Syllabus - The Graduate Institute, Geneva

II.
WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE US MORTGAGE MARKET [29 February] [CW]
Readings (core):
IMF, World Economic Outlook, July 2009, Chapter 1.
Will the Walls Come Falling Down.? The Economist, April 20, 2005.
After the Fall, The Economist, June 16, 2005.
When it goes Wrong, The Economist Sept. 22, 2007
What went wrong (special briefing on Wall Street’s crisis), The Economist, March 22, 2008
Readings (supplements):
Brunnermeier, Markus K. 2009. "Deciphering the Liquidity and Credit Crunch 2007-2008." Journal of
Economic Perspectives 23(1): 77-100.
Krishnamurthy, Arvind 2010. "How Debt Markets Have Malfunctioned in the Crisis." Journal of
Economic Perspectives 24(1): 3-28.
Discussion Questions:
1. Who should/could have prevented the housing market price bubble?
2. Are subprime mortgages necessarily a bad idea?
3. Did other countries experience similar problems? Why?
III.
FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION IN THE US SINCE REAGAN [8 March] [CD]
Readings (core):
Provost, Colin (2010). Another Race to the Bottom? Venue Shopping for Regulators in the American
Financial System. ECPR Dublin on Regulation.
Rosenbluth, Frances and Ross Schaap (2003). The Domestic Politics of Banking Regulation,
International Organization 57 (2):
Panitch, Leo and Martijn Konings (2009). Myths of Neoliberal Deregulation. New Left Review 57: 67-
83.
Suarez, Sandra and Robin Kolodny (2010). Paving the Road to “Too Big to Fail”: Business Interests
and the Politics of Financial Deregulation in the U.S. Philadelphia: Temple University.
Readings (supplements):
Peretz, Paul and Jean Reith Schroedel (2009). Financial Regulation in the United States : Lessons
from History. Public Administration Review July/August : 603-612.
Ferguson, Thomas and Robert Johnson (2009). Too Big to Bail. Part I : From Shadow Financial
System to Shadow Bailout. International Journal of Political Economy 38(1) [read pp. 11-21]
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