The course is designed to provide a practical understanding of economic integration (factor mobility and trade in goods and services) and the importance of the multilateral trading system (the WTO in particular) as a platform to address issues or voice concerns related to trade in goods and services (with special emphasis on the Agreements on Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, Technical Barriers to Trade). Finally, trade policy and agricultural programs in selected importing and exporting countries are discussed in terms of their compliance with WTO Agreements.

Students are expected to develop: · a conceptual framework for understanding the legal, political and economic implications of economic integration versus trade liberalization through a study of the development of the European Union and the multilateral trading system under the WTO and · the ability to assess trade policies and domestic regulations affecting trade in goods, services and intellectual property (special attention is paid to agricultural programs of a country to determine whether such policy is compliant with a country"s commitments under the WTO Agreements).

Students are expected to stay up-to-date on their reading. There are 3 assignments related to the class lectures/readings to demonstrate competence. In some cases, students might have to submit written assignments on the due dates set by the instructor and receive a passing grade on each. There is a semester project on a trade topic related to the WTO.

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- Any international economics textbook covering ECN 230 equivalent material. - Hoekman and Kostecki, The Political Economy of the World Trading System, 2001. - Web-based readings.

Microeconomics, International Economics, ECN211/ECN212, ECN230, ECN 331, ECN201.

There are exercises (problem sets) and a semester project.

Written examination, 3,5 hours, 60%. Oral examination of written semester project, 40%. The student must pass both parts of the exam.

The course is designed to provide a practical understanding of economic integration (factor mobility and trade in goods and services) and the importance of the multilateral trading system (the WTO in particular) as a platform to address issues or voice concerns related to trade in goods and services (with special emphasis on the Agreements on Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, Technical Barriers to Trade). Finally, trade policy and agricultural programs in selected importing and exporting countries are discussed in terms of their compliance with WTO Agreements.

Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)

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Class will meet 6 hours per week and 42 hours total (seven weeks). This will allow time for students to work on the semester project.

Course description, lecture plan, detailed course outline and course materials (web-based readings, homework assignments and handouts) are available on the web at the following site: http://athene.umb.no/emner/ECN330 The course is divided into 4 modules: (1) Economic integration and trade liberalization (2) Trade in goods: market access restrictions (3) Trade in goods: subsidies and countervailing measures (4) Trade in services and trade-related aspects of intellectual properties.

External examiner will control the quality of syllabus, questions for the final examination, and principles for the assessment of the examination answers. An external examiner will also assess the written semester project and sit through the oral defense of the semester project.