International trade is as old as nations. During the last five decades, however, advances in technology and transportation have changed the scope and method of international trade. Disputes rage about the effects of these changes; advocates for different positions offer argument, but little factual or theoretical analysis. offers all the information readers need to sort out the arguments. Written with the highest degree of scholarship, intended for college students or working professionals, the encyclopedia provides both introductory material to broad economic, legal, political, and environmental theory, and in-depth analysis of how theory interacts with practice in the framework of global trade. A trader in New York can, in a matter of seconds, execute a billion-dollar currency transaction in Hong Kong. What does this transaction mean to New Yorkers, to residents of Hong Kong, and to the rest of the world? This book gives readers the tools to answer those questions.