This volume is contemporary in focus, and explores key issues in current debates concerning international trade policy. The contributors are leading economists and political economists from Britain, Europe, the US and Japan.

Gary Cook gained his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Manchester and has taught at Manchester Business School and the University of Derby. He has published in the area of industrial economics and has been consultant to Cambridge Econometrics for several years.

1 Introduction 2 Reconsidering free trade 3 Ricardo's difficult idea: Why intellectuals don't understand comparative advantage 4 Commentary on Chapter 3 5 International monetary arrangements and international trade: Does the monetary regime matter? 6 Commentary on Chapter 5 7 International competition and industrial performance: Allocative efficiency, productive efficiency and turbulence 8 Commentary on Chapter 7 9 The regional impact of inward direct investment: Some reflections on the issue of measurement 10 Commentary on Chapter 9 11 Shallow foundations: Labour and the selective regulation of free trade 12 Commentary on Chapter 11 13 Richard Cobden and the democratic peace 14 Commentary on Chapter 13 15 The Corn Laws and the CAP 16 Commentary on Chapter 15 17 Antidumping actions in high technology industries: The case of semiconductors 18 Commentary on Chapter 17 19 Subsidies, exchange rates and job protection in the British steel industry, 1967-85 20 Commentary on Chapter 19 21 East-West trade in transition: The case of Austria 22 Commentary on Chapter 21 23 Free trade movement in Asia Pacific: APEC's Osaka Action Agenda and its implications for multilateral trade liberalization 24 Commentary on Chapter 23 25 Knowledge, trade and growth 26 Commentary on Chapter 25 27 Raw materials in the history of economic policy 28 Commentary on Chapter 27