« Turkish Czech mate | Main | It is ba-ack! »

June 16, 2008

Comments

Richard H. Serlin

Dani,

I think the key overall point to make is this:

You can think of funny situations where one nations total GDP goes down from an increase in free trade. But, in the vast majority of real world situations, free trade will increase the total GDP of both sides -- and often tremendously over the long run.

But the free trade agreement will sometimes have to be intelligently constructed, and it's important to have some good key local laws and institutions in both countries to make the free trade work well. It's important to realize that with free trade there will be losers in each country, but in each country, in the vast majority of cases, the gainers gains will outweigh the losers losses – and often by a huge amount.

This will especially be true if you have the agreement well constructed and with good supplementary local laws and institutions. But usually, even if you don't, trade will do a lot more good than harm. The main reasons are it allows for more economies of scale, efficient specialization, greater competition, and less corruption.
Now the last two don't have to result from free trade. You can think of situations where the opposite will happen, but in the real world, it's more likely than not that freer trade will lead to more competition and less corruption. But this is precisely where the side agreements, local laws and institutions are so important – for example, smart anti-trust law with good enforcement.

It is also important to redistribute some of the gains of the gainers to the losers. The gainers gains almost always will outweigh the losers losses, so you can give some of their gains to the losers so that no one loses and everyone gains. This will also increase support for free trade, and make it more likely. Of course, try explaining this to today's Republican party, which believes that thinking beyond simple sound-bites is liberal and un-American.

An excellent case in point is Mexico. Total GDP has increased substantially due to a great increase in free trade, but the income of the vast majority who are poor has hardly increased. Almost all of the gains from free trade have gone to the wealthy. If Mexico had much more progressive taxes, as it should, it could be taxing those gains and using them to invest in education, infrastructure, public health, etc. for the vast majority. This would make essentially everyone gain from free trade, and these high return public investments would make the country much wealthier over the long run.

Dani, I think it's important to stress these things, along with the legitimate criticisms of free trade that you make. I know you make these criticisms not because you're against free trade overall, but because you want to make it better, with better constructed agreements and supplementary laws and institutions. But without stressing at the end that you think free trade is good overall, you risk doing a lot to help those who are fervently against it, and want extreme protectionism, which would hurt every country and devastate the poorest.

Richard H. Serlin
http://richardhserlin.blogspot.com/

Joe

I really doubt, as you seem to do, that greater competition has caused improvements in productivity. What might explain this perhaps is the confluence in the 1990s of greater US-China trade with the spectacular technological revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT), which is known to have triggered a productivity boom. Which begs the question: whether the apparent negative impact of trade on unskilled workers would be transient or more permanent once the ICT-led technological revolution has run its course.

Isaac

In the last paragraph don't you mean "Stolper-Samuelson type dispersion" in wages, rather than compression?

In terms of wanting to see the mechanism of lay-offs when subject to import competition see any papers by Bernard/Jensen/Schott and others. The best paper for this question is Survival of the Best Fit: Exposure to Low-Wage Countries...(http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/andrew.bernard/bestfit.pdf)

Peter

Dani, you left out one teensy-weensy assumption that all trade theorems, including S-S, depend on: that trade balances at the margin, which is to say that any increase in imports is exactly matched by a corresponding increase in exports in the comparative static analysis. The last time I look at the numbers...., well, you get the drift. And, unfortunately, we don't have a micro-trade theory that tells us what happens to owners of factors for that other, unbalanced kind of trade. You'd think that an army of young doctoral students would be scribbling away at this, but there's no sign that this is happening.

Mike Huben

One thing that might make presentation of ideas like these better would be a systems diagram showing causes, effects, assumptions, and the sources of the arguments.

In economics, philosophy , and many other subjects, it takes innumerable paragraphs to present in a jumble what might be clear in a simple diagram.

A clear diagram could show what inputs increase, decrease, or are insignificant for the outputs, thus laying out most of the assumptions in a way we could rapidly assess. Having to juggle 10 or more paragraphs of reasoning in our heads makes this a difficult task.

