ECO 364H1F: INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
SUMMER 2021
Instructor Information
Guangbin Hong
Max Gluskin House (GE), Room 08
150 St. George Street
Toronto, ON M5S 3G7
g.hong@mail.utoronto.ca
Teaching Assistant Contact Information
Torsten Sochting Jaccard
torsten.jaccard@mail.utoronto.ca
Office Hours
Guangbin Hong:
Torsten Jaccard:

Fridays, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Wednesdays, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

All office hours will be conducted remotely via Zoom.
You are encouraged to appoint other times by emailing me if the above hours do not suit you well.
Lecture Schedule and Recordings
Biweekly lectures will be live-streamed via Zoom every Tuesday 10:00 am – 1:00 pm and Thursday,from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. Each lecture will also be recorded and posted on the course Quercus website.
Students have the option of either attending the lecture live-stream or watching the recordings according
to their own time zone and schedule. Note that there will be no in-person lectures.
Zoom Information
For lectures, tutorials and instructor’s office hours:
Meeting ID: 876 9496 2601
Passcode: 829968
For TA’s office hours:
Meeting ID: 881 1246 6939
Passcode: 485476

Course Overview
This course is an introduction to the economics of international trade. The core objective of the course isto develop an understanding of the causes and consequences of international trade, with analysis groundedin the formal study of economic theory. Students will investigate why nations trade what they do, who
gains or loses from trade, the incentives for trade regulation, and the welfare effects of trade policies. In
the process, the course will introduce students to the topics of the gravity model, comparative advantage,
specific factors, trade and the labor market, variety gains from trade and trade policies. The course willemphasize the understanding of past and current world events related to international trade, and will relyon economic modeling to help students understand these events. The course will also discuss empiricalfindings related to theoretical predictions, encouraging critical thinking upon the strength and limitationsof trade models.
Lecture Notes and Textbooks
Detailed lecture notes will be posted on the course Quercus website for each lecture session. The content
of these lecture notes, together with the assigned problem sets, will constitute the core material thatstudents are responsible for learning throughout the course. As such, there is no required textbook for thecourse. However, many undergraduate trade courses use well-established textbooks that students mightfind helpful as supplementary reading. The reading list below provides suggested chapters corresponding
to each lecture topic from two of the most commonly used textbooks:International Trade. Robert C. Feenstra and Alan M. Taylor. Worth Publishers, 4 th Edition.
International Economics: Theory and Policy. Paul R. Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld, and Marc
Melitz. Pearson, 10th Edition.

Prerequisites and Exclusions
Prerequisites: ECO200Y1 / ECO204Y1/ ECO206Y1
 ECO220Y1 / ECO227Y1 / (STA237H1, STA238H1) / (STA247H1, STA248H1) /(STA257H1, STA261H1)
Exclusions: ECO230Y1, ECO231H1, ECO232H1
For more details, please read the departmental policy regarding enrolment, prerequisites, and exclusions.
For assistance with enrolment, please contact Sally Wong (ugadministrator.economics@utoronto.ca) if
you are an economics student, or Jenny Fan (jenfan@chass.utoronto.ca) if you are a commerce student.

Grading Scheme
The grading scheme for the course will be as follows:
Problem Sets:
Quizzes:
Midterm Examination:
Final Examination:

16%
9%
35%
40%

Problem Set Schedule and Marking Scheme
Problem Set No.

Assignment Date

Due Date

1
2
3
4

6 May
13 May20 May3 June13 May20 May27 May10 June

The problem set schedule is tentative and may be subject to change depending on how the pace of thecourse develops throughout the term.
Assignments will be due by 10:00 AM (before the class) on the respective due dates. Assignments
submitted past this time will be considered late. For the purpose of streamlining the submission, grading,and returning of problem sets, all assignments must be submitted online via Crowdmark.
Problem sets will be graded on a -, , + basis, corresponding to scores of 4/10, 8/10, and 10/10
respectively. Each problem set counts 4% towards the final grade.
Quiz Schedule and Marking Scheme
A quiz containing ten multiple choice questions will follow each lecture. This means there will be elevenquizzes in total throughout the semester. Only the best nine out of eleven will count towards your final
grade. The quiz will be posted on Quercus. All quizzes are due at 11:59 pm on the Friday of the week
they are assigned. No late submission will be allowed. Failing to complete a quiz on time will result in a
grade of zero.
The coverage of each quiz is within the lecture which it follows. The multiple-choice questions will not
involve substantial mathematical derivations. Rather, they will mainly ask about the economic intuitions
and empirical regularities discussed in lectures. The goal of these quizzes is to 1. encourage students tokeep up with the course progress and review the lecture notes regularly; 2. develop better understanding
and application of the economic tools as the course progresses.
The quizzes are automatically graded by Quercus, so no regrading request will be approved.

