This seminar provides advanced undergraduates an inter-related treatment of economic development, international trade and finance, and the domestic institutional underpinnings of growth and stability. The focus is comparative, historical, and analytical. We examine traditional themes and foundational questions in political and economic development and then pose questions specific to the contemporary period of globalization. Why are some societies able to escape vicious cycles of poverty and make the critical transition to sustained growth and economic well-being? Why are others not able to do so? Why do some parts of the globe (such as portions of Latin and Central America, Eastern Europe, and Sub- Saharan Africa) seem to miss the promise and fruit of an increasingly globalized world while other regions (notably East Asia and the BRICS group of nations) respond to expanding trading and financial liberalization with dynamism and profit? Throughout, a running comparison with the earlier experiences of Western nations is used as an analytical and historical benchmark to assess the more recent experiences of developing nations. Finally, in the current age of pandemics, we relate these enduring themes to the difficult period that globalization is undergoing, and what this means for different parts of the world.