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Course Description
International
trade is an area in economics in which there has been nothing but short
of ideas both for and against cross-border trade. How did these opposed
ideas on trade evolve and interact? This course tackles this question by
looking at the history of major trade thought between mercantilism and
post WWII era. The study focuses on the development of important
concepts of trade theory although the economic problems that the
theories address and the reflection of these theories in current trade
policy debates are also covered. The teaching involves student group
discussions.
Course
Requirements and Student Assessment
Grades will be based on class participation and a final take home-exam.
The class participation will count for 30 percent of the course grade,
and the final exam will count for 70 percent of the grade.
Course
Materials
The required textbook for the course is Against the Tide - An
Intellectual History of Free Trade, by Douglas A. Irwin. Princeton
University Press, 1996. Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly
Philosophers - The Lives, Times & Ideas of the Great Economic
Thinkers, is recommended for background and fun reading.
Course Schedule and Assignment
Week
One: Introduction
Readings:
Irwin, Ch. 1
Heilbroner, Ch. 1
Week
Two: Mercantilism and Early
Free Trade Thought
Readings:
Irwin, Chs. 2 - 5
Hume, David, Of the Balance of Trade,
1752 (excerpt)
Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations, 1776
(excerpt)
Week
Three: Classical Free Trade
Doctrine
Readings:
Irwin, Chs.5 - 6
Ricardo,
David, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1817 (excerpt)
Mill, John Stuart, Principles of Political Economy
with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy 1848
(excerpt)
Week
Four: Terms of Trade
and Infant Industry Arguments
Readings:
Irwin, Chs.7 - 8
Jagdish
N. Bhagwati, 1958. Immiserizing Growth: A Geometrical Note, Review
of Economic Studies, 25, pp.201-205.
Week
Five: Trade and Economic
Growth
Readings:
Johnson, H.
G, “Trade and Growth: A Geometrical Exposition,” in J. N. Bhagwati et.
Al., eds., Trade, Balance of Payments and Growth, Amsterdam:
North-Holland, 1971, pp.144-167.
Corden, W. Max,
“The Effects of Trade on the Rate of Growth,” in N. Bhagwati et. Al.,
eds., Trade, Balance of Payments and Growth, Amsterdam:
North-Holland, 1971, pp.117-143.
Prebisch, Raul,
“Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries”, American
Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 49, no.2, pp.251-73.
Myrdal, Gunnar,
“International Inequalities, in Economic Theory and Underdeveloped
Regions, 1957.
Balassa, Bela,
“Dependency and Trade Orientation”, The World Economy,
September 1986.
Week
6: Welfare Argument
Readings:
Irwin, Chs.11 - 12
Week
7: Increasing Returns & Strategic Trade Policy
Readings:
Irwin, Chs.9 and 14
Week
8: Macroeconomic Argument
Readings:
Irwin, Ch.13
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