An Accessible, Clear and Concise Account of International Trade

Understanding Global Trade focuses on what lies at the core of globalization: international trade and production across national boundaries. It might seem too ambitious a scope given that the literature on international trade is huge. Furthermore, most of the knowledge generally published remains way too technical for a non-trained reader to apprehend. Yet, Helpman achieves this feat in a remarkable way.

He follows the historical evolution of international trade and presents, in plain English, the theories applied to economics over the last two centuries, including David Ricardo’s approach to foreign trade and the Heckscher-Ohlin model. The book brings the reader up to date with previous literature in order to tackle current pressing issues such as the global crisis of 2008, which highlighted the interdependence of the global economy. In describing the way that analysis of trade flows has shifted from the sectorial level to business-firm level, Helpman elucidates the growing roles of multinational corporations, offshoring and outsourcing in the international division of labor. His account is supplemented by accessible and useful graphs and charts. Because this book makes available the results of major advances in international trade research, and explains how these theories inform current affairs, it will be invaluable to a large audience including policy makers, political and social scientists and those who follow world affairs.

–L. P.

Understanding Global Trade Elhanan Helpman, Harvard University Press, $23.95