Finnish trade in the early seventeenth century

Abstract

Mercantilist principles were observed more strictly in Sweden-Finland than in many other European countries. Towns were classified according to their right to carryon foreign trade; full ‘staple rights’, viz. the right to pursue both active and passive foreign trade, were held by no more than four Finnish towns, situated on the Gulf of Finland, viz. Turku (Åbo), Viipuri (Viborg), Helsinki (Hclsingfors) and Porvoo (BorgÅ), the last of which lost this right in 1639. The commercial policy which was pursued during the Period of Ascendancy (1611–1718) exerted an important influence upon the development of the urban social structure in Finland and it was the regulations governing foreign trade which were the decisive factor in limiting the growth of a merchant ‘aristocracy’ to the staple towns. These matters are illustrated in the introductory part of Dr. Möller's dissertation.     

Swedish foreign trade in the mid-sixteenth century

Abstract

For many years our image of economic conditions in 16th-century Sweden has been that depicted by Eli F. Heckscher: a medieval economy, reorganised by a central government of increasing authority in the person of King Gustav Vasa, and gradually transformed after his death in 1560. Sweden's foreign trade appeared to Heckscher as a particular example of his general rule. Its role in the national economy as a whole was very small: such commodities as were imported in exchange for exports were for the most part luxury goods; the only notable exception was the import of salt, to which Heckscher assigned extreme importance, because a vast consumption of salted food featured in his concept of the Swedish ‘medieval’ pattern of overall consumption. Heckscher saw no reason to postulate any major changes in the form and direction of Swedish trade during the reign of Gustav Vasa himself (1521–60); on the contrary, a theme vigorously argued in his book is that the political liberation of Sweden from the influence of Liibeck in the 1530s did not produce any shift of trade routes: most Swedish foreign trade still went via Lübeck. The customs ledgers of a single year, 1559, had an important influence on Heckscher's views.     

Dutch-Asiatic trade in the 17th and 18th centuries

Abstract

Dr. Glamann's study of Dutch-Asiatic trade marks a new approach in the treatment of European-Asiatic relations during the centuries of European invasion and rule of the Indian peninsula and the Indian archipelago. About 1600 the Dutch and English East India Companies became the competitors and successors of the Portuguese in that area. These companies, however, have often been treated in historical writings primarily as the precursors of Holland and England as Empire-builders. Such a view is all too sweeping. It is true that the role of these two companies in the transition from medieval partnerships and regulated companies into modern joint-stock companies has not been overlooked by former historians. But this role is worthy of consideration as a major problem and Dr. Glamann has devoted attention to it, in addition to the trade proper of the Dutch company which was the central theme of his investigation.     

提高新世纪天津外贸发展水平的思考

党的十六大报告对我国的对外开放工作提出了新的要求,即要坚持“引进来”和“走出去”相结合,全面提高对外开放的水平。中国加入世贸组织后,外贸经营环境正在发生深刻变化。如何提高天津外贸发展的层次和水平,并通过外贸的发展促进和带动经济发展、产业结构升级和增加就业,是一     

Turnpike trusts and the transportation revolution in 18th century England

There is a long debate in economic history about the causes of the transportation revolution and its economic impact. This paper examines the effects of turnpike trusts in 18th century England. Turnpike trusts were organizations that financed road improvements by levying tolls. They replaced the authority of parishes, which financed road improvements using local taxes. The analysis shows that turnpike trusts contributed to lower freight charges and passenger travel times. It also shows that turnpike trusts, generated a social savings of at least 0.5% of national income in 1800 and 1820.     

Finnish mortality in the eighteenth century: A reply

Abstract

In SEHR No.2, 1978, Eino ]utikkala took issue on a number of points with my article published in SEHR No.2, 1977, and I should like to make several comments in reply, Firstly, I have found it misleading to call the results of my data adjustments as ‘correction coefficients’. This term tends to suggest that my corrections produce precise results, an impression which the caveats explicitly stated in my text were designed to prevent. My purpose was to provide a rough suggestion of, and an approximation to the extent of errors, since it would have profited no one had I concluded the study with the simple acknowledgment of gaps in the registers and the admission that there is no way of determining their extent. Because this type of research is still relatively new, and because there seemed to be no other way of assessing the number of infants who died below one year of age, but were omitted from the registers of ‘baptised’ and ‘buried’, the national figures were used for the corrections, and an attempt was made to ensure that this approach did not lead to an overestimation of error.     

