Institutionalism and New Trade Theory: Rethinking Comparative Advantage and Trade Policy

Gomory and Baumol (2000), and Samuelson (2004) have raised concerns about international trade’s future impact on U.S. national income. The focus is how globalization may affect the size and distribution across countries of gains from trade. Though their analysis is developed using a pure trade theoretical framework, it has strands in common with institutionalist thinking. Their findings spotlight the need for a new U.S. trade policy agenda aimed at maximizing the U.S. share of gains from trade, and complementing conventional Keynesian open economy macroeconomic analysis.     

Competitive and Comparative Advantage: Towards a Unified Theory of International Trade

The field of international business/economics is largely dualistic in nature. On one hand is the economics literature which has, for two centuries, focused on the notion of comparative advantage (technology, factor proportions) while on the other is the business literature which has recently developed the concept of competitive advantage. This paper presents a reconciliation of the two based on global value chain/supply chain analysis and the concept of vertical comparative advantage. It is shown that the theory of competitive advantage's epistemological comparative advantage lies with its ‘how to’ approach to developing an advantage, while the theory of comparative advantage's epistemological comparative advantage lies with its account of ‘what is’ and that both are complementary. However, it is also argued that the failure to recognize this complementarity as well as the shortcomings of each have prevented and continue to prevent the emergence of an integrated, empirically-consistent theory of international trade – in short, prevented us from taking advantage of the gains from epistemological trade.     

International Economies of Scale and the Gains from Trade

In this paper, we present a two-country trade model with external economies of scale that emerge on an international level but are partially localized in each country. First, we show that the larger country exports the good produced in an industry with external economies of scale in the trading equilibrium. Second, we investigate the welfare effects of trade for the following two cases: (I) the case where external economies are completely localized in autarky; (II) the case where external economies are internationally effective in autarky. In case (II), it is shown that trade can be welfare-decreasing for both countries.     

Revisiting the Relevance of International Trade Theory

Probably one of the most controversial contributions to the literature of international trade theory was offered by the late social economist John Culbertson. In his view, low wage competition among corporations in a world characterized by capital mobility and massive trade deficits undermines the foundation trade theory based on David Ricardo’s celebrated notion of comparative advantage. Instead, there are several good reasons to believe that international trade with China, India, Vietnam, etc. will be governed by absolute advantage. The current essay is dedicated to the virtually ignored work of Culbertson, and it is meant as an invitation for social economists to critically evaluate the argument and in the process make an attempt to point out where it goes wrong.     

Revisiting the Relevance of International Trade Theory

Probably one of the most controversial contributions to the literature of international trade theory was offered by the late social economist John Culbertson. In his view, low wage competition among corporations in a world characterized by capital mobility and massive trade deficits undermines the foundation trade theory based on David Ricardo’s celebrated notion of comparative advantage. Instead, there are several good reasons to believe that international trade with China, India, Vietnam, etc. will be governed by absolute advantage. The current essay is dedicated to the virtually ignored work of Culbertson, and it is meant as an invitation for social economists to critically evaluate the argument and in the process make an attempt to point out where it goes wrong.

生产者服务贸易国外研究进展与述评

生产者服务业Producer Services）概念的提出是基@Browning ＆ Singelmann（1975）将服务业从功能角度划分而来,这类服务业包含了资本密集型行业（例如金融、保险等）,也包括知识和技术密集型产业（例如通信业、信息数据处理、计算机软件编程等）,还将很多专业性较强的服务业（例如会计、法律等）囊括其中。虽然这些行业的种类繁杂,但其统归于生产者服务业的原因在于这些行业都对一国制造业的发展起到重要作用,同时也是经济及产业结构升级的主要驱动力。在全球经济一体化背景下,西方主要发达国家在此领域的研究已趋于成熟,尤其是对生产者服务贸易方面的研究,国外学者已形成了较为完善的体系。基于生产者服务贸易理论和经验研究的发展过程,本文对国外相关代表性文献进行了详细梳理,这将对我国经济结构优化发展具有重要的借鉴意义。     

微观基础的李嘉图模型及其比较利益分配——兼论中美贸易摩擦

本文将消费者偏好和国家规模引入李嘉图模型,通过一般均衡的方法分析了均衡的产量和价格,并探讨了国际贸易发生的条件及各种因素变化对参加贸易的各国国民福利的影响.在微观模型的基础上,通过一个博弈、谈判模型具体分析了国际比较利益的分割及其各国贸易模式的选择,较好的解释了国际贸易得益的分配问题.政策涵义是中美贸易争端不能采取报复性的关税或人为设置贸易壁垒来解决,而应当通过协商与对话来获得互利双赢.     

