Dr Davide Rigo

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Geography with Economics. This course is available on the BA in Geography, BSc in Economic History and Geography, BSc in Economics, BSc in Environment and Development and BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Economics A (EC100) or Economics B (EC102). ST107 (or equivalent course in statistics) strongly recommended.

This course is concerned with economic geography. In particular we use ideas from International Trade, International Economics, Development and Regional Economics to talk about the location of economic activity across space and the consequences of uneven location. The module will look at the main international economics models, abstractions that help us focus on the key economic mechanisms and to develop a deeper understanding of those mechanisms. The main fundamental questions will be: a) what determines the distribution of production, trade and investment across countries? and b) what implications does this have for incomes and welfare.

The main topics covered during the module will be:

1. Introduction to trade

2. The Ricardian model of comparative advantage

3. Heckscher-Ohlin and factor endowments

4. Trade, globalisation and inequality

5. Krugman’s New Trade Theories

6. Spatial Distribution of Trade and Production

7. Trade Policy

8. Gravity models

9. Heterogeneous firms and trade

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the MT.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6.

Students will be expected to prepare for group discussion of some readings and hand in short essays and problem sets for formative assessment.

• Pugel T.A. International Economics. McGraw-Hill.
• Baldwin R and Martin P., (1999) Two waves of globalization: superficial similarities, fundamental differences, NBER working paper 6904
• Autor D. Dorn D. and Hanson G. (2013), The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the US. American Economic Review 103(6), 2121-2168.
• Feenstra C. and Hanson G., 1999. The Impact of Outsourcing and High-Technology Capital on Wages: Estimates for the United States, 1979-1990. Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, 907-940.
• Krugman, Paul (1979), Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade. Journal of International Economics, Vol. 9(4), pp. 469-479.
• Krueger, A. O. (1997) Trade Policy and Economic Development: How we learn. American Economic Review, 87(1).
• Anderson, J.E. and E. van Wincoop (2003) Gravity with Gravitas: A solution to the Border Puzzle. American Economic Review, vol. 93(1), pp. 170-192.
• Bernard A., J.B. Jensen, S.J. Redding, and P.K. Schott (2007) “Firms in International Trade” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 21, Number 3, pp. 105-130.
• Mayer, T. & Ottaviano, G.I.P. (2008) “The Happy Few: The Internationalisation of European Firms” Intereconomics vol. 43: 135 pp. 135-148

Coursework (75%, 3000 words) in the LT.
Problem sets (25%) in the MT.