Tutorials
Starting from the second week, there will be a one-hour tutorial following the end of the lecture on
Thursday. The tutorial will be held by the TA to cover 1) the problem set due for the day, or 2) practiceproblems posted before the tutorial or 3) solutions to the midterm exam. Both the tutorial recordings andthe problem set/practice question solutions will be posted afterwards. The plan for each tutorial will beannounced in the lecture every week. For the first week, the tutorial time will be used by the instructor
on the course material. For the week of the midterm examination, the tutorial will be moved to Tuesday.

Course Schedule
The date and expected coverage of each course and tutorial are listed below:
Lecture

Date

Topic

Suggested Reading

Note

1

4 May

Introduction

FT Ch. 1 / KOM Ch. 1 & 2

2

6 May

The Exchange Economy-

3

11 MayThe Ricardian ModelFT Ch. 2 / KOM Ch. 3

4

13 MayThe Specific Factor Model I

FT Ch. 3 / KOM Ch. 4

518 MayThe Specific Factor Model II

FT Ch. 3 / KOM Ch. 4

620 MayThe Heckscher-Ohlin Model I

FT Ch. 4 / KOM Ch. 5

PS2 due + Tutorial

7

25 MayThe Heckscher-Ohlin Model II

FT Ch. 4 / KOM Ch. 5

Tutorial-

27 MayMIDTERM EXAM

8

1 JuneTrade and Labor Market-

Last day to cancel classes

9

3 JuneVariety Gain from Trade

FT Ch. 6 / KOM Ch. 7

Tutorial on Midterm

10

8 JuneTrade Policy I

FT Ch. 8 & 9 / KOM Ch. 9

11

10 JuneTrade Policy II

FT Ch. 11 / KOM Ch. 10-

17-28 June

FINAL EXAM PERIOD

PS1 due + Tutorial

PS3 due

PS4 due + Tutorial

The course outline, especially after the midterm exam, is tentative and may be subject to change.

Midterm Examination
There will be a 2-hour midterm examination held on 27 May, 2021 during the class time. The exam will
cover material from Lectures 1-7 and will be conducted synchronously. All midterm exam answers
must be submitted online via Crowdmark.
Final Examination
There will be a 3-hour final examination held during the final examination period (exact date TBD). The
final exam will cover material from all lectures of the course and will weight all material equally. You
will have a 24-hour window to finish the 3-hour exam.
More details on the examinations will be announced later.
Contact
Given the move to online teaching this term, one of the priorities of the course is to maximize contact
time with students. There are four ways in which students will be able to engage with the course instructor
and TAs:
1. Zoom chat. Students are encouraged to ask questions in real time during the lecture live-streams
using the chat tool.
2. Quercus discussion boards. There will be an active discussion board for each lecture on the course
Quercus website. Students will be able to post questions on these discussion boards and questions
will be answered by the course instructor and TAs.
3. Online office hours. The course instructor and TAs will hold weekly office hours as stipulated
above. These will be held online via Zoom.
4. Email. For issues that cannot be resolved through the above avenues, students can also contact
the course instructor or TAs via email.

Policy for Late Problem Sets and Extension Requests
Late problem sets will not be accepted and will receive a score of zero. If you wish to request for an
extension of a problem set deadline, you must do so at least 48 hours prior to the deadline. Extensions
will be granted only for legitimate reasons supported by appropriate documentation, and the granting ofextensions will be at the discretion of the course instructor and the TA. Please note that each student will
be granted no more than one problem set extension throughout the course.
Policy for Missed Midterm and Final Examinations
If you are unable to sit for the midterm or final examination at the stipulated date and time for any reason,
you must inform the course instructor via email at least two hours before the exam. Note that the usual
Verification of Illness (VOI) form will not be required this term. Instead, students who miss the midterm
or final exams should report their absence through the online absence declaration tool, which is available
on ACORN under the Profile and Settings menu.
If it is agreed that your absence was justified, you will be allowed to sit for a make-up exam, which will
be held within one week of the original exam. Note that you will receive a score of zero on the midterm
or final exam if any of the following occur:

you fail to inform the course instructor of your absence at least two hours before the exam;
you miss the make-up exam without valid reasons.

