Michael A. Gavin

Economist, Department of Finance

Government of Canada

Visiting Researcher, Graduate School of Public and 

International Affairs, The University of Ottawa

Washington University in St. Louis

Politics, Risk, and Banking Crises
Spring 2019

How does politics govern banking sector risk? The first phase of the course begins with an introduction to banking sector risk and why banks are susceptible to periodic crises. The second phase of the course looks at how private agents and states approach the problem of governing bank risk. The third phase of the course will introduce students to various types of bank risk, including liquidity risk, credit risk, foreign exchange rate risk, settlement risk, and systemic risk, and show how crises ranging from the Latin American debt crises, the emerging market crises of the 1990s, and the global financial crisis are manifestations of these risks gone sour. Evaluations.


The International Political Economy of Finance
Spring 2019
This course introduces students to the politics of the international monetary system. The first phase of the course will review the major theoretical approaches to international monetary relations. The second phase will review four key political problems in the international political economy of finance: capital mobility, exchange rate regimes, international capital flows, and international banking. The final phase will look at how international governance arrangements have evolved in response to these problems in the post-WWII era. Evaluations.




Carleton University


Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science

Fall 2017 & Summer 2018

This course introduces the basic tenets of empirical research design in political science. The first half of the course introduces students to the fundamental building blocks of the scientific approach to political science research. The second half of the course introduces a few common research designs and will relate each to the building blocks established in the first half of the course. Evaluations.