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 in Canada-U.S. Relations.

• 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 interest rates are set, and what constitutes a logical or economically-rational currency zone.

• Globalization: unit on “Whither the Nation-State in a Global Economy?” Here, one might use this piece to show how one partner in a highly-integrated regional economy continues to prize monetary autonomy, despite what the author shows to be weak economic reasons for doing so. This can lead to a discussion of how sovereignty and autonomy have been challenged by the global economy in the past decade, and why these issues have political power, in general and in particular national contexts (such as Canada’s).

• Canada-U.S. Relations: unit on monetary convergence, within a study of continentalization of the two economies. Can be paired with Stephen Clarkson’s Uncle Sam and Us: Globalization, Neoconservatism, and the Canadian State (University of Toronto Press, 2002), which examines how pressures for policy “convergence” in a number of issue areas can be viewed as touching on core values of the Canadian identity.