International Trade Policy

Course information

C O URS E

FEB13085

AC ADEMIC YEAR

2017-2018

EC

LANGUAGES

English

PRO GRAMME

bachelor 3 / International Bachelor Economics and Business Economics

bachelor 3 / Bachelor Economie en Bedrijfseconomie
bachelor 3 / BSc Econometrics/Economics
bachelor 3 / Electives

C O NT AC T

dr. A Erbahar

S EC RET ARIAL O FFIC E

ESE-Secretariat Economics, H 09-01, 010 4081441, ae-secr@ese.eur.nl

ENRO LLMENT PRO C EDURE

Via SIN-Online

EXAMINAT IO N REQUIREMENT S

Students are required to take the final exam.

READING MAT ERIAL

Lecture slides (will be posted on Blackboard)

Commencement Period
 Course schedule T est schedule
BLOK-HER
BLOK2
BLOK2

Lecturer(s)

LEC T URER

dr. A Erbahar

PRAC T IC AL LEC T URER

JA Strijkstra

C O O RDINAT O R

dr. A Erbahar

C O NT AC T

dr. A Erbahar

Purpose

To understand the economics of international trade and its distributional consequences.

To learn about the most frequently used trade policy instruments and their effects.
To understand the role of the WTO and regional trade agreements in the world trading system.
To quantify the effects of policy actions on different groups in a country.
To acquire mathematical skills in formalizing economic models.

Content

Why do countries trade? Is everyone better off from trade? Why and how do governments use trade
policy instruments and how do they affect the economy? What is the role of the WTO and what can
explain the proliferation of trade agreements? These are some of the questions we will explore in
this course. We will begin by reviewing the traditional trade models of Ricardo and Hecksher-Ohlin,
and identify the winners and losers from trade. Then we will study the instruments of trade policy
and their effects. The course will then move to the political economy of trade policy to understand
what determines trade policy, and we will conclude by studying the world trading system, paying
special attention to the role of the WTO and regional trade agreements.

The following topics will be covered during this course:

1. Introduction to Trade and Trade Policy

 2. Comparative Advantage
3. Trade and Resources
4. Trade Policy Instruments and their effects
5. Political Economy of Trade Policy
6. Multilateral Trade Negotiations and the Rise of FTA's

Extra

There will be five tutorial sessions where the student assistant will go through the problem sets.

Education and testing

INS T RUC T IO NAL MET HO D

Lecture
T ES T

Written (re)examination (100%)

Literature

MANDAT O RY

D. Irwin: Free Trade Under Fire, Princeton University Press, newest edition.
REC O MMENDED

Feenstra, R. C.: Advanced International Trade, Princeton University Press, newest edition.
Krugman, P., Obstfeld, M., and Melitz, M.: International Economics, Pearson Education, newest
edition.