AECO 25A28 - Global Finance for Global Challenges

Is our global financial system part of the problem it’s meant to solve? This course explores the architecture and politics behind global finance, and how it can be reformed to address the world’s most urgent needs: climate change, inequality, debt sustainability, and beyond.

The challenge today isn’t just what we fund, but how we fund it. Through a mix of academic literature, case studies, student-led presentations, and guest lectures by senior experts from leading institutions, we will explore which actors shape the global economy, how they wield their influence - and what it would take to reform them. Eager to understand multilateral finance, or simply wondering why the Paris Club isn’t a nightlife hotspot? This course is for you.

No formal prerequisites. An interest in global policy, international economics, or development is recommended. While the course doesn’t require mastery of any financial or mathematical tools, it assumes students are open to engaging with such concepts when relevant.

Weekly two-hour seminars combining student-led presentations, critical discussions of the required readings, and lectures by the instructor or senior invited practitioners from international organizations, government, or academia.

Typically, the first hour will be dedicated to presentations and collective discussion of the readings, while the second hour will focus on a thematic lecture or guest speaker intervention providing policy and practitioner perspectives on the week’s topic.

Students will be evaluated through:

A midterm policy brief (30%) completed in a timed, in-class session;

A final paper (30%) that involves analyzing a reform tool or concept and proposing practical policy recommendations.