International Trade, Banking and Capital Markets

Over the past 50 years, the markets for goods and services have become dramatically globalized. The internationalization of financial markets and the liberalization of trade have been critical to this growth.  In contrast to a few decades ago, today’s companies manage global supply chains and investment capital moves quickly from market to market.

International Trade, Banking and Capital Markets is an introduction to the drivers of and issues behind these changes.  It does not assume an extensive knowledge of economics. Topics covered begin with the gains from trade, the domestic instruments of trade policy such as tariffs and treaties, as well as international trade bodies including the World Trade Organization.  We will then move on to how trade is conducted between companies in different countries, covering topics such as foreign exchange, trade documentation and instruments used to guarantee payment.

The course will then cover aspects of international banking, including the cross-border provision of corporate and investment banking, as well as investment management services.  The growth of international banking out of trade finance and the international expansion of domestic businesses will be presented along with the issues these developments created. 

Finally, this course will acquaint you with modern international capital markets.  We will survey global markets for credit, equity, foreign exchange, foreign exchange derivatives, futures, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps and asset backed securities.  We will discuss the importance of these markets in supporting the underlying growth in trade and services as well as some of the issues created, e.g., the precipitation of the 1997 East Asian Crisis by developing economies’ increased access to capital markets.