The story of this book began with my dif?cult transition from teaching international economics and econometrics in Economics Ph. D. programs at Harvard and UCLA to teaching in the MBA programs at the Anderson School at UCLA. On the basis of 20 years of apparent teaching success in Ph. D. education, I arrived at the Anderson School in 1990 with a self-image as a star teacher, but I was greeted with highly disturbingmediocreteachingevaluations. Facedwithadatasetthatwasinconsistent with my view of reality, I did what analysts usually do - I formulated a theory why the data were misleading. Here is how I thought about it. Two aspects of the course - content and amu- ment - drive numerical course evaluations. If you rank courses by the average of the content score and the amusement score, then the component that can be measured most accurately will determine the ranking. Do you understand why? It is what - eraging does: it eliminates the noise. Suppose, for example, that a student cannot tell anything about the content, and the content score is simply a random number, varying from student to student. Those random numbers will average out across students to about the same number for each course. As the average course content score is about the same for every course, it is the amusement score that will drive the rankings.

This distinctive book sets forth, on an advanced level, various methods for the quantitative measurement of important relationships at issue in areas of the balance of payments and international trade and welfare. The results achieved in recent studies are presented and the directions for new research are indicated. This book is composed of two main parts.Part I deals with the balance of payments and consists of the first half of the book. One of the longest and almost important chapters of this part talks about, at length the time-series analysis of the demand for imports and exports from the point of view of an individual country. This subject has a long and somewhat checkered history dating from the 1940's, when a number of estimates using least squares multiple regression methods were made of import and export demand functions for the interwar period. The noteworthy feature of many of these estimates was that they suggested relatively low price elasticities of demand in international trade. The implication was thus drawn that the international price mechanism could not be relied on for balance-of payments adjustment purposes.This book talks about the topics of theory and measurement of the elasticity of substitution in international trade, estimating the international capital movements, and forecasting and policy analysis with econometric models. Part II deals with international trade and welfare. While, there are many other books dealing with trade theory, this title focuses on a narrower range of topics that are not always mentioned or understood by individuals, such as the theory and measurement of trade dependence and interdependence, the analysis of the component factors a country has that affects how its export growth is over time, and the welfare effects of trade liberalizationThis book serves as a guide and reference work for economics graduate students, academicians, and practicing economists in private and governmental circles. They will find this book a valuable and highly useful.Edward E. Leamer is Chauncey J. Medberry Professor of Management at the UCLA department of Economics. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. He has published over 100 articles and 4 books.Robert M. Stern is Professor emeritus of Economics and Public Policy at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the co-director of the Research Seminar in International Economics at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He is also head of the Ford School International Concentration and the Ford school program of research on U.S. Japan international economic relations.

This distinctive book sets forth, on an advanced level, various methods for the quantitative measurement of important relationships at issue in areas of the balance of payments and international trade and welfare. The results achieved in recent studies are presented and the directions for new research are indicated. This book is composed of two main parts. Part I deals with the balance of payments and consists of the first half of the book. One of the longest and almost important chapters of this part talks about, at length the time-series analysis of the demand for imports and exports from the point of view of an individual country. This subject has a long and somewhat checkered history dating from the 1940's, when a number of estimates using least squares multiple regression methods were made of import and export demand functions for the interwar period. The noteworthy feature of many of these estimates was that they suggested relatively low price elasticities of demand in international trade. The implication was thus drawn that the international price mechanism could not be relied on for balance-of payments adjustment purposes. This book talks about the topics of theory and measurement of the elasticity of substitution in international trade, estimating the international capital movements, and forecasting and policy analysis with econometric models. Part II deals with international trade and welfare. While, there are many other books dealing with trade theory, this title focuses on a narrower range of topics that are not always mentioned or understood by individuals, such as the theory and measurement of trade dependence and interdependence, the analysis of the component factors a country has that affects how its export growth is over time, and the welfare effects of trade liberalization This book serves as a guide and reference work for economics graduate students, academicians, and practicing economists in private and governmental circles. They will find this book a valuable and highly useful. "Edward E. Leamer" is Chauncey J. Medberry Professor of Management at the UCLA department of Economics. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. He has published over 100 articles and 4 books. "Robert M. Stern" is Professor emeritus of Economics and Public Policy at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the co-director of the Research Seminar in International Economics at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He is also head of the Ford School International Concentration and the Ford school program of research on U.S. Japan international economic relations.

The story of this book began with my dif?cult transition from teaching international economics and econometrics in Economics Ph. D. programs at Harvard and UCLA to teaching in the MBA programs at the Anderson School at UCLA. On the basis of 20 years of apparent teaching success in Ph. D. education, I arrived at the Anderson School in 1990 with a self-image as a star teacher, but I was greeted with highly disturbingmediocreteachingevaluations. Facedwithadatasetthatwasinconsistent with my view of reality, I did what analysts usually do - I formulated a theory why the data were misleading. Here is how I thought about it. Two aspects of the course - content and amu- ment - drive numerical course evaluations. If you rank courses by the average of the content score and the amusement score, then the component that can be measured most accurately will determine the ranking. Do you understand why? It is what - eraging does: it eliminates the noise. Suppose, for example, that a student cannot tell anything about the content, and the content score is simply a random number, varying from student to student. Those random numbers will average out across students to about the same number for each course. As the average course content score is about the same for every course, it is the amusement score that will drive the rankings.

This is the first book to present a clear empirical picture of the international exchange of goods and of the resources that account for the exchanges that occur. It fully articulates the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of international comparative advantage, in which a country's factor endowments (land, labor, capital) play a crucial role in determining trade patterns. The theory is carefully link to the book's analysis. Using tables, graphs, and econometric data summaries, Learner describes the patterns of trade and the patterns of resource supplies of fifty-nine countries and explains these trade patterns in terms of the abundance of eleven resources. His study should create a standard by which other data analyses will be judged in the future.Edward E. Learner is Professor of Economics at the University of California at Los Angeles.

This volume brings together new scholarly research in important aspects of international economics. The unifying theme is that each chapter is devoted to a fresh analysis of a problem in international economic research in the second half of this century. Each chapter looks at a significant issue in international trade or finance, including determinants of comparative advantage, the effects of trade restrictions and the importance of trade liberalization, aspects of international trade institutions, and monetary policy in integrated markets. Three broad areas of international economic analysis are explored. The first part of the volume is devoted to new and sophisticated empirical analyses of important policy questions, such as technical change in trade models, how nontariff barriers are established, and how patent protection affects trade flows. The second part analyzes key areas involving international trade negotiations, including the usefulness of binding tariff commitments, regionalism versus bilateralism in trade liberalization, and strategic competition among international firms in setting negotiating agendas. The final part considers important questions in labor costs, asset pricing, and monetary union in international markets. Professional international economists will find much worth reading in the volume. It also is relevant to scholars of international relations and international organizations, as well as political scientists and government policy analysts.