Lectures on International Trade - 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: excellent book to learn from
Review: Although international trade theory/international economics is not the field I would like to specialize in, this is one of the textbooks I would like to buy and keep as a reference. The writing is clear; the authors make an effort to explain almost every step of an equation. Moreover, the graphs are fully explained. I highly recommend this book. I regret that I only used this book for one course, so we were not able to use it more. For graduate level trade theory, I do not think this textbook has a competitor.

Rating:
Summary: A simplistic and shallow look at international trade
Review: The book tries to solve most of the mathematical problems by diagrams and it skips algebra and regorous reasoning in most cases. The technicality and theory is below graduate level. The book is fit more for an undergraduate program. A lot of ideas are being touched on (or cited) very briefly that makes it somehow confusing. Chapters are very short (there are 34 chapters in 602 pages!) and normally jump into conclusions without enough reasoning. Some chapters are well written, while others are just a shadow of the whole idea. I think this book can be used to give you some idea what internation trade is, but it is not a complete package.

Rating:
Summary: Best thoughts in international trade compiled
Review: This book contains all the very best thinking done in international trade. The book is very densely written, and definitely aimed at those taking graduate level courses (with a good mathematical background). The explanations are very good, especially for graphs (a major shortcoming of most economics texts I think). This book serves as a permanent one-volume reference to any issues regarding international trade.