BA Modern History with Economics

This course unit studies how international trade affects the economy and how growth, inequalities, and organisations of firms are affected when a country opens up to trade. We will discuss political economy of trade policies and why international trade is usually a contentious topic among countries. By the end of the course unit, you will learn how to explain and contrast different trade models and explain real-life scenarios using different tools you learn in class.

(ECON20001 OR ECON20501 OR ECON30501 OR ECON20021 OR ECON30021)

The aims of this course are to:

1. Study the basic facts of international trade flows.
2. Discuss different international trade theories, their empirical evidence and policy implications.
3. Introduce methods for trade policy analysis.

At the end of this course unit. it is expected that you will be able to:

1. Understand the causes and effects of international trade.
2. Evaluate the welfare impacts of trade policies.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of various contemporary issues in trade, such as trade and growth, industrialisation, inequalities and global production structure.

Provisional Topic 
1: The Ricardian Model and Comparative Advantage Topic 2: The Heckscher-Ohlin Model  

Topic 3: Trade and Inequalities: Is Free Trade a Rip-Off?  

Topic 4: Intra-Industry Trade and the Monopolistic Competition Models  

Topic 5:  Gravity and Multicountry Models 

Synchronous activities (such as Lectures or Review and Q&A sessions, and tutorials), and guided self-study

30% Problem Sets

70% Exam

•       Feedback from problem sets.

•       Tutorial feedback.

•       Office hours.

•       Revision sessions.

• Krugman, P., Obstfeld, M., and Melitz, M.J. 2022. International Trade: Theory and Policy (or equivalently, International Economics: Theory and Policy, Ch.1-12), 12th Edition, Pearson.
• McLaren, J. 2013. International Trade, 1st Edition, John Wiley & Sons.

For every 10 course unit credits we expect students to work for around 100 hours. This time generally includes any contact times (online or face to face, recorded and live), but also independent study, work for coursework, and group work. This amount is only a guidance and individual study time will vary

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

• Find out more from student finance
• Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
• Many students work part-time or complete a student internship