从比较优势到竞争优势-中国外贸发展新视点

改革开放以来,我国进出口贸易实现了历史性飞跃,比较优势理论在我国对外经济的发展中起了重要的指导作用,但波特提出的鼓励创新,倡导竞争,发展科技的竞争优势理论,更符合当今以科技推动经济增长的新经济时代,对于我国制定对外贸易策略更具现实意义.我国应该积极的并在竞争优势的基础上调整我国的外贸发展战略:一方面通过改造传统产业,强化比较优势实现竞争优势;另一方面通过发展开放型经济培育国际竞争优势.     

Trade and Diversity: Is There a Case for ‘Cultural Protectionism?’

Abstract. In contrast to the predictions of standard models of international trade, globalization critics are claiming that trade destroys diversity. We demonstrate that with endogenous sunk costs, trade integration in horizontally differentiated industries can indeed lead to a fall in diversity. Consumers are faced with a tradeoff between gains in real income and a loss in diversity, so that the impact on welfare is ambiguous. However, it is possible through fiscal policies to replicate pre-trade choices and still realize gains in real income. Thus, calls for a 'cultural protectionism' are not justified.     

International trade, flexible manufacturing, and outsourcing

Abstract .  This study analyzes the impact of opening up markets on the diffusion of flexible manufacturing in a general equilibrium framework. With flexible manufacturing, suppliers can service a range of downstream industries and do not have to be concerned about being held up. Instead, the vertical structure is determined by the trade-off between economies of scale in flexible manufacturing and product specificity of in-house production. The analysis derives a number of testable predictions with regard to firm size and productivity measures and shows that globalization can lead to a consolidation in upstream markets, lower real wages, and reduce welfare.     

比较优势与加工贸易——基于中国各省市的实证分析

受经济全球化的影响，国际分工进一步深化，从产品层面延伸到了产品内不同工序层面，传统的比较优势理论可以解释这种新型产品内分工产生的原因及影响。作为产品内分工的表现形式——加工贸易目前已成为中国最主要的贸易方式。以2000—2005年中国各省市加工贸易进出口额为样本，利用Egger（2005）的方法对加工贸易的影响因素进行定量分析，进而得出比较优势仍是加工贸易的重要决定因素。     

Ricardian productivity differences and the gains from trade

This paper evaluates the role of sectoral heterogeneity in determining the gains from trade. We first show analytically that in the presence of sectoral Ricardian comparative advantage, a one-sector sufficient statistic formula that uses total trade volumes as a share of total absorption systematically understates the true gains from trade. Greater relative sectoral productivity differences lead to larger disparities between the gains implied by the one-sector formula and the true gains. Using data on overall and sectoral trade shares in a sample of 79 countries and 19 sectors we show that the multi-sector formula implies on average 30% higher gains from trade than the one-sector formula, and as much as 100% higher gains for some countries. We then set up and estimate a quantitative Ricardian–Heckscher–Ohlin model in which no version of the formula applies exactly, and compare a range of sufficient statistic formulas to the true gains in this model. Confirming the earlier results, formulas that do not take into account the sectoral heterogeneity understate the true gains from trade in the model by as much as two-thirds. The one-sector formulas understate the gains by more in countries with greater dispersion in sectoral productivities.     

