Books by Richard Pomfret

Richard Pomfret documents European integration since WWII, showing that today's European Union is the product less of master planning than of responses to political and economic challenges. Nevertheless, the EU emerges as a world-historic achievement in cross-border cooperation, with a bright but challenging future.

On Christmas Day 1991 the Soviet Union disappeared, and five unprepared Central Asian republics became nation states. In December 1992 the author was seconded to the United Nations as an economic advisor to the five countries and to Azerbaijan and Mongolia, which were also in transition from central planning. This book tells the story of the following year in Central Asia. The Central Asian oases were key points on the silk road from China to West Asia and to Europe, until maritime explorers opened up sea routes that led to several centuries of decline in the region. Conquered by Russia in the nineteenth century and under Communism isolated from the world in the twentieth century, the early 1990s brought dramatic new challenges for the people in the midst of economic and political chaos. The rich history, Islamic traditions and uncertain future made 1993 an interesting year in Central Asia.

International Trade: Theory, Evidence and Policy provides an integrated non-mathematical account of trade theory and policy that can be read straight through. The footnotes provide caveats, extensions and entry points, or further reading.This book is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the core theoretical analysis of international trade that has evolved over a quarter-millennium. The second part reviews recent empirical research in global value chains, trade costs, and heterogeneous firms, particularly from analysing large datasets of individual firms'' characteristics and of trade flows disaggregated to very finely detailed levels. The third section of the book analyzes trade policies and discusses current policy debates.This edition is based on Pomfret''s Lecture Notes on International Trade Theory and Policy, first published in 2008. The content has been extensively updated and revised to stand as a new volume.

Alongside unprecedented improvements in longevity and material well-being, the twentieth century saw the rise of fascism and communism and a second world war followed by a cold war. Governments with market economies won the battle against these competing systems by combining growth and efficiency with greater equality of opportunity and outcome.

Provides an analysis of the huge changes undergone by the economies of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This book assesses the economic prospects of each country, and the likelihood that economic conditions will spur major political changes.