Bruce Wilder

Ricardian comparative advantage is a very powerful argument, precisely because it posits a minimal rationale for specialization. And, it appeals to economists, in part, because it is purely a story of allocative efficiency.

There are stronger motivations for specialization, evident in the pattern of actual trade. One broad category could be called "fruits of the earth": the peculiar advantages of climate, soil or mineral endowments, which make one region an oil exporter and another a world-class vacation resort and a third, an exporter of wheat or bananas or dates or wine.

A second category of rationales for specialization could be called technological: the embodiment in sunk cost capital investment of high technical efficiency in manufacturing or services production. Think of Adam Smith's pin factory.

"Fruits of the earth" and technical efficiency are not, of course, at all mutually exclusive in practice. But, it is worth noting that some geographic regions with few natural endowments have, nevertheless, grown rich, by systematic investment in technically superior producion methods. Japan must lead the list of exemplars.

If, in calculating the "gains from trade" one is to restrict one's self to calculating the gains to Ricardian improvements in allocative efficiency, then, certainly, one is going to miss the gains from enhancing and extending technical efficiency. And, it has been the gains in total factor productivity in applying scientific and techological knowledge to the organization of production, which has driven the huge increases in production and income of the industrial revolution(s).

Economists, overly impressed by the comparative advantage argument, often look for allocative efficiency as a driver of trade: China is said to dominate "labor-intensive" manufacturing, (just as the same thing was said of rising Japan in the 1950's and 1960's). The demands of technological advance, however, don't seem to advantage labor-intensive anything. Capital, embodying advanced technology, tends to economize on labor by removing the purely mechanical and concentrating the locus of control. Pareto, I think, may have observed that tractors only have one driver seat -- and designing a multi-driver tractor for labor-intensive agriculture does not make much sense.

Smith observed the relation between trade and specialization, noting the technical efficiency gains from specialization, and noting the specialization was limited only by the extent of the market. "Globalization" -- the combination of a favorable political environment with low-cost transport and tremendous communication capabilities -- maximizes the extent of the market. And, aside from the "fruits of the earth", the goods and services, which dominate trade, tend to be those where specialization yields the greatest productivity gains. In others words, industries demonstrating increasing returns, almost without limit, will become prominent in international trade.

Industries, where increasing returns do not obtain beyond some modest limit, are the province of local trade.

The critical question for income distribution is unlikely to be the one posed by Stolper-Samuelson. The critical juncture is between local trade and international trade. No one in Los Angeles or Seattle is bemoaning the inability of those cities to manufacture and export, say steel and automobiles. The question ought to be, how do the gains from international trade trickle down from software and aircraft (in Seattle) to barbers and restaurants and real estate agents. Ditto, in Los Angeles, how do gains from DVD sales or television licensing trickle down to gardeners and auto dealers and computer repair persons?

I don't know that the model of the profit-maximizing firm is of much use, in this context. If we are to consider a firm managing the allocative efficiency of a production function, where maximal technical efficiency is simply assumed, we are going to miss entirely the critical factors of technology and organization in achieving and advancing technical efficiency.

I would suggest that a way to think abstractly about technical effiency, without getting lost in engineering details, would be to adopt the cybernetic model of control as the task of the firm. See for example the work of W. Ross Ashby, Introduction of Cybernetics. Principal-agent models are a subset of the cybernetic model of control of process. In the abstract, technical efficiency, then, is increasing control over production process to reduce error and waste: in other words, the reduction in error and waste, facilitated by sunk cost investments, produces the gains in total factor productivity.

The theoretical firm, tasked with cybernetic control of a production process, lives in a world of uncertainty and risk. Practically, such a firm can no longer be a profit-maximizer; it must be a rent-seeker, because it must seek returns on sunk cost investments, and such a firm will endeavor to maximize returns on the resources it owns and controls.