"金砖四国"中的巴西及中国-巴西双边贸易分析

巴西与中国同为金砖四国成员,巴西丰富的自然资源和迅速增长的经济发展态势是其成为发展中大国的重要资本。中国和巴西经贸关系稳步发展,然而双边贸易发展并不平衡,我国一直呈现贸易逆差。从两国的进出口商品结构,包括对贸易结合度指数、商品集中度指数以及产品的显示性比较优势指数进行分析,可以看到中巴两国进出口商品特点不同,在出口商品种类上中巴双方的互补大于竞争。这为我国发挥自身产品优势,有计划地加大对巴贸易出口提供了可能。我国应在对巴贸易中做出更准确的市场判断,制定符合市场需求的进出口策略,充分挖掘两国贸易合作的潜力。     

Trade Liberalization and Welfare Inequality: A Demand‐Based Approach*

There is strong evidence suggesting that different income groups consume different bundles of goods. Hence, trade liberalization can affect welfare inequality via changes in the relative prices of goods consumed by different income groups (the price effect). In this paper, I develop a framework that enables us to explore the role of the price effect in determining welfare inequality. I find that trade liberalization does benefit some income classes more than others. In particular, I show that the relative welfare of the rich with respect to that of the poor has a hump shape as a function of trade costs.     

反思自由贸易的理论基石——比较优势理论

通过对比较优势理论的产生背景、国内应用现状和理论局限性的多角度反思,得出该理论不应成为我国选择经济战略依据的结论。如果将比较优势理论作为我国的经济发展战略,不但不能使经济得到良性的可持续发展,相反还将严重危害到经济安全。     

Short-Term and Long-Term Margins of International Trade: Evidence from the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement

We investigate the impact of the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) on Canadian exports to Chile, particularly the dynamic effects of the agreement on extensive and intensive margins of trade. Consistent with the literature, we find that the extensive margin effects occurred later than the intensive margin effects and became more prominent in the long-term. Surprisingly, the intensive margin effects died off in the long-term. A theoretical model is constructed to show that our results can arise in a standard setting of intra-industry trade.     

Gains From Trade for Nonmaterialists,Environmentalists, and the Overworked

The author proposes an alternative to the traditional definition of the gains from international trade and, hence, an alternative defense of free trade. Rather than showing that free trade allows a country to consume more of all final goods, the author's approach shows that free trade allows a country to consume the same basket of final goods that it would consume in autarchy but at a reduced cost measured in terms of foregone productive resources. Thus, free trade gives a country the option to maintain the same material standard of living that it would have enjoyed in autarchy while enjoying more leisure and using fewer natural resources in production.     

中国和印度贸易模式的比较研究

中国和印度作为两个较大的发展中国家,具有很多共同点,但在对外贸易上存在很大的差异。研究中国和印度对外贸易上的表现,结果发现:两个国家近年来都有较高的外贸依存度,但中国在世界出口中的比重不断上升,而印度在世界出口中所占的比重很小且保持不变;两个国家的贸易在很大程度上是产业内贸易,中国比印度出口更多复杂和精细的产品。中印两国贸易模式存在差异的主要原因是,中国较早注意利用劳动力资源禀赋发展加工贸易,印度对于外向型经济的相关政策出台较晚。     

The Cosine-Shaped Pattern of Innovations and Technological Advantages： Theory and Evidence

Using data from 24 OECD countries, we find that the relationship between a country＇s R＆D investment and technological advantage in a sector （measured by the country＇s labor productivity of the sector relative to the rest of the world） is non-monotonic. In particular, for countries whose technology levels are much lower or higher than the rest of the world in a sector, their sectoral R＆D investment declines as their advantages in the sector improve; for counties with middle technology levels, the opposite is true. Extending the Eaton and Kortum framework, we develop a static model to theoretically analyze the relationship between R＆D investment and technological advantages. We show that when the research efficiency in a sector is sufficiently elastic with respect to the sectoral technological advantage, a country＇s R＆D investment increases with its technological advantage, and vice versa.     

Intra-Industry Trade: A Static and Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

This study examines the features and determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT), horizontal IIT (HIIT) and vertical IIT (VIIT) between Portugal and the European Union in the period 1996–2002, using a static and a dynamic panel data analysis. The findings indicate that Portuguese VIIT increased significantly during the period in accordance with the values expected for a developed country. The regression results show that there is evidence supporting the explanation of VIIT by Heckscher–Ohlin’s (HO) theory and that Portugal has comparative advantages in low-quality differentiated products. The findings support the theory that, in general, there is no positive statistical association between HIIT and HO variables. The central theme of this paper is to show that it may be preferable to use the GMM approach in empirical studies of IIT rather than pooled OLS, fixed effects or random effects estimators. The results also suggest that the GMM system estimator obtains more reasonable parameter estimates than the first-differenced GMM estimator.