INTERNATIONAL TRADE - 2025/6

Module Overview

The module examines theories of international trade as well as selected empirical evidence relating to these theories.

Module provider

Economics

Module Leader

BREINLICH Holger (Economics)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• 
  An overview of world trade and an introduction to the gravity model
  


• 
  Labour productivity and comparative advantage: the Ricardian Model
  


• 
   The Specific Factors Model
  


• 
  The Heckscher-Ohlin Model
  


• 
  The Standard Trade Model
  


• 
  Firms in the Global Economy
  


• 
  Trade Policy: Instruments & Political Economy
  


• 
  Trade Policy in Developing Countries
  


• 
  Controversies in trade policy
  

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate

• their skills in working with microeconomic models of trade


• their knowledge of how to apply these models to important policy questions


• their understanding of the empirical evidence related to these models. 

The coursework essay and the literature search required for this will allow students to learn to judge whether digital information is trustworthy and relevant; they will also learn to distinguish different kinds of information (e.g., grey literature vs. peer-reviewed academic articles) and to independently assess their quality. This will help students to build their digital capabilities.

Selected coursework essay questions will also require the collection and interpretation of data from digital sources, further allowing student to build their digital capabilities.

All coursework essays will enhance students’ resourcefulness by requiring them to share informed opinions constructively when writing their essay, and to use evidence to do so.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Students are assessed through a coursework essay and a final examination. 

Students will select an essay title from a list of three topics for the 3,000-word coursework essay. 

The final examination (2 hours) 

Formative assessment and feedback

Students will receive verbal feedback during lectures and written feedback on their coursework essay, both on the final submitted essay as well as on earlier outlines. There will also be a practice exam towards the end of the semester which will take a similar form as the final examination, helping students to prepare for that final examination.

Module aims

• Demonstrate how microeconomic models can be used to examine the role of international trade, technology, and international investment in an increasingly integrated global economy.
• Explore selected empirical tests of microeconomic trade models in order to understand the methods by which trade theories are tested and to gain familiarity with the findings in the literature.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

This module develops and uses economic models to examine the role of international trade in an increasingly integrated global economy. We will also examine empirical evidence related to these models. These learning objectives will be achieved through a combination of theoretical lectures, tutorial exercises and directed self-study. The lectures will provide an overview of the material which the students then follow-up on with directed self-study, using textbooks and selected original articles from the international trade literature. Finally, the tutorial exercises will provide a mixture of quantitative exercises and more open-ended discussion, which will allow students to apply and deepen their learning..

The learning and teaching methods include:

Lectures  

Tutorials 

General and small group discussions; question and answer interactive format; directed self-study

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ECOM046

Other information

In line with the University's curriculum framework, the School of Economics is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital Capabilities

The coursework essay the students have to write for this module will enhance students’ digital capabilities in the following ways: First, the literature search required for the essay will allow students to learn to judge whether digital information is trustworthy and relevant; they will also learn to distinguish different kinds of information (e.g., grey literature vs. peer-reviewed academic articles) and to independently assess their quality. Secondly, Selected coursework essay questions will also require the collection and interpretation of data from digital sources.

Resourcefulness and Resilience

All coursework essays will enhance students’ resourcefulness by requiring them to share informed opinions constructively when writing their essay, and to use evidence to do so. During the course of the module, students will be trained to understand the methods by which trade theories are tested and gain familiarity with the findings in the literature (see LO4) . This will help them to form opinions on current topics in trade policy and international trade more generally and hence enable them to share informed opinions constructively when writing their essay.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.