Modulhandbuch Wirtschaftswissenschaft - Universität Tübingen

E371 Trade Theory and Policy – Theorie und Politik des internationalen
Handels
Lecturer:
Prof. Dr. Udo Kreickemeier und Mitarbeiter
Relevant for:
B.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration
B.Sc. in International Economics
B.Sc. in International Business Administration
Bachelor-Nebenfach Volkswirtschaftslehre
M.Sc. in General Management
M.Sc. in European Management
ECTS-Credits/Stud. Recommended for:
Workload:
3
7,5 / 225
rd year B.Sc.
1 st year M.Sc.
Type of exam:
Written exam: 90 minutes
plus activity in the practice
course (oral/written)
Prerequisites:
none
Comment for Diploma students: not eligible
Course Language: English
Course type and number of hours:
3 hours per week lecture + 1 hour per week
practice course
Mode:
- B.Sc.: eligible in the major
moduls International Trade &
Finance and International Business
- „i“-module in the B.Sc. in International
Business Administration
(for students who started before
2009/10)
- minor: eligible
- M.Sc.: eligible in the Major
Module Supplement Scope
General/ European Mangement
(M. Sc. in GM, EM)
Maximum Student number:
none
Cycle:
summer
term
Goals:
Students will learn why countries may benefit from participating in the international division
through international trade based on comparative advantage. They will also develop an understanding
why these gains from trade are unevenly distributed between different parts of
society, say workers and capital owners or entrepreneurs, and why some people may indeed
loose from globalization, while others gain. The course will also offer alternative explanations
for the pattern of trade, including traditional theories of comparative advantage as well as
modern theories that focus in increasing returns to scale and imperfect competition. Students
will also learn about possible ways to test certain predictions from trade theory with real-
world-data. In an interdependent world where countries are connected through trade what
happens in one country, say technological progress, also affects other countries. The course
will identify the relevant international transmission channels.
A further important goal is to understand the workings of international trade policy through
tariffs and non-tariff barriers. The course will explain the effects of such policies on aggregate
welfare of countries, as well as on the well-being of different individuals, like workers and
capital owners. In addition, we shall also develop explanations for why governments behave
as they do, imposing or reducing tariffs on some goods, but not on others. Finally, the course
also identifies international policy-spill-overs, meaning that one country’s trade policy may
have consequences for economic welfare in other countries.
Overall, the course will enable students to actively participate in an informed way in discussions
about the driving forces and the effects of economic globalization: Moreover, the
course will prepare students to attend more advanced courses on International Economics in
graduate programs on the M.Sc. or MA level.
Contents:
1. Stylized empirical facts about international trade
75