.
• This is third year I teach in METU and in TRNC.
 Main Principles
• Labor is the most valuable resource we have.
• The course should be fair.
• The course should be flexible providing
choices.
 Some Additional Concern
• If possible course should provide some
options to
– Learn about the background of the information
given.
– Use the information to build an opinion on and
discuss practical problems
– Criticize and critically evaluate what is being
taught.
 What is World Economy?
• World Economy is an
entity, we have just
started to understand.
• There is no unique way of
teaching world economy
course.
• This course is mainly
aiming you to make part
of this discussion
process.
 Readings
• There is a reading list for each week, except the first
week.
• Reading list for the first half of the course will be
posted this week.
• Reading list for the second half of the course will be
posted next week.
 Grading
• Course Project and the Presentation %40
• Midterm/Final %30
• Reports %20
• ODTUClass Discussions %10
• Peer Review %4
 Video Lecture Time
• A typical video lecture time will include data, theories,
and specific issue related to the topic of the week.
• It may also contain articles from reliable news
resources.
 Final
• Final exam will be a take home style exam. You
will have 24 hours after the official starting time
of the exam to submit your answers.
• For each of the exams, I will post a list of 20
questions.
• You will choose 2 questions out of 20, and write a
2-3 page essay on it.
 Reports
• There will be 6 reports assigned for this course. You need
to submit 2 of them.
• The reports may contain data analysis or literature review.
• The rules and expectations of reports will be announced
for each report seperately.
• Once the assignment will be given, the will have 3 weeks
to write each report.
 Discussions on ODTUClass
• For each topic we cover in this class, at least one
discussion topic on the ODTUClass will be opened.
• On weeks at which the students make presentations,
they are expected to open the discussion topics.
• Each discussion topic will remain open for three
weeks. The students need to write a comment to
each of these topics and respond to two of your
peers.
 Discussions on ODTUClass
• Each contribution and response should be
meaningful, contain at least 100 words, original,
and should not contain any insult to any person or to
any group or to a nation. The comments and
responses that meet these requirements will get the
full score.
 Course Project
• The project should be on a practical issue related to the topics
covered on the second half of the course starting with November
23.
• You need to write a preliminary literature report, make a
presentation and write a literature review on the topic they have
chosen.
• A file with the list of topic suggestions for each subject covered in
the second part of the course will be posted before October 26th.
 Course Project
• You need to choose a topic up to November 8 and
write why you did choose that topic. (5% of your
Project Grade)
 Course Project
• You also need to
• Send me a preliminary literature report up to November
15th (10% of the Project Grade)
• Two weeks before the presentation the students need to
send me your ppt file and for the same week they need to
make an appointment with the instructor to discuss
specifics of the presentation. (10% of the Project Grade)
 Course Project
• You also need to
• Make a presentation on your Course Project and open an
ODTUClass Discussion. (30% of the Project Grade)
• Send me the draft of your literature review up to January 10th.
(10% of the Project Grade)
• Send me final form of your literature review at January 31st.
(35% of the Project Grade)
• 15% of your grade is lost per day, for each late submission.
 Presentations
• Presentations should be 15 minutes long, they
should follow with a 10 minute long period for
discussions.
• Details of the ODTUClass Discussions you need to
open will be announced.
 Presentations
• Presentations will be made through Zoom or an
alternative software in a presceduled day in
multiple sessions.
• Everyone need to attend to all sessions.
 Peer Review
• Every student will be assigned to two other student
to evaluate draft of their peer.
• They should evaluate those drafts, stating at least
one thing good with those drafts and one thing that
can be improved.
 Peer Review
• Each evaluation should be at least 500 words long
and original.
• Deadline for peer review is January 17.
• Students can potentially earn 4 extra points from
peer reviews.
 First Half of the Course
Background of World Economy
• Introduction
• Overview of World Economy (Report 1)
• Theoretical Views on World Economy
• Pre-1945 World Economic System (Report 2)
• Post 1945 World Economic System
• Neoliberal Era and BRICS
 Second Half of the Course
Components of the World Economy
• International Monetary and Financial System
(Report 3)
• Organization of International Trade
• International Capital and Multinational
Cooperation (Report 4)
• International Labor Force and Its Mobility
• Countries within World Economy (Report 5)
• International & Regional Economic
Cooperation and Regulations
• World Economy and the Environment (Report
6)
• Overview of World Economy & Possibilities
for the Future
 A Note on Having an Opinion
• An opinion is not built once someone reaches a
treshold level of wisdom.
• Opinions should sooner or later supported by facts,
however it is not necessary to know all or even
most of the facts, to have them.
• Building an opinion and learning necessary facts are
simultanous processes.
• No opinion is perfect, every opinion can be
challanged. However when an opinion is
challanged, this should also be supported by facts.
 Defining the World Economy
• Some questions to ask
• What kind of an entity is the World
Economy?
• Sum of individual independent national
economic systems?
• A single entity with integrated parts?
• Into what direction is the world moving?
• What kind of a process is the Globalization?
• What are the components of Globalization?
• What is its extend and power?
• What are the impacts of Globalization?
• Where are we headed?
• What are most interesting/important World
Economic Issues?