module specification

This module will enable the students to understand the relations 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 examines the consequences of trade for policies of development in the developing and poorer countries.  It examines the issues facing these countries in relation to the opportunities and challenges raised by the practices of international trade. It provides an outline of key issues that have defined theory and trading and economic practice. It allows an understanding of different approaches to these issues and how these have both developed over time and recurred.

The discussion of trading activities and their impact on economic development in practice, allows students to assess trade policies against the different needs of developing countries. The different political (philosophical) approaches to the use, regulation of, and spontaneous adjustment to trading opportunities, will be examined in the light of their real results and subsequent challenges.  This module will be extending the theory and empirical work on trade to discuss the impact of Trade and Investment on economic growth and social development.

Upon completion of the module, students will be able to understand the distinction between economic growth and economic and social development, be able to explain the different theories of the relations between trade and economic growth and development and be able to explain the contending explanations of the relation between economic growth and development.

Note: If there are not sufficient student numbers to make a module viable, the School reserves the right to cancel such a module. If the School cancels a module it will use its reasonable endeavours to provide a suitable alternative.

N/A

Categories and definitions of growth and development. The characteristics of underdevelopment and the UN’s sustainable development goals. Poverty and wealth. Measures on inequality. The role of agriculture, the ‘agricultural question’ - the small farmer and industry. Primitive accumulation and enclosure. Dualism: Lewis (1954).  Myrdal (Asian Drama).  Population growth (LO1, LO2)

Factor endowments, the gains from trade. The determinants of cost. Capital accumulation. The State. Stolper-Samuelson theory. Financing. International factor movement. Investment and growth. The nature of investments. Intellectual property. FDI, multilateral production, outsourcing. The terms of trade, income terms of trade. Unequal exchange. Transportation costs. Free Trade and protectionism. Trade Policy: protectionism, welfare costs. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties. (LO3, LO4)

Balance of payments, debt and growth.  Foreign exchange and exchange rates. Fixed or flexible rates. The role of financial institutions. The World Bank (IDA and IBRD). The IMF.  The interpretation of underdevelopment.  Debt burdens, rescheduling, default, and HIC interstate relief and success rates.

Development: indices.  Convergence and development, centre and periphery, and continuously uneven growth. Kaldor, Prebisch and Singer. Unequal exchange. Emmanuel.  Empirical development economics. (LO1, LO2)

Economic growth and trade and investment effects. Strategies for growth  The environmental crisis. Gender and class analysis. Human capital. Education. NGOs, civil society and social movements. Foreign Aid, health and education.  Migration and remittances. UN Development Goals. The role of Planning. (LO3, LO4)

Empirical: the WTO. GATS and TRIPS.  Trading Blocs, Tariff zones, Free ports. Trade associations, agreements, trade creation and trade diversion. Static and dynamic effects. Regional integration, Common Markets. The EU. Multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral treaties. Disputes (LO5)

Commodity prices. Transfer pricing and OECD regulations. Tax avoidance and evasion. Passing off and counterfeiting. Parallel imports.  (LO5)

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

Students will receive detailed on-going feedback on their preparatory work for the group presentation, so ‘formative’ assessment of the presentation itself.

On successful completion of this module students 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 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 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:

(a) The first will be an individually assessed group presentation on a current trade issue, related to the ‘developing’ nations (weighted for 20%) for a duration of 20 minutes.  Slides in respect of the Group Presentation may be submitted online in week 9.

(b) The second will be an individual essay of 1500 words (weighted for 80%), analysing a selected period in development in a poorer country, which will demonstrate the student’s capacity to evaluate growth and development in relation to trade, to be submitted  by week 12.

Reading List Talis Link:

https://bblearn.londonmet.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/launchLink.jsp?course_id=_42505_1&tool_id=_2924_1&tool_type=TOOL&mode=cpview&mode=reset

Core Text

Thirwall A P and Pacheco-Lopez P. Economics of Development 10/E Palgrave 2017

Additional Texts

Daniels, J.P. and VanHoose, D.D. (2018). Global Economic Issues and Policies, 4th Ed., London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

de Janvry. A., Sadoulet E. Development Economics: Theory and practice.  Routledge 2015

Van Marrewijk C. International Trade.  2017 OUP (ebook). 

UNCTAD World Investment report 2020 – download this free at

https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/wir2020_en.pdf

Journals

Journal of International Trade and Economic Development

Journal of World Trade

World Trade Review

Trade and Development Review

Journal of Development Economics

Significant Web sites

OECD.org

ILO.org

ida.worldbank.org