Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence

by Robert C. Feenstra

Advanced International Trade is the first major graduate textbook in international trade in a generation. Trade is a cornerstone concept in economics, taught in all departments both in the United States and abroad. The past twenty years have seen a number of new theoretical approaches that are essential to any graduate international trade course, and will be of interest in development economics and other fields. Here, Robert Feenstra steps beyond theory to consider empirical evidence as well. He covers all the basic material including the Ricardian and Hecksher-Ohlin models, extension to many goods and factors, and the role of tariffs, quotas, and other trade policies; recent material including imperfect competition, outsourcing, political economy, multinationals, and endogenous growth; and new material including the gravity equation and the organization of the firm in international trade.

Throughout the book, special emphasis is placed on integrating the theoretical models with empirical evidence, and this is supplemented by theoretical and empirical exercises that appear with each chapter. Advanced International Trade is intended to bring readers to the forefront of knowledge in international trade and prepare them to undertake their own research. Both graduate students and faculty will find a wealth of topics that have previously only been covered in journal articles, and are dealt with here in a common and simple notation. In addition to known results, the book includes some particularly important unpublished results by various authors. Two appendices describe empirical methods applicable to research problems in international trade, methods that draw on (i) index numbers and (ii) discrete choice models. Thoroughly up-to-date and marked by clear, straightforward prose, this book will be used widely--and enthusiastically.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

496 pages, Hardcover

First published December 2, 2003

About the author

Robert C. Feenstra (Robert Christopher Feenstra) is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis. A former editor of the Journal of International Economics, and currently an associate editor of that journal and the American Economic Review, he has edited eight books and published numerous articles on international trade. He also directs the International Trade and Investment research program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the integration of theory and empirics in this book. It shows you how the theories compare to results in the real world. Unfortunately, some of the theories don't do too well in this respect and there are entire sections that basically tell you that the economic models can't explain certain problems, such as increasing inequality in wages in the US. It is a bit disappointing that there is a lot on models that don't help you to explain real world results very much while there is little on the very interesting monopolistic competition models and nothing at all on Melitz' model on monopolistic competition with heterogeneous firms. (Of course this book was published in the same year Melitz published his papers.) Isn't it time for a 2nd edition after more than 10 years and interesting new developments?