International Trade Theory & Policy

International Trade, photo: hectorgalarza@pixabay

Course ID:

ECO_430

Semester:

7th

Year of Study:

4th Year

Category:

Compulsory

For Erasmus Students:

No

eclass URL

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have proven knowledge and understanding of issues related to:

The theory of international trade
The impact of international trade on prosperity and income
The international movements of factors of production, and especially of labour and immigration
Tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade
The impact of globalization and international trade in goods on national economies

This knowledge is supported by advanced scientific textbooks and includes views arising from modern cutting-edge developments such as non-tariff measures (NTMs), trade agreements and trade zones.

Students should also be able:

to use the above knowledge to approach issues of international trade and exploit either incentives or barriers to trade in the private and public sectors.
to gather and interpret international trade data from the World Trade Organization, European and National Databases, and especially from the Eurostat and the relevant United Nations agencies and divisions, and use this data to shape judgments that include reflection on the development of international trade and the widening and depth of trade
to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to trade in goods, capital movements through multinational companies and foreign direct investment to specialized audiences but also to express the complex concepts of international trade and commercial economic policy to the general public
to develop skills needed to continue in further studies with a high degree of autonomy

At the end of the course the students should fully understand the functioning of international trade in goods and services, international movements of production factors and trade policy.

In addition, the course aims at:

Developing skills in the search, analysis and synthesis of commercial data and information
Analyzing adjustments to the economic framework brought by globalization
Integrating into the decision-making process the international trade
Enhancing the knowledge of the international environment of globalization
Embedding professional and ethical responsibility.

Course Contents

International trade – Introduction: International trade in economic science, international trade and international economics, the international trade of Greece and of European Union.

Theory of International Trade: The Ricardian model, labor productivity and comparative advantage. The Heckscher - Ohlin model: resources and international trade. The Neoclassical Model Template of International Trade: Terms of Trade and Welfare - Export and Import Oriented Growth - International Transfers of Income - Effect of Tariffs and Export Subsidies on Trade Terms - The Stopler - Samuelson Theorem - Rybczynski Theorem - Offer Curves. The pattern of intra-industry trade. Economies of scale, incomplete competition, product diversification and international trade. International movement of factors of production.

International Trade Policy: Trade Policies, analytical framework of partial and general equilibrium - "small" and "big" country - measuring the benefits and losses of commercial policy. Method of application and cost / benefit of the main trade policies: tariffs - export subsidies - quotas - voluntary export restrictions - other trade policy instruments. The political economy of trade policy: arguments for and against international trade - international negotiations - preferential trade agreements - free trade areas.

Teaching Activities

Lectures (3 hours per week) and Tutorials (1 hour per week)

Teaching Organization

*Activity*	*Semester workload*
Lectures	39 hours (3x13)
Tutorials	13 hours (1x13)
Individual study	98 hours
Total number of hours for the Course (25 hours of work-load per ECTS credit)	150 hours (total student work-load)