Ricardo and International Trade


Book Description

David Ricardo’s theories have been widely studied and discussed, including the prominent theory on comparative advantage. Ricardo and International Trade looks at the ongoing renaissance of the Ricardian international trade theory. The book’s interpretation brings fresh insights into and new developments on the Ricardian international trade theory by examining the true meaning of the ‘four magic numbers’. By putting together theories of comparative advantage and international money, the book attempts to elucidate Ricardo’s international trade theory in the real world. This book also features contributions from the Japanese perspective and compares Ricardian theories with those of his contemporaries, such as Malthus, Torrens and J. S. Mill. This book will be a valuable reference for researchers and scholars with interests in history of economic thought and international economics.




200 Years of Ricardian Trade Theory


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive and insightful reflection on David Ricardo’s ingenious theory of international trade. Divided into three parts, Part I presents the “birthday boy”, his concept and the many applications and insights that have been derived from it, particularly in modern times. Part II explores in depth important aspects of the Ricardian trade theory through the eyes and experience of leading experts on international trade theory, taking into account the latest research in the field. Lastly, Part III discusses current challenges of globalization in the light of Ricardian trade theory and includes the original "On Foreign Trade" written and published by David Ricardo in 1817.




A New Construction of Ricardian Theory of International Values


Book Description

This is the first book published in English on the new international value theory, presented by Yoshinori Shiozawa in 2007. Shiozawa submitted a solution to the question on international values since Ricardo by constructing a Ricardo–Sraffa model on trading economies with M countries and N commodities including intermediate inputs (normally M N). The new theory is based on the assumption that prices are determined by production costs, which is the property derived from the classical value theory. The papers collected here deal with the following: introducing readers to the new theory; presenting diagrammatic illustrations of the new theory; analysing efficient patterns of specialization allowing intermediate inputs; examining how the new theory gives a new horizon to the Neo-Ricardian trade theory; investigating competitiveness, the long-period method, and potentiality from the perspectives of the new theory; discussing Mill's conversion toward neoclassical revolution; scrutinizing how the concept of comparative advantage has developed and diverged from Ricardo’s trade theory; discussing the purification of Marshall's value theory through Mill’s influence; reviewing the controversies on international values among Japanese economists; considering the value-added trade based on the Ricardian value theory; and lastly giving a mathematical explanation of the definitions and theorems of the new theory./pp







Comparative Advantage in International Trade


Book Description

'Historians of international trade and trade theory, intellectual historians, and students of trade theory will all benefit from Andrea Maneschi's masterful work, which takes the reader through a considerable amount of the primary literature and presents technical models of international trade with great clarity.' - Sandra Peart, The International History Review




Ricardo's Theory of Growth and Accumulation


Book Description

In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars Britain found itself faced with a stagnant economy. Economist David Ricardo believed that the full re-integration of Britain into the world market would allow for both capital accumulation and population growth, and used arguments that anticipate ideas entertained in modern contributions to the theory of economic growth and development. However, several of these arguments have not yet been translated into the language of modern classical economics. Ricardo’s Theory of Growth and Accumulation seeks to overcome this striking lacuna. The latest entry in the Graz Schumpeter lecture series, this text explores and elaborates Ricardo’s arguments and the models utilized by those who subsequently followed in support of his work. The Ricardian system is first examined through a one-sector economy, following Kaldor’s model, and a two-sector economy, following Pasinetti’s model. These building blocks are developed through the exploration of a small open economy, which allows an analysis of the impact of international trade in exceedingly simple circumstances. This discussion expands further by considering the world economy. More sophisticated variants of the two-sector model are presented, in which commodity prices are endogenously determined by the trading interplay amongst several countries. A final analysis makes Ricardo’s case by introducing accumulation in the world economy. This book is of interest to students and scholars of Ricardo, classical economics, and – more broadly – growth theory, the theory of international economics, and globalization. The author was keen to render the analytical parts compelling to the historian and the historical parts compelling to the theorist.




The Global Free Trade Error


Book Description

The doctrine of "free trade" is second only to that of "free markets" in undergirding ideological support for our current global economic structures and rules. From David Ricardo’s "comparative advantage principle" to James Meade’s Neoclassical or mainstream economics proof of self-adjusting free trade equilibrium, the free trade doctrine has had a lasting and destructive hold on Neoclassical economic thinking since its inception. The Global Free Trade Error provides a detailed analysis of these foundational models and counter-poses these to alternative Neo-Marxist "unequal exchange" models of global trade and finance. In the first part of the book the three core free trade models alluded to above are respectively demonstrated to be: overdetermined, inapplicable, and infeasible. In particular, Ricardo’s parable is shown to support managed trade rather than free trade as Ricardo and two centuries of economic texts have claimed. In the second part of the book, unequal exchange analyses of global trade are shown to provide logically coherent and useful insights into global trade and finance. In the third and final part of the book, this unequal exchange perspective is used, within a general "demand and cost" setting, to develop a set of global managed trade principles for a more equitable and sustainable world trade regime. This book will be of great interest to those who study political economy, history of economic thought, and international trade, including trade agreements and tariffs.




From Adam Smith to Michael Porter


Book Description

This book provides a thorough explanation of the evolution of international competitiveness theories and their economic and strategic implications. The theories range from classical theories such as Adam Smith's theory of absolute advantage, to new theories such as Michael Porter's diamond model.




A Brief History of Economic Thought


Book Description

A clear and concise history of economic thought, developed from the author's award-winning book, The Wealth of Ideas.




International Trade and Trade Policy


Book Description

Centering on questions of the potential optimality of some trade protection, these original contributions present research at the frontier of international trade and trade policy. They expand and test the new trade theory that has developed during the last decade, incorporating elements of industrial organization and political economy into the study of trade structure and the formation of trade policy. Essays in the first two parts take up trade policy, addressing issues such as the formation of trading blocks, strategic trade policy, the political economy of protection, growth-oriented trade policies, and including empirical studies of the welfare effects of quality - upgrading voluntary export restrictions and import quotas. Essays in the third part discuss various structural issues such as trade in services, intersectoral adjustments, and the advantage of early entry. Elhanan Helpman and Assaf Razin are Professors of Economics at Tel Aviv University and NBER Research Associates. Contents: Trade Policy: Theory. Is Bilateralism Bad? Paul R. Krugman. Strategic Trade Policy and Direct Foreign Investment: When Are Tariffs and Quotas Equivalent? James A. Levinsohn. Making Altruism Pay in Auction Quotas, Kala Krishna. On the Ineffectiveness of Made-to-Measure Protectionist Programs, Aaron Tornell. Export Subsidies and Price Competition, Peter Neary. Adverse Selection in Credit Markets and Infant Industry Protection, Harry Flam and Robert W. Staiger. Protection, Politics, and Market Structure, Arye L. Hillman. Growth and Welfare in a Small Open Economy, Gene M. Grossman and Elhanan Helpman. Trade Policy: Evidence. Quality Upgrading and Its Welfare Cost in U.S. Imports, 1969-74, Randi Boorstein and Robert C. Feenstra. Counting the Cost of Voluntary Export Restraints in the European Car Market, Alasdair Smith and Anthony J. Venables. Structural Issues. Services in International Trade, Wilfred J. Ethier and Henrik Horn. First-Mover Advantages, Blockaded Entry, and the Economics of Uneven Development, James R. Markusen. Wage Sensitivity Rankings and Temporal Convergence, Ronald W. Jones and Peter Neary.