These 10 books by academics, regulators, journalists, and business practitioners can help ecommerce merchants understand contradictory news stories about international trade and how it affects their businesses.
Why Politicians Lie About Trade . . . And What You Need to Know About It
Why Politicians Lie About Trade
by Dmitry Grozoubinksi
The Financial Times states, “Despite being an entertaining read, his book is no joke,” and includes it on its list of “Five books to boost your understanding of tariffs and trade wars.” Avoiding technical and academic language and adding a generous dose of humor, Grozoubinski uses engaging case studies to explain how global trade works and how trade policy affects what most people care about. The author is a former Australia trade negotiator and executive director of the Geneva Trade Platform, a nonprofit policy hub.
No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America’s Workers
No Trade Is Free
by Robert Lighthizer
“No one gives up anything valuable for nothing,” asserts the author, who served as U.S. Trade Representative in President Trump’s first administration and as deputy under President Reagan. He provides an insider’s account for merchants and business managers looking to understand how trade negotiations work and how the current administration’s policy views developed. The book is another entry in the Financial Times’ tariffs and trade wars list.
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources
The World for Sale
by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy
Trade in commodities such as fuels, foods, and metals plays a crucial role in global finance, yet often occurs far from the public eye. Two Bloomberg journalists provide a well-written, well-researched, and eye-opening account of how commodities traders operate and how they influence global politics. Reviewers agree that it reads like a thriller.
International Trade: What Everyone Needs to Know®
International Trade
by Anne O. Krueger
Krueger has been the World Bank’s chief economist, a top executive at the International Monetary Fund, and a senior professor at Stanford and Johns Hopkins. In the book, she uses a non-technical, question-and-answer format to address the fundamentals of trade and global economics.
International Trade and FDI: An Advanced Introduction to Regulation and Facilitation
International Trade and FDI
by Warnock Davies and Clive G. Chen
The authors combine their academic, consulting, and operational expertise to create a reference handbook for business owners, managers, executives, consultants, and others involved in international trade or investment. The book covers tariffs and other barriers to trade; global entities such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization; and more — with plenty of examples.
The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter
The Globalization Myth
by Shannon K. O’Neil
O’Neil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, contends that the biggest economic trend of the last half-century isn’t globalization, but a shift towards regionalization that centers on three hubs: Europe, Asia, and the Americas. She advocates for change in American economic policy.
Good Economics for Hard Times
Good Economics for Hard Times
by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
The winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics offer “a treasure trove of insight” (The Economist) into today’s critical economic issues, including growth, globalization, disruptive technologies, trade, migration, inequality, employment, and more. According to The Wall Street Journal, the book is “a masterly tour of the current evidence on critical policy questions.”
Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word: How Six Everyday Products Make the Case for Trade
Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word
by Fred P. Hochberg
What do a taco salad, the Honda Odyssey, a banana, an iPhone, a college degree, and the HBO series Game of Thrones have in common? They are six products Hochberg uses to illustrate how trade and economic policies affect everyday life. The author’s bona fides include leading the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the U.S. Small Business Administration, and his stewardship of Lillian Vernon, his family’s iconic direct-marketing business, where he increased revenue fortyfold.
Trade Wars Are Class Wars
Trade Wars Are Class Wars
by Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis
The subtitle, “How rising inequality distorts the global economy and threatens international peace,” hints at the authors’ point of view. The fact that the book made several prestigious best lists and snagged the Lionel Gelber Prize, which honors “the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs,” suggests it’s an opinion worth reading. It’s also in the Financial Times’ “five books” list. Pettis is a noted economist and China expert, whose previous book, “The Great Rebalancing,” was published in 2014. Klein writes on economics for Barron’s.
Clashing Over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy
Clashing Over Commerce
by Douglas A. Irwin
As long as the U.S. has existed, politicians have debated whether the U.S. should be open to commerce with other nations or try to protect its domestic industries from foreign competition. Irwin, a professor of economics whose research is popular, provides a thorough (860-page) history of U.S. trade policy. Reviewers call it “definitive,” “scholarly,” “readable,” “timely,” “useful,” “magisterial,” a “magnum opus,” and an instant classic. Irwin also wrote “Free Trade Under Fire,” which one critic asserted “successfully parries nearly all arguments leveled against free trade by its critics in an engaging style,” in a more manageable 366 pages.
