TRADE 7008 - Services Trade & Developing World Labour Markets

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2015

The course examines the important role trade in services can play in assisting with the economic growth and development of emerging and developing economies. The role of services is divided into three sections: the first looking at those 'backbone' services whose efficient functioning is essential for the emergence of a successful and competitive private sector such as banking, telecommunication and transport services. The course focuses on those areas of traded services where great potential lies for developing countries, including health, education and tourist services but also the development of rural and agricultural services. The third section of the course focuses exclusively on the role of labour markets and the temporary movement of labour between nations. Students will be exposed to the economic and social issues around the treatment of labour mobility in trade agreements and reasons for and against 'guest worker schemes'. The course concludes with an update about the treatment of trade in services in contemporary trade agreements and a discussion of appropriate strategies for developing countries to capture the benefits from trade in services in the future.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code TRADE 7008
    Course Services Trade & Developing World Labour Markets
    Coordinating Unit Institute for International Trade
    Term Semester 2
    Level Postgraduate Coursework
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact 3 x 1.5 day intensive modules
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Quota A quota of 24 applies
    Assessment Assignments & take home research projects
    Course Staff
    Name: Mr Peter Gallagher
    Role: Course Coordinator and Associate Expert, IIT
    Email: peter@petergallagher.com.au
    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
    1 Understand and explain of the role of trade in services in the modern global economy.
    2 Understand the “infrastructure” role of so-called “backbone” services, the efficient functioning of which is key to the overall functioning of the modern economy (e.g., financial services, telecommunications services, transportation services).
    3 Appreciate areas in which developing country services providers have a comparative advantage and where the development of trade in these services (such as health, education and tourism services) can have an important positive impact on economic development in developing countries.
    4 Appreciate the significance of trade in services through mobility of workers and the importance of remittances to developing country economies.
    5 Consider how best developing country policymakers might organize national strategies for economic development in relation to trade in services.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised. 1,2,3,4,5
    The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner. 3
    An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems. 1,4,5
    Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication. 4,5
    A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies. 2,3,4
    A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life. 2,5
    A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community. 5
    An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities. 1,2,3,4,5
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    • Reading materials for this course comprise of:

      1. Handbook on International Trade in Services. Aaditya Mattoo, Robert M. Stern, and Gianni Zanini, 2008, Oxford University Press. Available from the COURSE MATERIALS section of the MyUni Website.
      NOTE: Students are expected to read Chapters 1-3 of the Handbook BEFORE CLASSES COMMENCE. This is introductory material that will not be revised in class except incidentally. There will be a class QUIZ during the first session of the classes (Saturday August 1st) covering the material in Chapters 1-3 of the Handbook. Students will have an opportunity to ask questions in advance of the quiz but must have studied the text to pass the quiz.
      1. International Trade in Services: New Trends and Opportunities for Developing Countries, Olivier Cattaneo, Michael Engman, et. al. 2010, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Available from the COURSE MATERIALS section of the MyUni Website.
      NOTE: This is a valuable resource for coverage of trade in services sectors with a focus on developing countries. Students who wish to do well in the class syndicate assignments and in the final essay would be well advised to consult relevant sector chapters (and bibliographies)
      1.  The New Services Era - is GATS up to the task, Magnus Rentzhog and Emilie Anér, ICTSD and the World Economic Forum, 2014. Available from the COURSE MATERIALS section of the MyUni Website.
      This is relatively short pamphlet brings the story of the GATS up to date and poses some important questions about the value of the Agreement, twenty years later. Students should ensure they have read this document BEFORE THURSDAY 20 August. It will form the basis for a Syndicate exercise in the last two sessions of the class.

