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Summarizes five major trade disputes before the World Trade Organization (WTO): (1) the Brazil-Canada aircraft dispute, (2) the European Union/United States foreign sales corporation dispute, (3) the Asian/United States shrimp and sea turtle dispute, (4) the United States/European Union beef hormones dispute, and (5) the U.S. steel tariff dispute.

Examines the extended conflict between free traders and protectionists in 19th century Britain. It culminates with Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel's decision at the end of 1845 about whether to repeal the Corn Laws, a series of acts that had protected British agriculture for almost 200 years. With landowners and industrialists battling fiercely over the issues, nearly everyone agreed that the decision would be momentous.

Examines the extended conflict between free traders and protectionists in nineteenth-century Britain. It culminates with Prime Minister Robert Peel's decision at the end of 1845 about whether to repeal the Corn Laws, a series of acts that had protected British agriculture for almost 200 years. With landowners and industrialists battling fiercely over the issues, nearly everyone agreed that the decision would be momentous.

Surveys the French pension system, its particular institutional characteristics, and some of the critical challenges and opportunities facing French reformers. Like almost every other industrialized country, France has a large pay-as-you-go public pension system that is beginning to run into serious financial trouble. Ever-increasing longevity, the impending retirement of the baby boomers, and intense public pressure for a lower retirement age are all placing great strain on the existing system. The case emphasizes that in contemplating proposals for reform, the French are being required to weigh two different social objectives that appear to be in conflict--economic growth and economic security. Their choices will end up exerting an enormous impact not only on their welfare state but also on the structure of French labor and capital markets.

Although the Great Depression stands as the most punishing economic event of the 20th century, there is still remarkably little consensus about its causes. This case presents a number of prominent explanations including those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. Four additional theories are presented in the appendix.

Set in the Great Depression, this case explores the origins of national income accounting in the United States. Highlights Senator La Follette's 1932 proposal for the federal government to begin collecting national income statistics.

In the late 1940s, officials at the U.S. State Department began campaigning for the creation of an International Trade Organization (ITO). This new organization would oversee global negotiations on trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, cartels, and commodity agreements; and it would complement the IMF and the World Bank, both of which were founded at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 to address international financial flows. Together, the IMF, the World Bank, and the ITO would comprise a comprehensive system for the management of international economic affairs. As it turned out, however, the proposed ITO proved extremely controversial both within the United States and around the world. When President Truman finally sent the ITO Charter to Congress in 1949, lawmakers there had to decide whether to endorse this product of three years of intense international negotiations or simply to let it die an unceremonious death in Washington, D.C.

Presents a compilation of primary and secondary sources as well as a set of data exhibits on the German hyperinflation of 1923. The hyperinflation represented a defining moment in German history and certainly one of the two or three most important economic events of the 20th century. Memories of it continue to shape economic policy in Germany to this day. Equally important, the story of the world's most spectacular hyperinflation is rich in lessons about the many interconnections between money, prices, production, and politics in a modern capitalist economy.

Supplements Tax Cut of 1964.

Surveys the French pension system, its particular institutional characteristics, and some of the critical challenges and opportunities facing French reformers. Like almost every other industrialized country, France has a large pay-as-you-go public pension system that is beginning to run into serious financial trouble. Ever-increasing longevity, the impending retirement of the baby boomers, and intense public pressure for a lower retirement age are all placing great strain on the existing system. The case emphasizes that in contemplating proposals for reform, the French are being required to weigh two different social objectives that appear to be in conflict--economic growth and economic security. Their choices will end up exerting an enormous impact not only on their welfare state but also on the structure of French labor and capital markets.

Offers a brief overview of economic thinking about the nature of money and about how the central bank can affect the economy through monetary policy.

Comprises three pieces. The first piece, which forms the body of the case, is adapted from a speech delivered by the author before the Harvard Business School Political Forum in early 1995. Originally entitled "The Economic Foundations of American Social Policy: Yesterday and Today," the speech attempts to place current discussions about a Third Industrial Revolution in historical perspective. The second piece, presented in the appendices, includes excerpts from speeches by three major policy figures--Representative Newt Gingrich, presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, and Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Each of these speakers identifies profound changes in the U.S. economy and suggests specific public policy responses. The 11 data exhibits that form the final piece of the case offer an overview of U.S. economic performance from 1960 to 1994. The primary theme linking these materials together is the notion that the United States is now in the midst of an economic transition. What remains uncertain, of course, is the precise nature of the transition. Is it really as profound or as far reaching as the various authors suggest?

Describes the IMF, the World Bank Group, the regional development banks, the Bank of International Settlements, the OECD, and the Group of 7.

Explores the problem of French unemployment on the eve of the presidential elections of 1995. Traces the development of social and economic policies under President Mitterrand and surveys leading explanations for the nation's mounting unemployment crisis. One major theme concerns possible contradictions between France's commitment to European integration and its commitment to expansive social protection for French citizens. Another important theme relates to the apparent tradeoff between jobs and wages, which has characterized most of the developed economies since the mid-1970s.

Examines the founding of the United States of America during the second half of the eighteenth century. Focuses on: 1) the reasons why the American colonists rebelled against Britain (1763-1774); 2) the problems the new nation confronted during the War of Independence and under the Articles of Confederation (1775-1788); 3) the main issues taken up at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia (1787); and 4) the enormous challenges facing Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury in the first Washington Administration (1789-1792). A complete version of the Constitution (including the first 10 amendments) is attached as an appendix.