International Economics: An Introduction to Theory and Policy

Description

Complementing trade theories with relevant trade empirics, this book covers three aspects of the study of International Economics: pure theory of trade, trade policy, and theory of Balance of Payments (BoP) and exchange rate. In the first part, it discusses the basic principles of international trade between dissimilar countries as well as between similar countries, and implications thereof in terms of welfare, income distribution, and growth. The approach taken here is distinctly different from that in most of the existing textbooks on international economics. Instead of model-specific discussions of the basic issues, it discusses the basic principles governing trade, gains from trade, and characteristics of international equilibrium in the context of a general trading environment of open economies. Subsequently, specific models of trade are introduced as alternative theoretical explanations for the basic principles of trade. In the second part, a wide range of policy issues are analysed including unilateral trade restrictions and promotions; reciprocatory trade policy choices through regionalism; product standards that regulate trade between developed and developing countries; and implications of capital inflow, FDI, fragmentation, and global value chains. In the third part, the book discusses different currency and exchange rate regimes and their implications for a country's balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves. Drawing upon the basic theories, it studies expenditure-reducing and expenditure-switching policies to correct for BoP imbalances under a pegged exchange rate regime. Finally, some reflections on the choice of exchange rate regime and optimum currency area wind up discussions of monetary issues in international economics.

About the author:

Rajat Acharyya is currently Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University, and former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Jadavpur University. He has published extensively in different areas of international economics and is the editor of the e-journal Trade and Development Review. His current research interests include trade, export quality, and labour market implications. He was a Ford Foundation Research Fellow at Rochester University, USA (1997-98), Visiting Fellow at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK (2008-10), and Visiting Professor at Utrecht University School of Economics, the Netherlands (2010).

Table of contents

Part I Basis and Gains from Inter-industry Trade

Chapter 1   Basis of Inter-industry Trade

Chapter 2   Gains from Trade

Chapter 3   Test of Comparative Advantage and Measuring GFT

Chapter 4   International Equilibrium and the Terms of Trade

Part II Theories of Comparative Advantage and Pattern of Trade

Chapter 5   Technology and Trade

Chapter 6   Factor Endowment and Trade

Chapter 7   Digressions on Factor Endowment Theory and Trade Empiric

Part III Basis and Gains from Intra-industry Trade

Chapter 8   Theories of Intra-industry Trade

Part IV Trade Intervention and Coordination

Chapter 9   Import Tariff and Export Subsidies

Chapter 10   Quantitative Restrictions, Non-tariff Barriers, and Equivalence

Chapter 11   Market Imperfection and Trade Policy

Chapter 12   Political Economy of Trade Policy

Chapter 13   Market Failure, Distortions, and Trade Policy

Chapter 14   Multilateralism and Regionalism

Part V Input Trade, Services, and Growth

Chapter 15   Trade, Growth, and Inclusion

Chapter 16   Foreign Capital Inflow, Multinationals, and Migration

Chapter 17   Services Trade

Part VI Standards, Regulations, and Multilateral Trade Agreements

Chapter 18   Product Standards, Regulations, and Trade

Chapter 19   World Trade Organization and Trade Agreements

Part VII Theory of Balance of Payments and Open Economy Macroeconomics

Chapter 20   Balance of Payments and National Income Accounting

Chapter 21   National Income and Current Account Balance: The Income Approach

Chapter 22   International Currency Systems and Exchange Rate Regimes

Chapter 23   BOP Adjustment Policies in a Pegged Exchange Rate Regime

Chapter 24   Money, Price, and Exchange Rate

Chapter 25   Financial Crises in the Developing World

Chapter 26   Currency Regimes Revisited