          4.   Course Reader
    • Services Trade and Growth
    • Mind the Gap! International Comparisons of Productivity in Services and Goods Production
    • Must the Growth Rate Decline? Baumol's Unbalanced Growth Revisited
    • Openness to Foreign Direct Investment in Services: An International Comparative Analysis
    • The Political Economy of Services Trade Liberalization: A Case for International Regularoty Cooperation?
    Recommended Resources
    • Acemoglu, Daron. "Mechanics and Causes of Economic Growth." Introduction to Modern Economic Growth, pp 861-874. Princeton University Press, 2009
    • Barwise, Ken. "Impact of genuine broadband for Australia." Center for International Economics. Sydney, 2008
    • Bhagwati, Jagdish N. "Splintering and Disembodiment of Services and Developing Nations." The World Economy (1984)
    • Borchert, Ingo, and Aaditya Mattoo. The Crisis-Resilience of Services Trade. World. Policy Research Working Paper, 2009
    • Cattaneo, Olivier. “Trade in Health Services What‟s in it for Developing Countries” World Bank. Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, 2009
    • Center for International Economics. "APEC and international education." Canberra, 2008. Page 5 of 13
    • Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, and Ross Levine. “Financial Institutions and Markets across Countries and over Time Data and Analysis”. World Bank Development Research Group, 2009
    • Francois, Joseph F. "Producer Services , Scale , and the of Labor." Oxford Economic Papers 42 (1990): 715-729
    • Francois, Joseph F, and Kenneth A Reinert. "The Role of Services in the Structure of Production and Trade : Stylized Facts from a Cross-Country Analysis." Asia-Pacific Economic Review 2, no. 920 (1996): 1-10
    • Francois, Joseph, and Bernard M Hoekman. “Services Trade and Policy.” World Bank Working Papewr
    • Golub, Stephen S. "Openness to Foreign Direct Investment in Services : An International Comparative Analysis." The World Economy (2009): 1245-1268. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9701.2009.01201.x.
    • Gootiiz, Batshur, and Aaditya Mattoo. “Services in Doha What‟s on the Table ?” WorldBank, 2009
    • Herszenhorn, David M. "For Ailing Health System: A Diagnosis But No Cure." New York Times. http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/an-economist-who-sees-no-way-to-slow-rising-costs/
    • Hoekman, Bernard. "The General Agreement on Trade in Services: Doomed to Fail? Does it Matter?" Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade 8, no. 3-4 (2008): 295-318. doi:10.1007/s10842-008-0036-z. http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s10842-008-0036-z.
    • Hoekman, Bernard, and Aaditya Mattoo. Services Trade and Growth. World. Washington, 2008.
    • Hoekman, Bernard, and Aaditya Mattoo. "The political economy of services trade liberalization: a case for international regulatory cooperation." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 23, no. 3 (2007): 367-391. doi:10.1093/icb/grm024.
    • Inklar, Robert, Marcel Timmer, and Bart Van Ark. “Mind the Gap! International Comparisons of Productivity in Services and Goods Production.” Research Memorandum GD-89. Gronigen, 2006.
    • Institute for International Trade. "Trade and poverty reduction." Institute for International Trade, Andrew Stoler and James Redden (eds), 2009.
    • International Telecommunications Union. "Measuring the Information Society." Geneva, 2009.
    • Lejour, Arjan M., and Peter M. Smith. "International Trade in Services.”Editorial Introduction." Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade 8, no. 3-4 (2008): 169-180. doi:10.1007/s10842-008-0037-y. http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s10842-008-0037-y. Page 6 of 13
    • Locksley, Gareth. “What‟s the Story? The Media and Development.” World Bank Working Paper, 2008. doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-7828-1.
    • Marchetti, Juan A. “Financial Services Liberalization : 1997 to the Present.” Workshop to Mark the Tenth Anniversary of the Fifth Protocol to GATS, 2009.
    • McLaclan, Rosalie, Colin Clark, and Ian Monday. “Australia's Service Sector: A Study in Diversity”. Australian Productivity Commission Staff Research Paper, 2002.
    • Nguyen-Hong, Duc. “Restrictions on Trade in Professional Services”. Australian Productivity Commission, Staff Resarch Paper, 2000.
    • Oulton, N. "Must the growth rate decline: Baumol's unbalanced growth revisited." Oxford Economic Papers 53, no. 4 (2001): 605-627. doi:10.1093/oep/53.4.605. http://oep.oupjournals.org/cgi/doi/10.1093/oep/53.4.605.
    • Ramasamy, Bala, and Matthew Yeung. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Services." World Economy 33, no. 4 (2010): 573-596. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9701.2009.01256.x. http://blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2009.01256.x.
    • Romer, Paul M. "Economic Growth." The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2007.
    • Ron Skeldon. Globalization, Skilled Migration and Poverty Alleviation: Brain Drains in Context. Context. Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, 2005.
    • Rutan, Vernon W. "The new growth theory and development economics: a survey." Journal of Development Studies 35, no. 2 (1998).
    • Triplett, Jack E, and Barry P Bosworth. "Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector: New Sources of Economic Growth." Brookings Institution. Washington DC, 2008.
    • United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Assessment of Trade in Services of Developing Countries” 1999.
    • United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. "World Investment Report: The shift towards services." New York. New York, 2004.
    • United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Trade and Development Aspects of Professional Services and Regulatory Frameworks.” Geneva, 2005.
    • World Bank. A Handbook of International Trade in Services. Aaditya Mattoo, Robert M. Stern, and Gianni Zanini. Oxford University Press, 2008.
    • World Bank. "Negotiating Trade in Services: A practical Guide for Developing Countries," 2009. Page 7 of 13
    • World Bank. "Trade in Information and Communication Opportunities for East and Southern Africa Services: Final Report on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda." Management, 2008.
    • World Bank. "World Development Report: Making Services Work for Poor People," 2004.
    • World Trade Organization. Audiovisual Services, 2010.
    • World Trade Organization. “Measuring Trade in Services.” World. Geneva: World Trade Organization, 2008.
    Online Learning