Returning to the topic of international trade, and trade in general, the conservation and/or conquest of rents must become a paramount political issue. Recast in terms of rents, Stolper-Samuelson regains its relevance.

don

I wonder how the researchers you cite dealt with the problem of determining factor intensities of traded goods. As Krugman points out, you can't use the regular trade and production goods classifications, because production is broken down within the classifications - For example, in producing one of the goods, you may have part of the production done here, part done in China and part done in other countries.

Bruce Wilder

For Michigan and Ohio, where the loss of rents and quasi-rents associated with auto production, have been considerable, I would think there are problems that go far beyond what wage insurance can handle.

The progress of manufacturing technology dictates declining manufacturing employment. If you think there's such a thing as high-tech, labor-intensive manufacturing, you have your head stuck in an unpleasant place.

The problem for displaced workers can be confounded by inadequate capital investment. Progress requires a renewal of capital investment and new capital investment embodying advancing technology, to lift labor productivity.

70% of U.S. workers are employees of organizations employiing more than 20, and 50% are in organizations with more than 100 employees. The managerial efficiency of those organizations, and the meta-organization of the society in which they are embedded, is critical to labor productivity. If the necessary capital investments are not being made, productivity and wages will decline.

Another critical factor is energy consumption. Increasing energy expenditure per worker helped to boost labor productivity by amplifying effort in the post-WWII era; that stopped around 1973, and if energy expenditure per worker is to decline, to protect the environment, that amplification of effort will not be happening. All the technical gains will be from applying communication technology to improve control and reduce error, and from, say, substituting cheap communication for business travel. The increased productivity from improved control will tend to flow to people in managerial roles, without affecting people in the so-called "unskilled" roles.

Winton Bates

There is another interesting complication to SS when the scarce factor is unskilled labour that comes predominantly from other countries. The highly protected industries in Australia had a high proportion of immigrants in their labour force. This suggests that some of the effect of high tariffs on wage rates would have been dissipated by attracting more unskilled migrants.

Incidentally, Paul Samuelson apparently acknowledged that comments in the Brigden report on the effects of tariffs on wages in Australia (in the late 1920s) helped to set off the analytical controversy that resulted in development of the SS theorem.

aion kinah

Another critical factor is energy consumption. http://www.buyaionkinah.com/aion-us.html Increasing energy expenditure per worker helped to boost labor productivity by amplifying effort in the post-WWII era;http://www.buyaionkinah.com/aion-item-eu.html that stopped around 1973, and if energy expenditure per worker is to decline, to protect the environment, that amplification of effort will not be happening. All the technical gains will be from applying communication technology to improve control and reduce error, and from, say, substituting cheap communication for business travel. The increased productivity from improved control will tend to flow to people in managerial roles, without affecting people in the so-called "unskilled" roles.http://www.buyaionkinah.com/aion-power-leveling-eu.html

Acronis Disk Director Server 10.0 cheap

Stolper-Samuelson like this

rolex watches

This is clearly replica watches the job for our legal fraternity to engage the establishment to necessary breitling watches steps by filing petitions in various courts. IF one fails another should be cartier watches filed taking every one to task. It is rolex watches useless to suggest ways and means to solve tag heuer watches the day to day problem to well paid employees tissot watches of government controlled establishments. Only active omega watches judiciary will resolve this problem.
http://www.watchvisa.com
http://www.watchvisa.com/breitling-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/cartier-watches.html

rado watches

Why is everyone just montblanc watches willing to accept power cuts? Don't you think that patek philippe watches having continious power is your right? If people aren't going to demand rado watches 24X7 power, don't expect anything zenith watches to change. The government needs to look at other sources parmigiani watches of power generation. The only solution is more power panerai watches production. Nothing less.
http://www.watchvisa.com/montblanc-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/patek_philippe-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/rado-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/tudor-watches.html

bvlgari watches

They should take up building BVLGARI Watches dams for power generation. We should FRANCK MULLER watches learn from china. They have the world's largest dam for power CHANEL Watches production, it alone produces 22,000 MW of LONGINES Watch power. So, unless the government opens up the economy more for iwc watches foreign investors, this power cut problem is a life long disease every hublot-watches india will need to face.
http://www.watchvisa.com/bvlgari-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/chanel-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/franck_muller-watches.html

pharmacy viagra

Hi! I read your post about "Stolper-Samuelson for the real world" and found it really interesting. Thanks!

