This briefing on international trade by CSU-Northridge’s Robert Krol looks like a good introduction to estimates of trade’s costs and benefits for political science classes discussing the global economy. It briefly summarizes in plain language the results of Baier & Bergstrand (2001), Bernhofen & Brown (2005), Frankel & Romer (1999), Wacziarg & Welch (2008), Broda & Weinstein (2006), and Robert Lawerence’s Blue-Collar Blues.

For an economics class, I’d recommend that students actually read (some) of those papers.