Trade Policy in Developing
Countries
Trade Policy in
Developing Countries is aimed at academics, graduate students and professional,
policy-oriented economists. It is the first work in the field to analyze trade policy in
an integrated theoretical framework based on optimizing dynamic models that pay careful
attention to the structural features of developing country economies. Following a thorough
critique of the debate on inward- vs. outward-oriented trade regimes, Buffie examines the
main issues of concern to less developed countries in the areas of optimal commercial
policy, trade liberalization and direct foreign investment. In addition to many new and
important results, the book contains systematic reviews of the empirical evidence and
three expositional chapters that show the reader how to use the technical machinery of
economic theory to construct and manipulate multi-sector dynamic general equilibrium
models.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Tools and tricks of the
trade, Part I. Duality theory
3. The trade policy debate
4. Tools and tricks of the
trade, Part II. Linear differential equations and dynamic optimization
5. Underemployment,
underinvestment and optimal trade policy
6. Liberalization and the
transition problem, Part I. Transitory unemployment
7. Tools and tricks of the
trade, Part III. The dynamics of temporary shocks
8. Liberalization and the
transition problem, Part II. Credibility and the balance of payments
9. Direct foreign investment,
economic development, and welfare
10. Suggestions for future
research
400 pages