Fighting the forces of gravity - Seapower and maritime trade between the 18th and 20th centuries

How have large naval powers affected international commerce in history? Using a panel gravity model, we investigate the interactions of wars, alliances, naval power and trade from the 18th to mid-20th centuries. Striking an alliance with a naval power helps a country’s interstate commerce. Fighting a naval power on the other hand limits a country’s interstate commerce. Further, we split this effect on trade between an extensive effect (effect on a country’s trade when fighting a naval power) and an intensive effect (effect of that power gaining more naval strength). We conclude that the intensive effect is a powerful one - large navies have historically been destroyers of trade when mobilized to combat.     

我国对外贸易步入摩擦多发期

我国对外贸易已步入贸易摩擦多发期,对此应高度重视、积极应对. 当前我国面临的对外贸易摩擦形势主要有以下几个突出特点:第一,贸易摩擦数量居高不下.以反倾销为例,1995年至2006年,我国连续12年成为全球遭受反倾销调查最多的国家.     

技术性贸易壁垒的特点及对策

话题———商务部调查显示其一,2002年,中国有71%的出口企业遭遇到国外技术性贸易壁垒不同程度的限制,有39%的出口产品受到不同程度的影响,造成的损失逾170亿美元,相当于上年出口总额的5.2%。而2000年相关数字分别为66%、25%和110亿美元。其中,劳动密集型产品出口受损严重,有近90%的食品土畜出口企业受限,造成损失约90亿美元,轻工和机电类产品出口受损额分别为40亿美元和20亿美元。其二,欧盟、美国、日本是实施技术性贸易壁垒的主要国家和地区,对中国出口企业造成的损失所占比例达95%。其中,欧盟所占份额最大,为41%;日本和美国分别占30%和24…     

Deindustrialization in 18th and 19th century India: Mughal decline, climate shocks and British industrial ascent

India was a major player in the world export market for textiles in the early 18th century, but by the middle of the 19th century it had lost all of its export market and much of its domestic market, primarily to Britain. The ensuing deindustrialization was greatest c1750-c1860. We ask how much of India’s deindustrialization was due to local supply-side forces—such as political fragmentation and a rising incidence of drought, and how much to world price shocks. An open, three-sector neo-Ricardian model organizes our thinking and a new relative price database implements the empirical analysis. We find local supply side forces were important from as early as 1700. We then assess the size of Indian deindustrialization in comparison with other parts of the periphery.     

Finnish mortality in the eighteenth century: The sources and the reality

Abstract

Mr. Niels Steensgaard, in his ‘Consuls and Nations in the Levant from 1570 to 1650’¹ referred in note 4, p. 14, to my article on the beginning of Anglo-Turkish relations, and stated: ‘Apparently Horniker is not aware of the existence of the French capitulations of 1569’. There is no point in arguing whether or not I am aware of them, but later on I will give my reasons for omitting reference to them in my article. The implication of Steensgaard's statement, however, is that they were new capitulations, which, of course, they were not. They were a renewal, in the form of a grant,² by Sultan Selim II of the treaty concluded between his predecessor Suleiman I Kanuni and Francis I in 1536.³ Revised capitulations were granted to France in 158l.4 These, and the treaty of 1536, gave the French certain exclusive privileges in the Ottoman Empire. And until 1593, when Elizabeth I of England obtained capitulations which gave her subjects the same privileges as those enjoyed by the French, France was the paramount capitulatory nation in the Levant.     

加入WTO与我国外贸出口面临的绿色壁垒问题

绿色壁垒已成为影响我国外贸发展的重要因素。加入WTO后我国外贸出口面临的这一问题将更加突出，本文对绿色壁垒问题进行了理论分析。并考察其对我国国际经贸及对我国外贸出口的影响。以及加入WTO后我国外贸出口所面临的绿色壁垒的变化情况，最后讨论了相应应对措施。     

广交会对我国外贸的影响因素分析

广交会是我国被公认的规模最大、效果最好、层次最高的综合性国际贸易盛会,作为中国会展业的突出代表,也非常充分地应证了会展业对我国经济的积极促进作用。本文首先通过对广交会的相关情况进行大量文献收集,经过科学的分析和思考,总结了广交会对我国国际贸易的三大影响因素。     

Mortality, interest rates, investment, and agricultural production in 18th century England

This paper shows that the exogenous decline of adult mortality at the end of the 17th century can be one of the causes driving both the decline of interest rate and the increase in agricultural production per acre in pre-industrial England. Following the intuition of the life-cycle hypothesis, I claim that the increase in adult life expectancy must have implied less farmer impatience and it could have caused more investment in nitrogen stock and land fertility, the increase in agricultural land, and higher production per acre. I analyze this dynamic interaction using an overlapping generations model and show that the evolution of agricultural production and capital rates of return predicted by the model coincide fairly well with their empirical pattern.     

