"Global Markets, National Policies, and the Competitive Advantages of Firms, Fall 2007"

Abstract:: " The world is changing in two fundamental ways. First, the development of a truly global market in products, services, capital, and even certain types of labor is changing the basic terms of competition for an array of different firms and industries. Second, the rules and institutions governing the new international economic order are still in flux. National regulations are no longer adequate yet international accords over trade, intellectual property, labor standards, and a host of other issues are fiercely and frequently contested by competing interests. The final results of these debates will determine who wins and who loses in the new global economy. Understanding the interaction between environment and business around the world is the key to understanding both the possibilities for and constraints on either managing an existing or starting a new business in today's fast-changing economy."

Labor and Politics, Fall 2005

Abstract:: Throughout the advanced industrial world, labor unions, once seen as key institutions in economic and social life, vehicles for social integration, political participation, and economic redistribution, are in crisis. How did this change in organizational fortunes occur? Is this decline inevitable or can unions reform themselves as important and viable institutions? What role can labor play in the new economy? Drawing on bodies of literature from different fields (industrial relations, sociology, history, and political science) and focused on different national cases, this graduate reading and research seminar examines these and other related questions. Open to advanced undergraduates with permission of instructor.

Abstract:: This course treats public-sector policies, programs, and projects that attempt to increase employment through development-promoting measures in the economic realm, through support and regulation. It discusses the types of initiatives, tasks, and environments that are most conducive to equitable outcomes, and emphasizes throughout the understandings gained about why certain initiatives work and others don’t.