Required in stage
First term
Both terms
Not organised
This year
Next year
Alternating years
External
Prerequisites
Identical coursesAdvanced Topics in International & Development Economics (B-KUL-D0M42B)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contract
Vandenbussche Hylke | Vanormelingen Stijn (substitute) Aims
After attending this course, the student:
*is able to explain the assumptions, derivations and implications of the main and recent international trade theories.
* is able to explain influential and recent empirical evidence on international trade.
* is able to analyze and evaluate trade policy (instruments).
* is able to evaluate new contributions to the literature against the most recent findings in international publications.
* is able to use insight from the international trade literature to assess scientific and policy-oriented issues.
Previous knowledge
Students are recommended to have to following previous knowledge:
- Undergraduate course in international trade or international economics
- Undergraduate course in microeconomics and macroeconomics
- Undergraduate course in econometrics and statistics
Is included in these courses of study
- Master of Advanced Studies in Economics (Leuven) 60 ects.
- Master of Bioscience Engineering: Agro- and Ecosystems Engineering (Leuven) (Major Subject: Agricultural and Resource Economics) 120 ects.
Activities
6 ects. Advanced Topics in International & Development Economics (B-KUL-D0M42a)
EnglishFormat: Lecture
39 
Second termVandenbussche Hylke | Vanormelingen Stijn (substitute) Content
This course consists of the following topics in the field of International Trade, which are each dealt with on the basis of a seminar journal article and its extensions:
• Traditional Trade Theory: Hecksher-Ohlin theory; Ricardo theory of international Trade
• New Trade Theory: Krugman (1980); Krugman (1979); Krugman (1991); Helpman and Grossman (1991); Krugman (1984)
• NewNew Trade Theory: Melitz (2003), Melitz and Ottaviano (2008); Melitz and Redding (2014); Eaton, Kortum, Kramarz (2004); Helpman, Melitz, Yeaple (2008); Melitz and Trefler (2012); Antras, Fort, Tintelnot (2014); Arkolakis, Costinot, Rodriguez_Clare (2013); Di Giovanini and Levchenko (2014), Mayer and Head (2014)
• Evidence on Heterogeneous firms in Trade: Lileeva and Trefler (2009), Bernard, Jensen and Schott (2007), Mayer and Ottaviano (2008); Bernard, Van Beveren, Vandenbussche (2014); De Loecker (2007); Van Biesebroeck (2007); Aw, Roberts and Whinston (2010); Goldberg, Pavnic, Topolova, Khandelwal, (2010); Fontagné, Mayer, Ottaviano (2009); Gorg, Halpern, Murakozy (2010)
• NewNew Trade Theory – Extensions: Di Comite, Thisse, Vandenbussche (2014); Bernard, Van Beveren, Blanchard, Vandenbussche (2013); Eckel and Neary (2008), Bernard, Redding and Schott (2010), Bernard, Grazzi, Tommasi (2010); Baldwin and Harrigan (2008); Verhoogen (2008); Crozet, Head and Mayer (2012); Mayer, Melitz, Ottaviano (2014)
• Trade Policy and Heterogeneous Firms: Melitz and Ottaviano (2008); Konings and Vandenbussche (2005,2008); Konings and Amiti (2007); Kasahara and Lapham (2010); Konings and Vandenbussche (2012)
• Transport Costs: Martin (2012), Irrazabal et al. (2012) ; Hummels and Skiba (2004) etc.
• Reading List
Course material
Used Course Material:
-Textbook Feenstra (2004), Advanced International Trade, Princeton University Press
-Textbook Combes, Mayer, Thisse (2009), Economic Geography, Princeton University Press
- International journal articles
- Slides on the electronic learning platform Toledo
Format: more information
The course consists of a number of colleges. Students are recommended to prepare for each college according to the professor’s instructions during the previous college and to messages posted on Toledo.
Evaluation
Evaluation: Advanced Topics in International & Development Economics (B-KUL-D2M42b)
Explanation
Features of the evaluation
All students have to hand in their assignment before the deadline mentioned in class and on Toledo. The instructions for the assignment will be discussed in class and on Toledo.
Determination of final grades
The final grade is based on the Exam (70%) and on the Take-home assignment and paper presentation (30%). The final exam (70%) is a written exam which consists of a number of multiple choice questions, combined with analytical questions and essay questions. The length is 2 hours.
During term, students are required to actively engage in the material by completing about 8 different assignments that range from more theoretical questions to empirical data exercises.
In addition, they are required to select a recent paper from the Journal of International Economics and to write a referee report which students are required to present in class. Referee reports are written individually or in group depending on the size of the class.
Second examination opportunity
During the second examination round, students are required to re-take another final exam. They keep the grades of the assignments and of the paper report and presentation which they obtained throughout the term.
Information about retaking exams
Second examination opportunity
During the second examination round, students are required to re-take another final exam. They keep the grades of the assignments and of the paper report and presentation which they obtained throughout the term.