International Trade, Welfare, and the Theory of General Equilibrium

This essential volume reflects the continuing and enduring utility of general equilibrium as a framework of analyses. It attempts to reiterate that understanding broad and holistic consequence of economic events and policies go beyond partial equilibrium perspective. Cutting across areas of research, general equilibrium perspectives in terms of small-scale GE models following the theory and perspectives of Ronald Jones can help readers develop informed judgement regarding critical policies. These include but are not limited to several areas of specific interest - the interaction of financial factors with international trade and implications for the 'real sectors' of the economy, the impact of labour market reforms on the unorganised sectors in developing and transition countries, the non-uniform effects of inflation and deflation on internal and external factor flows, and the sought-after relation between foreign investment and skill accumulation.

Introduction; Part I. Lessons from Simple General Equilibrium Models: 1. Thoughts and remarks after 50 years of simple general equilibrium models Ronald W. Jones; Part II. Adjustment Towards Free Trade: 2. Adjustment costs and trade liberalization Eric W. Bond; 3. Farsightedly stable FTA structures – the roles of pre-existing tariff rates Noritsugu Nakanishi; Part III. Skill Formation and Inequality: 4. Skilled-unskilled wage inequality and dynamic accumulation: a theoretical analysis skill Priya Brata Dutta; 5. FDI in education vs FDI in commodity production: a theoretical model Rashmi Ahuja; Part IV. Implications of Factor Flows: 6. Skilled migration and foreign aid in a general equilibrium model of monopolistic competition Dambar Uprety and Sajal Lahiri; 7. Trade, factor flows and product variety in a small open economy Anwesha Aditya; 8. Product differentiation, quality of innovation and capital mobility: a general equilibrium analysis Sudeshna Mitra, Tonmoy Chatterjee and Kausik Gupta; Part V. Production Organization in Open Economies: 9. Cross-border mergers and international trade: a vertical GOLE model Hamid Beladi, Avik Chakrabarti and Sugata Marjit; 10. International trade and production organization: a review of contemporary literature Meghna Dutta; Part VI. Issues in Taxation: 11. Negative production externalities, labour market imperfection and production tax policy in a developing economy Sarbajit Chaudhuri; 12. Tax-financed public transfers: a mechanism for double taxation Baisakhi Marjit, Sugata Marjit and Saibal Kar.

Sugata Marjit is Reserve Bank of India Professor of Industrial Economics at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. His research interests are International Economics, Economic Development, Governance, Banking and Finance, and Rational Choice Models of Political Economy. He is the editor of the South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance.
Saibal Kar is Associate Professor at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. His research interests are Labour Economics, Applied Microeconomics, International Development, and Public Economics.