The course covers the various theoretical concepts underlying International Trade and familiarizes students with an understanding of major agricultural commodities traded in the world. It presents the main instruments of policy analysis and the arguments for and against protectionist policies such as tariffs, quotas and non-tariff barriers as well as application of game theory to international trade. With topics in welfare analysis of trade policies and policy analysis matrix, the course covers techniques for analyzing international trade policy impacts of taxes, subsidies and quotas. The techniques include partial equilibrium analysis to demonstrate the welfare impacts and trade-off of trade policies, measures of price distortions and competitiveness and limitations of such models. With growing globalization, the course covers regional integration and the main institutions influencing agricultural trade in developing countries and international commodity agreements. The course exposes students to the motives, types and institutional set-up of integration schemes, and highlights the interface between regionalism and food security.
Upon completion of the course, the students will have acquired:
