Although this article is somewhat technical and requires some background understanding of concepts such as relative prices, interest rate policy, and the role of commodities in an economy, the broader political implications of its argument make it a fine choice for introductory elective courses in International Political Economy, Globalization, or Border/Migration/Transborder Studies.

• International Political Economy: units on regional economic integration, and on monetary policy. Could be used to bridge these two units, as it discusses the question of how national banking systems are set up, and how they have become more integrated in the global economy.

• Globalization: unit on “Whither the Nation-State in a Global Economy?” Luna’s discussion of the consumer- and demographic-driven incentives leading the North American banking industry to focus on its home region raises the question of whether our economies are really “national” anymore. Also, who are “citizens” of regions? Are we simply consumers within economic regions, but what of those sending cash home to family members – the money is taxed indirectly, but it is also lost to the traditional banking industry. Countries such as Spain have worked to legalize immigrants in part to bring them in to the legal economy and to benefit from their demographic cushion as native-born populations age and family size shrinks. How are these issues dealt with in the North American region?

• Border/Migration/Transborder Studies: Unit on the role of remittances in the regional economy. Paired with Robert C. Smith’s magisterial ethnography Mexican New York: Transnational Lives of Immigrants (University of California Press, 2006).