    Additional background information on trade in services can be found on the following websites:

  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    The three intensive class modules will provide an interactive environment of presentations, discussion and debate. Throughout the course there will be lectures and presentations from the course coordinator and invited guest speakers followed by discussions, questions and debate. Active debate on the role and significance of services trade and the role of services in the firm and in the economy is strongly encouraged. Students will be asked to participate, as a part of the learning and assessment process, in an extended seminar on the topic of designing a “services sector development strategy” for a developing economy.
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    As this is an intensive course, students are expected to attend all classes throughout the semester. This course comprise of approximately 36 contact hours (structured learning). In addition to time spent in class, students in TRADE 7008 are expected to devote an additional 120 non-contact hours of study in this course.
    Learning Activities Summary
    UNIT 1: SERVICES AND DEVELOPMENT
    1. Welcome a.  Introductions
    b.  Objectives
    c.  Course dates, assessment, exercises, exams
    2. An overview of services a.  Commercial services and GATS
    b.  Definitions
         i. Kinds of services
    c.  Diversity
    d.  Classification
         i. CPC
         ii. Modes
    e.  GATS objectives
    f.  GATS and annexes (history)
    g.  Measuring services trade
    3. Services and economic growth a.  A little bit of growth theory
    b.  Some (stylised) observations about services and development?
    c.  Why have services grown as a share of the economy?
         i. Services and economic growth: the 'stagnation' puzzle
         ii. Intermediate services, specialization and productivity
             1. The evidence from USA, Europe, Australia
    4. Services regulation a.  Gains from Services Trade 
    b.  Services trade regulation
         i. Nature
         ii. Measuring the impacts
            1. Static analysis of typical barriers to services
    5. Reducing services barriers a.  Inventory of barriers
    b.  Sequencing reforms
    c.  Making markets efficient (competition reform)
    d.  Trade agreements
         i. GATS
         ii. Regional trade agreements
    UNIT 2: SERVICES SECTORS IN DEVELOPMENT
    1. Telecommunications services
    2. Financial services
    3. Transport services
    4. Infrastructure services
    5. Professional (business) services
    6. FDI and services
    UNIT 3: SERVICES SECTORS IN DEVELOPMENT (cont'd)
    1. Class exercise: Half-day seminar on the development of a services sector strategy for a developing economy. Students will be expected to prepare presentations for the Seminar and to participate in the discussion
    2. Labour markets
    3. Movement of labour
    4. Education and Health services
    5. Course review
    Specific Course Requirements
    Note: Students without any economics background may find it helpful to review some basic texts on economic concepts and analysis. Please see the course-coordinator for recommendations.
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    In keeping with the practical, rather than theoretical orientation of this elective, we will assess students on their class participation, presentations and the successful completion of their assignments. Details of the assignments will be discussed with students in the first session of the course.

    Details of all assessment tasks, including references to suggested resources where appropriate, will be included in the class notes and on the MyUni website.

    The marks for assessments will be allocated as follows:
    Assessment Task Task Type Due Weighting Learning Outcome
    Short Essay Summative

    TBC

    10% 1,2,3,4
    Seminar preparation & presentation Formative and Summative TBC 15% 1,2,3,4,5
    Substantial Final Essay Summative TBC 65% 1,2,3,4,5
    Class participation Formative and Summative - 10% 1,2,3,4,5
    Assessment Detail

    No information currently available.

    Submission
    Assignments must be submitted two ways:

    1. Softcopy through Turnitin on MyUni
    AND
    2. Hardcopy in the assignment drop-box. This is located on the ground floor of Nexus 10 (10 Pulteney St)

    All assignments must be presented professionally with clear headings, appropriate referencing and using one and a half spacing.

    Extensions will only be granted if requests are received in writing to the course coordinator at least 24 hours before the final due date unless they are requested on medical or compassionate grounds and are supported by appropriate documents. Late assignments will be penalised.

    Your assignment must include the IIT assignment cover sheet which can be downloaded from MyUni under “Assignments”. Each page must be numbered with your student ID and name.

    Please contact the course coordinator, preferably by email, for assistance or guidance in relation to course work, assignments or any concerns that may arise. Assignments will normally be returned two weeks after they have been submitted.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

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  • Policies & Guidelines
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