Formation/Cours

No prerequisite – the course may nevertheless be more accessible to students who already studied economics. The course will often call for graphic analysis.

At the end of the course, the student should be able:
– understand the benefits generated by international trade as long as the countries’ specialization are in line with their comparative advantages (in terms of labor productivity)
– explain the comparative advantages by the differences in factors endowment
– understand the link between the benefits of international trade and the availability of factors of production
– define the impact of international trade on the purchasing power of factors of production in the North and the South
– understand how the interaction between supply and demand in different countries determines the comparative advantages, how it leads them to specialization and mutually attractive exchanges.

This first International Economics class develops the international trade angle. The first two chapters show how differences between countries in terms of labor productivity and factors endowment impact the structure of international trade. The third chapter relies on the first two chapters to expose a standard model of international trade.

LECTURES :
I. International Trade and the Comparative Advantages
II. Factors Endowment and the theory of Hecksher-Ohlin
III. The Standard Theory of International Trade