There will strictly be no exceptions to this policy. If a student misses the midterm make-up exam with avalid reason, then the weight of the make-up midterm exam will be shifted towards the final exam. The
validity for not medical-related reasons to miss the exam will be left to the discretion of the course
instructor and the TA. To the best of your capabilities, you should inform us of any of these reasons as
early as possible.
If a student misses the final exam and the make-up exam, then it becomes the responsibility of Arts andScience. The student will be asked to submit the proper documentation to their College Registrar’s andthey will organize to make you write a final examination during a future semester.

Policy for Regrading Requests
If you would like to make a case for receiving a different grade on a problem set or exam, please notethat you have one week from the date the problem set or exam is returned to you to submit a regrade
request. Absolutely no assignments will be regraded beyond this time limit. Material submitted for
regrading must be accompanied by a brief written explanation detailing your reasons for receiving a
different grade. Be as specific as possible (e.g. correction of addition errors in calculating a grade, aspecific point or step that the grader missed, etc.).
The item will first be returned to the TA who originally graded it. If you are still dissatisfied, it may bepassed on to the course instructor at the instructor’s discretion. Note that in agreeing to resubmit yourwork for remarking, you are agreeing to a re-evaluation of your work that may see your grade go up, go
down, or stay the same.
Academic Integrity
All students, faculty, and staff are expected to follow the University’s guidelines and policies on academic
integrity. For students, this means following the standards of academic honesty when writing
assignments, citing and using source material appropriately, collaborating with fellow students, andwriting tests and exams. Ensure that the work you submit for grading represents your own honest efforts.
Plagiarism representing someone else’s words as your own or submitting work that you have previously
submitted for marks in another class or program is a serious offence that can result in sanctions. Speak to
the course instructor or TAs for advice on anything that you find unclear. Also, see the U of T writing
support website at www.utoronto.ca/writing. Consult the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters for acomplete outline of the University’s policy and expectations.
Ongoing Learning Disability or Accommodation Requirement
Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. If you have an ongoingdisability issue or accommodation need, you should register with Accessibility Services (AS)(accessibility.utoronto.ca) at the beginning of the academic year. Without registration, you will not beable to verify your situation with your instructors, and instructors will not be advised about youraccommodation needs. AS will then assess your medical situation, develop an accommodation plan withyou, and support you in requesting accommodation for your course work. Remember that the process ofaccommodation is private: AS will not share details of your condition with any instructor, and yourinstructors will not reveal that you are registered with AS.

Religious accommodation
As a student at the University of Toronto, you are part of a diverse community that welcomes and includes
students and faculty from a wide range of backgrounds, cultural traditions, and spiritual beliefs. The
course instructor will make every reasonable effort to avoid scheduling tests, examinations, or othercompulsory activities on religious holy days not captured by statutory holidays. Further to University
Policy, if you anticipate being absent from class or missing a major course activity due to a religious
observance, please let the course instructor know as early in the course as possible, and with sufficient
notice (at least two weeks), so that alternate arrangements can be made.
Quercus Information
This course uses the University's learning management system, Quercus, to post information about thecourse. This includes posting readings and course assignments, as well as sharing importantannouncements and updates. The site is dynamic and new information and resources will be posted
regularly as we move through the term, so please make it a habit to log in to the site on a regular, evendaily, basis. To access the course website, go to the U of T Quercus log-in page at https://q.utoronto.ca.
Once you have logged in to Quercus using your UTORid and password, you should see the link for
ECO364H1F. Click on this link to open the course area, view the latest announcements, and access yourcourse resources.
Please also note that any grades posted are for your information only, so you can view and track yourprogress through the course. No grades are considered official, including any posted in Quercus at any
point in the term, until they have been formally approved and posted on ACORN at the end of the course.
Please contact the course instructor as soon as possible if you think there is an error in any grade posted
on Quercus.
Copyright
This course, including your participation, will be recorded on video and will be available to students inthe course for viewing remotely and after each session.
Course videos and materials belong to your instructor, the University, and/or other source depending on
the specific facts of each situation, and are protected by copyright. In this course, you are permitted todownload session videos and materials for your own academic use, but you should not copy, share, or
use them for any other purpose without the explicit permission of the instructor.
For questions about recording and use of videos in which you appear please contact your instructor.