The Center for International Studies

2009 Summer Teacher Institute

Understanding the Global Economy:
Bringing the World Market into your Classroom

Illinois State Standards

• State Goal 14: (Social Science) Understand political systems, with an emphasis on the United States
• State Goal 15: (Social Science) Understand economic systems, with an emphasis on the United States
• State Goal 16: (Social Science) Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States, and other nations
• State Goal 17: (Social Science) Understand world geography and the effects of geography on society, with an emphasis on the United States
• State Goal 18: (Social Science) Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States
• State Goal 29: (Foreign Language) Use the target language to develop an understanding of the customs, arts, literature, history and geography associated with the target language

The following are readings and other resources suggested by the individuals who spoke at the Institute. PowerPoint files and video of each speaker's presentation are now available below. (Click the link to the right to download lesson plans based on these presentations.)

• Brian Ashby
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  • Presentation: From Congo through Chicago: Understanding the Life-Cycles of Metal Commodities in the Global Economy
  • African Since Independence
  • American Scrap
  • Back at Junk Value Recyclables Are Piling Up
  • From Rebel Held Congo to Beer Can
  • In the Metal Recycling Business it's Loud, Dirty, and Suddenly Lucrative
  • In US Metal Theft Plagues Troubled Neighborhoods
  • Odelay Yonquero
  • War, Murder, Rape: All For Your Cell Phone
  • Pre-readings
• Justin Borevitz
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  • Presentation: Ecological Capital
  • Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
    Chapters 7, 8 and 9 (“Coming 1st World Debt Crisis”, “Steady State Economics”, and “Natural Capitalism (amory lovins))
  • A Road Map for Natural Capitalism
  • Eradicating Poverty, Stabilizing Population
  • Feeding Eight Billion Well
  • Restoring the Earth
  • Steady State Economics
• David Brady
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  • Presentation: The New Global Inequalities
  • Global Corporations, Global Unions
  • How Countries Conform
  • Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?
  • Making World Cities
  • The Devate on Globalization, Poverty and Inequality
• John Branch
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  • Presentation: Globalisation: The Great Debate
  • Globalization's Hidden Benefits
  • Have Advice, Will Travel
  • Emerging Nations Powering Global Economic Boom
  • On the Hiking Trail
  • Open Door Policy
  • Three Cheers for Global Capitalism
  • Waking Up to Globalization
  • What is America's China Problem?
  • Why Globalization is in Trouble (Parts 1 & 2)
• Dan Brinkmeier
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  • Presentation: Local Agriculture, International Markets, and Global Pressures: Case Studies from America's Heartland
• Robert DeYoung
  • Presentation: The Root Causes of the Crisis: What Have We Learned?
  • Banking in the United States
• Chris Janus
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  • Presentation: Teaching Economics and Trying to Step Outside the Bubble of Capitalism
  • The Quiet Coup *** REQUIRED READING ***

  On Day 1 of the Institute, Chris Janus will discuss best practices for teaching economics using the Simon Johnson article, "The Quiet Coup," as an example of how to provide students with a greater perspective and understanding of the recession we are experiencing. Johnson argues that the Obama administration is engaged in "policy by deal" with the financial oligarchs and that we will not emerge successfully from this recession unless he takes those individuals on—thus, some of them must ‘lose’ for the economy to rebound. In his presentation, Chris Janus will demonstrate the value of using student-led inquiry in the classroom. The following five papers, written by a selection of Chris Janus’ AP economics students, illustrate this teaching technique. The students volunteered to write papers on various aspects of the financial crisis, analyzing whether President Obama is indeed engaged in "policy by deal" or if he is actually confronting the oligarchs. The abstracts of these papers will be available for all attendees at the Institute, and will be discussed by one of Chris Janus’ students following his presentation. You are encouraged to read through these abstracts in advance.

  • Crash: The Auto Industry Crisis
  • Economic Crisis and DeGlobalization
  • Health Care Reform: Obama and the Oligarchs
  • Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste
  • Obama and Executive Compensation
  • Oligarchs of the Banking System: Why They’re So Powerful and How They Got Us Into the Financial Crisis

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  Additional readings:

  • Anglo-American Capitalism on Trial
  • Financial Policy Despair
  • Redefining Capitalism After the Fall
  • The Market Mystique
• Mona Mehta
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  • Presentation: Yogi and the Mandarin: A Tale of Two Asian Revolutions
  • Can India Catch Up with China?
  • China after Thirty Years of Reform
  • Political Economy of Modern China
  • Reflections on China's Reform
  • The Social Cost of Transition and Development in China
  • Why the Future Belongs to India
  • Ramesh, Jairam. (Introduction by Strobe Talbott.) Making Sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India. New Delhi, India Research Press, 2005.
  • Meredith, Robyn. The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us. W.W. Norton, 2007.
  • Luce, Edward. In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. Anchor, 2008.
• Alicia Menendez
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  • Presentation: The Effects of Globalization on Poverty and Child Labor
• Aamir A. Rehman
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  • Presentation: The Gulf Region of the Middle East and its Relevance to Global Business
  • Where Oil Rich Nations Are Placing Their Bets
• Sabina Shaikh
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  • Presentation: Markets 101: The Case for Markets
  • Classroom Lesson: Gains from Trade
  • Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, Charles Wheelan, Burton Gordon Malkiel. 2003. 292 pages.
• James Thindwa
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  • Campaign of Healing Needed
  • Earth to Brociner
  • Fox News, Criminal Pundits
  • Free Trade Era Nearing End
  • Holding Barack Accountable
  • No Jobs Make Mean Streets
  • Where is the Dream?
  • Whitewashing Television News
• William M. Tsutsui
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  • Presentation: The Bubble Economy and the Lost Decade: Learning from the Japanese Economic Experience
  • The Japanese Government and the Economy: Twenty First Century Challenges
  • The Japanese Economy in U.S. Eyes: From Model to Lesson

For more information, please contact Jamie Bender at (773) 834-3852 or jbender@uchicago.edu