中国经济学的世纪:21世纪

中国转轨与发展的经济实践是中国经济学成长之母,具有勤奋、睿智而甘于奉献的牺牲精神、宽广而深厚的经济学、数学和人文科学功底的中国经济学家是中国经济学的成长之父。     

Treasury revenue and foreign trade taxation

Zusammenfassung Staatseinnahmen und die Besteuerung des Au\enhandels. — In diesem Aufsatz wird eine vergleichende L?nderstudie durchgeführt, um die fiskalische Bedeutung von Au\enhandelssteuern und deren Beziehung zum Pro-Kopf-Einkommen und zu der Au\enhandelsabh?ngigkeit des Landes zu zeigen. Der Test basiert auf Durchschnittsangaben der Jahre 1972–1978 für 93 L?nder und wird sowohl für die Exporte und Importe zusammen als auch für die Exporte und Importe getrennt durchgeführt. Es zeigt sich, da\ die Einfuhrbesteuerung eine erheblich gr?\ere fiskalische Bedeutung hat als die Ausfuhrbesteuerung. Das gilt sowohl für die Entwicklungsl?nder als auch für die Industriel?nder als Gruppe, obwohl die Exportsteuer für die einzelnen Entwicklungsl?nder ein sehr unterschiedliches Gewicht haben kann. Die fiskalische Bedeutung der Au\enhandelsbesteuerung nimmt ab, wenn das Pro-Kopf-Einkommen ansteigt, jedenfalls dann, wenn eine bestimmte Einkommensschwelle überschritten wird. Diese Hypothese konnte auch aufrechterhalten werden, als im Vergleich zu anderen Studien neuere Daten und eine andere Gruppe von L?ndern benutzt wurden. Die Ergebnisse best?tigen nicht die Behauptung, da\ die Au\enhandelssteuern st?rker als andere Steuern ansteigen, wenn der Au\enhandel an Bedeutung zunimmt.

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Résumé Les recettes publiques et la taxation du commerce extérieur. — Cet article analyse pour beaucoup de pays l’importance fiscale des taxes sur le commerce et sa relation au revenu per capita et à la dépendance d’un pays du commerce extérieur. Le test, basé sur les données moyennes des années 1972–1978 et des 93 pays, est fait pour les exportations et importations ensemble aussi bien que pour les exportations et importations séparément. Le résultat est que la taxation des importations a une considérablement plus importante fonction fiscale que la taxation des exportations. Ce résultat est valable pour les pays développants aussi bien que pour les pays développés, considérés comme groupe, bien que l’importance de la taxation des exportations puisse considérablement varier parmi des PVD individuels. L’importance fiscale des taxes sur le commerce extérieur se reduit si le revenu per capita accro?t, du moins après le revenu excède un certain seuil. Cette hypothèse est aussi approuvée en utilisant des données et des échantillons de pays beaucoup plus récentes que celles des autres études. Les résultats ne confirment pas l’assertion que les taxes sur le commerce extérieur dépassent des autres sortes de taxe si le commerce extérieur accroêt en importance.

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Resumen Ingresos del tresoro y tributación al comercio exterior. — Este es un análisis comparativo a traves de países de la importancia de los impuestos al comercio exterior y su relatión con los ingresos per cápita y la dependencia del país del comercio. El test, basado en promedios para los a?os 1972–1978 y cubriendo 93 países, se conduce tanto para el comercio global de importatión y exportatión como para las exportaciones e importaciones separadamente. El resultado es que la tributación a las importaciones tiene una función fiscal considerablemente más importante que la tributación a las exportaciones. Esto es válido tanto para los países en desarrollo como para los países desarrollados considerados como grupo, a pesar de que la importancia de la tributación a las exportaciones puede variar considerablemente entre países en desarrollo particulares. La importancia fiscal de los impuestos al comercio declina en la medida que el ingreso per cápita aumenta, al menos desde el momento en que éste último sobrepasa un cierto umbral. Esta hipótesis ha sido continuada, utilizando datos y muestras de países mucho más recientes que en otros estudios. Los resultados de este test no confirman la exigencia que los impuestos al comercio exterior aumentan por sobre otros tipos de impuestos en la medida que el comercio exterior crese en importancia.

     

全球绿色贸易壁垒与我国对外贸易发展对策

绿色贸易壁垒越来越发展成为非关税壁垒的主要形式，并成为新的国际贸易保护主义的工具。随着我国加入WTO，对外贸易遭遇绿色贸易壁垒日益繁多。研究绿色贸易壁垒，并寻因应之策，对进一步拓展我国出口贸易具有重要现实意义。