The examples presented in Chapter 1 show that international economics is exciting and sometimes controversial because there are both differences between countries and interconnections among countries. Still, international economics is like other economics in that we will be examining the fundamental challenge of scarcity of resources— how we can best use our scarce resources to create the most value and the most benefits. We will be able to draw on many standard tools and concepts of economics, such as supply and demand analysis, and extend their use to the international arena.

We begin our in-depth exploration of international economics with international trade theory and policy. In Chapters 2–7 we look at why countries trade goods and services. In Chapters 8–15 we examine what government policies toward trade would bring benefits and to whom. This first half of the book might be called international microeconomics.

第一章中的例子表明，国际经济学是令人兴奋的，有时也是有争议的，因为国家之间既有差异，也有国家之间的相互联系。不过，国际经济学和其他经济学一样，我们将研究资源稀缺的根本挑战——我们如何才能最好地利用我们稀缺的资源创造最大的价值和最大的利益。我们将能够借鉴许多经济学的标准工具和概念，如供需分析，并将其推广到国际舞台。

我们从国际贸易理论和政策开始对国际经济学进行深入的探索。在第2-7章中，我们将探讨各国为何进行商品和服务贸易。在第8-15章中，我们将探讨政府的贸易政策会给谁带来好处以及给谁带来好处。这本书的前半部分可能被称为国际微观经济学。