This week’s topics
Why countries trade
- Specialisation
- Lower costs, transport and technology
What you will be able to do
- 1.1 Explain the key drivers of international trade.
Activity
Explain why Belgium imports and exports what it does.
Study materials
Further resources
- Principles of Economics 3e, ch. 33.1: Absolute and comparative advantage · PDF · OpenStax (2022), specialisation; pp. 790–795 · for registered students
- Understanding the WTO, ch. 1.3: The case for open trade · PDF · WTO, two pages on why trade lowers costs; pp. 13–14 · for registered students
- Transportation Costs and International Trade in the Second Era of Globalization · Open-access article · Hummels (2007), Journal of Economic Perspectives. Cheaper transport and better technology made trade and specialisation easier. · for registered students
- Supply-Chain Trade: A Portrait of Global Patterns and Several Testable Hypotheses · Open-access article · Baldwin and Lopez-Gonzalez (2015), The World Economy. Maps how production is split across 'Factory Asia', 'Factory Europe' and 'Factory North America'. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
