Theories and cases studies concerning social, cultural and historical aspects of business, trade, finance, organizations, property systems, regulation and work. How are economic institutions and systems of exchange shaped by social and cultural contexts that they affect in turn? What alternative ways of organizing commerce are suggested by world comparative and historical study?

This is one of the two introductory core courses in the GCCS major. It surveys academic research on topics that are salient to contemporary global commerce: the global and the local; illicit trade; the body across borders; global labor; technology and digital infrastructures; trade and physical infrastructures; companies and climate change; global economic governance; and social goals in the international division of labor.