Learning Outcomes:
On completing this module students will be able to:
(a) Compare at the level of formal analysis, the major models of international trade and be able to distinguish between them in terms of their assumptions and economic implications.
(b) Employ the principle of comparative advantage and its formal expression and interpretation within different theoretical models.
(c) Demonstrate and contrast the economic effects of trade policy instruments such as tariffs, quotas, export subsidies as well as those of the creation of preferential trading arrangements such as free trade areas, customs unions and common market.
(d) Identify and critically appraise major recent developments in the world trading system.
Indicative Module Content:
Main Textbook: International Economics – Theory and Policy, P.R. Krugman, M. Obstfeld and M.J. Melitz, 11th edition, Pearson 2018.
Topics
I. INTRODUCTION
- What is International Trade About?
- World Trade an Overview:
- Who Trades With Whom?
-The Changing Patterns of World Trade
II. INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORIES (subject to change):
- Comparative Advantage: The Ricardian Model
- Specific factors model
- Trade and resources: The Heckscher-Ohlin model
- Economies of Scale and the International Location of Production
- Firms in the Global Economy
III. INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY