New Features:

• Current and Recent Key Events: The "key events" that are found in this new edition are: the price of crude oil doubling during 2007 and into 2008, lumber dispute between the United States and Canada, China’s refined policy toward direct investments by foreign firms, immigration and its controversies in the United States, and the price of gold increase.
• Global Governance Boxes: Additional shaded boxes on Global Governance have now been included. These boxes examine the World trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These boxes have been integrated throughout the text to take a deeper look into these organizations.
• New Focus on China: New content has been added to the series Focus on China as Pugel continues to pay special attention to the country that is a rapidly rising force in the global economy. In Chapter 8, a new box in the series Focus on China examines what has happened since China joined the WTO in 2001. Specific aspects of China’s international activities appear throughout the text including new information on China’s intra-industry trade, China’s rising use of its own antidumping procedures, and the foreign pressures on China to allow more appreciation of the exchange rate value of its currency.
• Extensively revised Chapter 6: Chapter 6 has been renamed (Scale Economies, Imperfect Competition and Alternate Trade) and extensively rewritten. A precise discussion of scale economies, clear explanation of intra-industry trades and how to measure it, and a logical discussion of monopolistic competition are the new updates in this chapter. New end-of-chapter questions correspond to the improved content of the chapter.
• New Case Studies: A new Case Study box in Chapter 2 develops the context for studying international trade by showing the growth of world trade and the rising importance of trade to national economies.
• Revised NAFTA Sections: The sections on the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) in Chapters 12 and 13 have been revised and rewritten to highlight information on the actual effects of NAFTA since it started in 1994. Research shows a noticeable expansion of trade within the area, some evidence of substantial trade diversion, large increases in direct investments by foreign firms into Mexico, and a lack of progress in addressing environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexico border.
• New Information on Global Warming: The 14th edition has new information on the probable effects of global warming on different countries and areas (Chapter 13). It also explains the importance of a global approach to address global warming. It presents a summary of a study by IMF researchers that shows that a global effort to stop the rise of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere by using a carbon tax would have a manageable cost in that the tax would decrease the growth of global real income by only a small amount.
• New Terminology: Throughout Parts Three and Four, Pugel now uses the term financial account in place of the older term capital account. This matches the terminology used by the IMF and national governments. Financial account also better describes the items that belong in this part of the balance of payments.
• Condensed Content on the Exchange Rate Mechanism: In Chapter 25, the section on the Exchange Rate Mechanism has been condensed to shift the focus of this part of the chapter to the euro and European Monetary Union. The discussion now includes estimates of the actual expansion of international trade within the euro area as a result of the adoption of the single currency.
• Enhanced Discussions of International Monetary Issues: Pugel has enhanced discussions of international monetary issues throughout the text to maintain the recent research of these issues.