Listen Now

In our final series of International Trade videos we continue our discussion on consequences of trade. Which countries benefit most from foreign direct investment? How does trade affect diversity in cultural goods and services? And, what are some key sources of growth from trade, beyond comparative advantage? We also take a look at the effect free trade has on poverty in developing countries and the benefits and drawbacks of foreign retail competition, as introduced through trade.

This week we explore how free trade agreements affect producers andconsumers across countries, drawing on NAFTA as an example. We alsodiscuss some popular topics in trade, including how to predict pro andanti-free trade sentiment, how trade affects the environment, and whetherfair trade has an impact on living standards in poor countries.

This section of the class considers some of the nuts and bolts of international trade theory, how factor endowments account for some of trade, and how within these models the comparative statics work.  Much of the analytic core of international economics can be found in these videos.

We now consider some remaining topics in the theory of tariffs and trade, in particular relating to how trade interacts with the business firm.  How is it that so much trade takes place inside of firms?  How is the prospect of global trade reshaping how production is distributed across the globe?  And finally, how do tariffs shape industrialization and what do economists know about industrial policy?

This next unit considers investment across borders, how trade and investment interact, why productivity differs across borders, and the role of increasing returns to scale in international trade.  These are some of the most fundamental topics in the entire field.

How do politics shape international trade and how does the regulation of trade often run askew?  What is the history of attempts to regulate trade?  And what do we know about such famous trade episodes as the Smoot-Hawley tariff and its role in the Great Depression?

We present some of the core microeconomic arguments on terms of trade, how tariffs effect terms of trade, and some of the core analyses of tariffs and their effects on markets. These materials are fundamental for understanding the basics of international trade theory.

We start with comparative advantage, which is perhaps the most fundamental idea behind international trade.  The first segment of the course also considers how trade brings more product variety, and why countries which are closer to each other find it easier to trade and thus trade more.  This set of videos lays the foundations for what is to follow.