PPPE6368 - Political Economy of Finance

PPPE 6368 Political Economy of Finance (3 semester credit hours) Why are some currencies the target of speculative attacks while others remain unharmed? Why was Malaysia able to deal with the East Asian financial crisis, while Korea and Thailand were not? Why did Argentina default on its debt while Brazil did not, even though it had the higher debt burden? This course provides answers to these questions by analyzing the interplay between politics and finance. The first section of the course deals with the differences in corporate governance: the configuration of the domestic financial sector differs across countries, with implications for the way stock markets and banks are operating. The second section analyzes how politics affects exchange rates and capital mobility. The third and final section of the course investigates sovereign debt and lending. This course aims to provide students with the ability to analyze a two-way relationship: how politics affects finance as well as how finance shapes politics. (3-0) T