The Terms of Trade and Other Wonders

Deardorffs' Glossary of International Economics

Now Searchable!

Ever wonder what a term in international economics means? I often do. So I've looked them up, written them down, and posted them here online. Now I'll be able to refresh my failing memory from anywhere in the world. So can my students, and you too, if you want to.

This glossary will eventually attempt to cover all of the terms and concepts from international economics, including both international trade and international finance, at least at the introductory level. Because my own specialty is international trade, the coverage will inevitably be much more thorough for that.

The glossary includes definitions, links to definitions, and wherever appropriate links to other sites and documents that may provide additional information. There is a bibliography of sources for some of the terms, including links to the papers themselves where available (usually through JSTOR, for which access requires a subscription). Click Bib at the left for the full list, or Orig for more detailed information on origins of concepts and terms.

There is also a picture gallery of the diagrams of international economics, each with its own page where it is explained and shows what it can do. There are also various lists of types of terms that occur a lot, to help you find terms that you can't recall. You can reach both of these from their definitions in the glossary, or by clicking on Figs and Lists at the left.

I have begun to get a few questions asked about this by e-mail. In a few cases, I have included my answers here, and you can read the questions and answers by clicking on Q&A at the left. Where these questions refer to a particular item or statement in the glossary, this is indicated there by an asterisk, *, on which you can also click.

There are now several ways to find terms in the Glossary. The simplest is to use the new Search window that my son Ryan created for me and that appears in the top center of the site. Start typing the term you want and a list of terms that match will appear, followed by terms that either include what you've typed or are similar. Click on one of these terms and you will be taken to its definition.

Alternatively, you can browse all definitions of terms starting with any letter of the alphabet by clicking on that letter at the left of the screen. Or you can browse the complete list of all terms, without their definitions, by clicking on "All" at the top left or "All terms" at the top right.

I add to the entries in this glossary whenever I find the time and the inclination, so it has grown gradually over time. The complete glossary as it appeared in early 2006 was published in hard copy by World Scientific Publishers. Feel free to purchase a copy for yourself, or additional copies as gifts.

Alan V. Deardorff
University of Michigan

Acknowledgements