When can a country be said to benefit from free trade? This question has obsessed economists for more than 200 years, and a definitive answer has never been provided. Continuing the influential work begun in The Gains from trade and the Gains from Aid, (0-415-13038-7, Routledge 1995, u85.00), Murray Kemp here presents the recent progress he and his co-workers have made in tackling this important question. The book is divided into three sections: - The gains from trade under perfect competition: including chaotic equilibria, endogenous markets, internationalisation of the world economy, customs unions, smuggling and optimal commercial policy. - The gains from trade under non-profit competition: including increasing returns, socialist economies, oligopolistic competition, voluntary export restraints. - Background: including properties of egalitarian economies, Pareto’s compensation principle. International Trade and National Welfare will be an invaluable guide for all those interested in the social consequences of international trade.