Course Syllabus

Semester & Location:	Spring 2025 - DIS Stockholm
Type & Credits:	Core Course - 3 credits
Study Tours:	Short Study Tour: Visby, Gotland  Long Study Tour: Helsinki, Finland
Major Disciplines:	Economics, Finance, and Political Science
Prerequisites:	One course in intermediate or advanced microeconomics at university level.
Faculty Member:	Fairouz Hussien (current students please use Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Time: Mondays & Thursdays | 14:50 - 16:10 Place: D508

 

Course Description

Markets generate wealth, but there are no guarantees of how. On the international stage, the volatility of markets contributes to many of the key global challenges of our time: climate change, widening inequality, unprecedented waves of migration, financial crises, and increasing unemployment in the wake of digitalization, automation, and AI. In this course, we consider how responses to these challenges differ between European countries, with a focus on the nature and extent of public interventions in the marketplace.

Our global economic system generates astounding wealth and unprecedented individual freedom. It also creates many problems, including inequality, financial instability, and massive environmental destruction. Some of these problems grow to become crises with international impact.

How nations respond to crises is greatly influenced by a cocktail of factors, including the economic systems in place and how they process and allocate resources, what are the ruling government forms, what kind of policies and regulations are passed (and to whose benefit), market organizing, trade agreements and alliances (with who, for what), and developmental capabilities.

To compare economic systems is to compare ways to process information and make decisions – especially when faced with challenging and uncertain circumstances. This comparison is the study of comparative economics. In comparative economics, we compare economic systems, policies and strategies, and turn towards a facet of economics that is hard to measure, hard to predict, yet vital for navigating and understanding the economy.

In this course, we will compare a selection of economies and how they respond to crises. We will take a look at a variety of policies, economic systems, resource scarcity and allocation, and how the EU has responded to some of the global crises over the past many years.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students are expected to understand:

• The complex relations between capitalist economics and democratic politics
• How different economic systems and forms of government result in different responses to crises.
• Increased familiarity with policies, how they are written and used in crisis responses.
• Market dynamicity and its interplay with policy responses.
• Resource scarcity and allocation, and the conflicts affecting the related decision-making.
• The EU, its foundations and basic operation, as well as its many institutions.
• A closer look at a variety of crises, and how they were handled.
• To further develop essential skills – in analytical thinking and in both oral and written presentation.

Faculty

Fairouz Hussien

PhD @ Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), M.Sc. @ Hanken School of Economics (Finland). Co-founder of the SSE Methods Lab, and co-founder of SIDI (Stockholm Interdisciplinary Initiative) at DIS Stockholm. Research focus on economic regulation, market dynamics, and antitrust. Expertise from the airline industry. Coffee enthusiast and a book collector.

Field Studies

Field Study 1: Global Economic Frontiers

Time:

• • • 10:00 to 14:00.

Location:

• • • DIS Classroom 1D-410

Agenda:

PART 1

• • • Think of how to introduce yourself:
      • Name & major
      • Something you want to do in Stockholm
      • If you got the opportunity to have a conversation with one economist, or an economic theorist - dead or alive - who would it be and why?

PART 2

• • • Brainstorm ongoing crises - which ones are you aware of? Write down into post-it notes the different crises you come up with, and post them on the wall.
    • Read the post-it notes of other students.
    • You will then be divided into small groups to discuss an issue that you and your group select out of all the options. Consider at least the following:
      • What are the primary economic characteristics of the regions or countries affected by the crisis (e.g., GDP, level of economic development, main industries)?
      • How does the economic structure (capitalist, mixed economy, state-controlled) influence the impact of the crisis?
      • What immediate economic policies were implemented in response to the crisis? Consider fiscal policies, monetary policies, and regulatory changes.
      • What are the projected long-term effects of the crisis on the economy? Consider impacts on employment, inflation, economic growth, and public debt.
        
      • How has the crisis affected social structures, inequality, and welfare within the affected regions?
        
      • What role have international organizations and agreements played in addressing the crisis? Consider the involvement of entities like the IMF, World Bank, EU, or bilateral agreements.
        
    • Present your output - what did you discuss, how was your crisis represented in the media, did you arrive at any conclusions?
    • Wrap-up.

Field Study 2: Case Workshop with Natalie Bye: The Immigration Crisis and European Responses

Time:

• • • 08:30 to 12:00.

Location:

• • • DIS Classroom 1D-508

Agenda:

• • • Preparation instructions for the students:

      1. 1. Source something related to refugee migration that you find interesting. It can be a picture, a news article, a headline, an academic article, an object, a poem, a song, a story or anything else that is somehow related to refugee migration and that you think is interesting. Be ready to show it and tell your classmates about it (in 1 or 2 minutes). 
         2. Identify at least 1 term or concept from the readings that you are unfamiliar with. Look up the definition and be prepared to explain it to your classmates. You will explain it informally in approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Hence, a formal presentation is NOT required. 
         3. Think about reading #4, the report about the unaccompanied children from 2015. Make some brief notes about your understanding and view on the current situation for the immigrants discussed in the report. You will use these notes during the workshop. 

      Readings (all available for download in the Modules):

      1. Vogt Isaksen, J. V. (2018). The Framing of Immigration and Integration in Sweden and Norway: A Comparative Study of Official Government Reports. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 10(1): pp. 106-124. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2478/njmr-2019-0033Links to an external site. Accessible at https://journal-njmr.org/articles/abstract/10.2478/njmr-2019-0033Links to an external site.  
      2. Gutiérrez Rodriguez, E. (2018). The Coloniality of Migration and the “Refugee Crisis”: On the Asylum-Migration Nexus, the Transatlantic White European Settler Colonialism-Migration and Racial Capitalism, Refuge, 34(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1050851arLinks to an external site.  
      3. Statistics Sweden. (2023). Ensamkommande barn 2015 Boende, utbildning och sysselsättning 2022 (Unaccompanied children 2015 Housing, education and employment in 2022). Integration: Report 18. Accessed from https://www.scb.se/contentassets/220ef0cac69e47aa8b44907d3fdf7714/le0105_2023a01_br_be57br2301.pdfLinks to an external site.
      • • • Links to an external site.As this report was only published in Swedish, a copy in English, translated by Google Translate is provided to you. 
          • The compulsory reading is:
            • Introduction pages 7 to 9,
            • Alone in Sweden today pages 14 to 25,
            • Concluding remarks pages 26 & 27,
          • but you are of course welcome to read the whole report.

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support acadsupport@disstockholm.se

Expectations of the Students

Students are expected to actively participate in class, engage with the readings and the ongoing discussions. Since some work will be done using laptops, students are expected to bring theirs with them to class.

1 missed attendance = 1 written task to be submitted. In other words: most of the course activity will be taking place within teaching hours. Absence from a session, however, means that the student must submit a make-up assignment related to the topic of discussion.

Grading

Assignments (Please visit the "assignments" page for more detailed instructions!)
Participation: this component reflects the level of engagement and activity in the course. It is assessed through two elements: Attendance Q&A assignment	20%
Classroom submissions Reflections/summaries/output from in-class activities ( x 14)	30%
Study Tour Tasks Short Study Tour to Visby, Gotland: "The Perks and Perils of an Island Economy" Long Study Tour to Helsinki, Finland: "Through Finnish Eyes: Surviving & Thriving"	20%
Course Project Course project: Report Course project: Presentation Course project: Opponing	30%

 

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org