module specification

This module will enable the students to understand the relation between trade, growth and economic and social development. The focus will be on the continued evolution of the international division of labour, its causes and the consequences for economic development, overall economic growth and social change.

The module aims to introduce students to the different theories, methodologies and data sources which will allow them to monitor and understand the relation between trade and economic growth, with the consequences for economic and social development.

The aims of the module are:

1. To provide students with an understanding of the distinction between economic growth and economic and social development.
2. To be able to explain the different theories of the relations between trade and economic growth
3. To be able to explain the contending explanations of the relation between economic growth and development.

Factor endowments and specialisation, the gains from trade. The determinants of cost. Labour productivity. Research and development.

Consumer behaviour and production possibilities. The conditions for trade, purchasing power and other demand conditions. Factor mobility. Welfare conditions. Policy implications of the different theories of trade, their intellectual and practical value.

The terms of trade, income terms of trade, factoral terms of trade. Elasticities of demand. Transportation costs. Free Trade and protectionism.

International factor movement. Investment and growth. The nature of investments. Theories and measures of Development: indices.  The theories of convergence and development, centre and periphery, and of continuously uneven growth. Prebisch and Singer.

The composition and pattern of trade reviewed. The product cycle, vertical specialisation, horizontal processes. Linder and the economies of scale. The Krugman model. Monopolistic competition.  Inter industry trade. Intra-corporate trade.

Economic growth and trade and investment effects. Gender and class analysis. The role of NGOs, civil society and social movements. Foreign Aid. Agriculture, the small farmer and industry. Migration and remittances. UN Development Goals. The role of Planning.

Trade Policy: protectionism, tariffs, quotas, export taxes, welfare costs. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties. GATT and the WTO. Trading Blocs, Tariff zones, Common Markets. Trade and the EU. Free ports. Trade associations, trade creation and trade diversion. Static and dynamic effects.

Commodity prices. Transfer pricing and OECD regulations. Tax avoidance and evasion. Passing off and counterfeiting. Parallel imports.  Export models of development. FDI models of development and trade.

Balance of payments, debt and growth.  Foreign exchange and exchange rates. Fixed or flexible rates. Debt burdens, relief and success rates. The role of financial institutions.

The mix of lectures and talks will be supported by seminars and workshops. The later will involve discussions of consultancy case studies, which will provide the basis for understanding the overall activity cycle of the consultancy contract and the consequent actions and results.

The student will be able to

1. analyse and explain the on-going developments in trade and investment at a global level, and be able to provide an analysis of the consequences  both in terms both of overall market expansion and also in the social progress associated with that expansion.
2. Understand the development needs of a range of poorer states, and be able to assess the appropriate forms of investment and trading activities that would best support those developments
3. anticipate the consequences of development for future  investments and trading plans and relations
4. demonstrate the relation between changes in trading patterns and investment decisions for the path of development of particular less developed nations.
5. be able to make suitable proposals both at the corporate,  governmental and intergovernmental level for actions to facilitate further beneficial material and social changes for less developed states.

The module will be assessed through two pieces of work:

1. The first will be a group presentation on a current trade issue, related to the developing nations. (20%)
2. The second will be an individual essay, analysing a selected period in development in a poorer country, which will demonstrate the student’s capacity to understand the obstacles to, and levers of, development  in its relation to trade. (80%)

Main Text

Acharyya R and Kar S  International Trade and Economic Development
Oxford Scholarship Online: 2014

Yong-Shik Lee.  Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System. Cambridge (Paperback + ebook)  April 2006

Olivier Cattaneo, Gary Gereffi and Cornelia Staritz. Global Value Chains in a Postcrisis World: A Development Perspective.  Pbk + elibrary.worldbank.org  2010

Gereffi, G The New Offshoring of Jobs and Global Development International Institute for Labour Studies ILO 2006

Pichler  M , Staritz  C, Küblböck K , Plank C , Raza  W, Ruiz Peyré F (Eds).  Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics  (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies) 2016

Staritz C.  Making the Cut?: Low-Income Countries and the Global Clothing Value Chain in a Post-Quota and Post-Crisis World  (World Bank Study) Pbk  2011

Journals
Journal of International Trade and Economic Development
Journal of World Trade
World Trade Review
Trade and Development Review
Journal of Development Economics
Journal of African Trade
International Trade — Economics E-Journal
International Journal of Trade and Global Markets

Significant Web sites

OECD.org
ILO.org
ida.worldbank.org

https://www.globalpolicy.org/social.../international-trade-and-development-1-57/general-analysis-on-international-trade-and-development.html

www.intracen.org/itc/sectors/textiles-and-clothing/trade-and-industry-journals/

You Tube items
e.g.Biggest Factory in the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urovsgZVkPo

Reference:

Edited Morrissey. O, López R A. Sharma K., Handbook on Trade and Development Edward Elgar 2015

Bernal, R.  Globalization, Trade, and Economic Development: The CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement 2013  Palgrave Macmillan.

Chauffour JP. and  Maur JC, Eds  Preferential Trade Agreements for Development: a Handbook.  World Bank  2011