There are many textbooks devoted to international trade but few volumes that survey trade theory, policy, and negotiations in a concise, up-to-date manner from an interdisciplinary perspective. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the issues that dominate both academic discourse and the policymaking arena in the field of international trade, bringing to bear the insights of economics, law, and political science. It also stands out by virtue of its emphasis on the development implications of trade, an increasingly useful perspective given the deepening liberalization of developing and emerging market economies and their growing importance in the world economy.

The volume examines the full range of trade policy topics that dominate contemporary debates, such as rules of origin, trade in services, competition, public procurement, and trade facilitation, plus emergent controversial topics like trade-related labour standards and environmental issues. It analyses the international trade architecture and the institutional and practical aspects of policymaking and negotiations at the unilateral, multilateral, and regional level, as well as the effects of trade on economic growth, inequality, and poverty. It also explores the sharp increase in the number of preferential trade agreements and their significance for the global trade system. The treatment of each issue is rigorous, yet highly accessible to anyone with a basic background in economics, law, and international political economy.

About the Author:
Arvid Lukauskas, Executive Director, Picker Center, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Robert M. Stern, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan and Visiting Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, Gianni Zanini, Consultant and former Lead Economist, the World Bank

Arvid Lukauskas is Executive Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management and the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He specializes in international and comparative political economy. His recent publications include the books The Political Economy of the East Asian Crisis and Its Aftermath (ed. with F. Rivera-Batiz) and Regulating Finance as well as articles on the political economy of financial policy, trade policy, and central banking. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Robert M. Stern is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy in the Department of Economics and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and currently Visiting Professor in the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC-Berkeley. He has published numerous papers, books, and edited volumes on a wide variety of topics, including international commodity problems, the determinants of comparative advantage, price behavior in international trade, balance-of-payments policies, and the computer modeling of international trade. He has been a consultant to and done research under the auspices of many U.S. Government agencies and international organizations. He has collaborated with Alan Deardorff (University of Michigan) since the early 1970s and with Drusilla Brown (Tufts University) since the mid-1980s in developing the Michigan Model of World Production and Trade. This is a computer-based model that has been used to study a variety of important
policy issues.

Gianni Zanini specializes in international trade, economic policy, and development assistance. As a Consultant for the World Bank-East Asia Region in 2011-12, he was responsible for analytical economic work and for designing a technical assistance program in support of the ASEAN Economic Community. Between 2002-10, as a Lead Economist and Trade Team Leader in the World Bank Institute, he managed its trade capacity building and learning global program. At the World Bank he has led country analytical, advisory, and policy-related lending work in Somalia, Uganda, and Nigeria and program and country assistance evaluation work in FYR Macedonia, Sri-Lanka, the Philippines, India, and the Russian Federation. His recent publications include the books World Trade Indicators: Benchmarking World Trade Policies and Outcomes (with R. Islam), Handbook on International Trade in Services (ed. with A. Mattoo and R.M. Stern) and Somalia-From Resilience towards Recovery and Development.