Faculty of Business and Management Sciences · Economics (English) · Undergraduate
Course Objective
This course focuses on international trade in goods, services, and capital. We will analyze the causes and consequences of international trade and investment. We will investigate why nations trade, what they trade, and who gains (or loses) from this trade. We will then analyze the motives for countries or organizations to restrict or regulate international trade and study the effects of such policies on economic welfare.
Course Content
The issues discussed will include the effects of trade on economic growth and wage inequality, analysis of protectionism, strategic trade barriers, the trade deficit, multinationals and foreign direct investment, international trade agreements and current trade policy disputes.
Course Learning Outcomes
- • To understand the concept of comparative advantage and the gains from trade, understand what determines the pattern of trade, and be able to outline the costs, benefits, and impact on income distribution of different instruments of trade protection.
- • Understand the political economy of protection, and the role and limitations of the World Trade Organization.
- • To be able to explain the effects of free trade areas (trade creation and trade diversion), and factor mobility.
- • To be able to apply the analytical toolbox of trade theory to real world situations in order to make qualitative predictions of the effects of measures such as tariffs or export subsidies.
- • To be able to locate, manipulate, and interpret numerical data on trade flows, and to empirically test the predictions of simple theories of trade using real-world data.