This course is designed to bridge international economic theory and applied agricultural economics, providing a review of issues in development, policy, trade, and welfare.

The student is expected to develop: an understanding of why nations trade and under which conditions trade occurs knowledge of the role of supply and demand factors in determining the gains from trade the ability to evaluate the welfare effects of protectionist trade policies, free trade, managed trade, and the economic implications of other forms of government intervention to foster development a conceptual framework for evaluating international competitiveness, comparative advantage, and foreign investment and strategic behaviour.

Students are expected to read the sections in the text prior to attending lectures. There are four problem sets that will be related to the class notes and readings. Students are expected to complete these assignments during exercise sessions on the dates assigned by the instructor. These assignments are intended to monitor the progress of the class in its understanding of the material. These assignments require a passing grade.

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Appleyard and Field (A+F). International Economics (International Edition). Supplementary reading materials provided on the web at http://athene.umb.no/emner/ECN230.

Basic knowledge in macro- and microeconomics ECN120 and ECN210. The course is intensive in basic microeconomic principles.

Good background in basic microeconomics, background in macroeconomics is less important.

There are 4 problems sets. These will be group exercises on problem sets that must be submitted and a passing grade received. Problem sets are valid until the next time the course is offered and for re-examination. The course plan includes four assignment sessions during which students can work on the assignments and consult with a teaching assistant and/or the instructor.

Written examination, 3 hours (100%).

300 hours

Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse).

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There are 20 2-hour lectures sessions with 4 lecture hours per week. There will also be 4 2-hour exercise sessions scheduled with a teaching assistant who will help with the problem sets.

The course is divided into two parts: (1) trade modelling under partial and general equilibrium and (2) trade policy analysis, trade and strategic behavior by government/firm, and international factor movements (capital and labor). Course description, lecture plan, detailed course outline and course materials (web-based readings, homework assignments and handouts) are available on the web at the following site: http://athene.umb.no/emner/ECN230 Students who have previously taken an international economics course are discouraged from taking ECN 230 and are encouraged to take ECN 330

External examiner will control the quality of syllabus, questions for the final examination, and principles for the assessment of the examination answers.