Mike

don't all these assumptions depend on everyone operating above board and by the rules. I understand that is is theory but how does theory account for the fact that most resource providers in this equation will cheat the system so in all practical terms the tests of the theorem will always be inconclusive.

Celebrex

hey dani,

Stolper-Samuelson theorem explained so nicely. worth reading and spending time on your post. good information..

Poppers

Nice post. This post is different from what I read on most blog. And it have so many valuable things to learn. Thank you for your sharing!

safe poppers

Hey i was waiting for a post like this , very useful.
thanks!

Yours poppers

Good blog. Just searched it from Google. I love your style, and thanks for your work.
I love blogs of this type.

buy viagra online

Earth's interior remains active, with a thick layer of relatively solid mantle, a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field, and a solid iron inner core.

rolex watches


People usually say :"Seeing is believing." http://www.tt88times.com
Each attempt has a corresponding gain, in part or obvious, or vague. At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it means a great deal to me. http://www.fashionhairfu.com

ghd straighteners

GHD straighteners was kmown as ghd flat iron, which was authorized online seller provides all kinds of hair straighteners,pink ghd,purple ghd,babyliss. By visiting ghd australia , you will find what you want and made yourself more beautiful.If you miss it ,you miss beauty.Buy a piece of ghd for yourself.Come and join us http://www.ghdoutlet-au.com/ to win the ghd iv styler.

Jack

Thank you for the positive mood, these days it is missing.

Jack

Hey i was waiting for a post like this , very useful.
thanks.

Liza

Article I liked, I'm doing bad text for the post, but you can learn to do it.

birkenstock

Birkenstock was Made in Germany since 1774 . Check out our Birkenstock sandals and Birkenstock shoes including the Birkenstock gizeh,at the lowest regular outlet prices, free shipping and when you put on Birkenstocks. you will feel very comfortable.

mbt shoes sale

Thank you for introducing me the useful information.And .....Totally boring. can you tell me where is the red and gold colors...? I predict a very low seller....I look forward your answer.thank you!

gucci outlet

you may have got a piont of there, but I will still keep up my mind. how do you think about gucci outlet|gucci sneakers|gucci handbags sale on tiffany jewelry|links of london|tiffany jewelry sale| as well as gucci men shoes|women gucci handbags|women gucci boots? gdugshjdk

Mini

I agree it's puzzling how the situation with China's labor is not following the expected pattern.

Nike Air Jordan

The good news, thank you!

Lenka

Good blog. Just searched it from Google. I love your style, and thanks for your work.
I love blogs of this type.

Vova

Nice post. This post is different from what I read on most blog.

Anna

Hi, I think your article its very important

Kiril

Hey i was waiting for a post like this.

Sandra

article its very important

kembel

This post is different from what I read on most blog.

Roma

read the article, thanks, I like the blog

Zulla

Thank you for the positive mood

lv store

Hey i was waiting for a post like this , very useful.
thanks.Q!!http://www.louisvuitton4love.com/

jordan shoes

I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing.

jordans for sale

Thanks a lot for sharing. You have done a brilliant job. Your article is truly relevant to my study at this moment, and I am really happy I discovered your website. However, I would like to see more details about this topic. I'm going to keep coming back here.

jordans for sale

Very interesting issue that after a very successful. Nicely written article good work ! Thanks for the great piece of sharing.

jordan shoes

This is a wonderful site. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

jordan shoes

This is a wonderful site. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

jordan shoes

This is a wonderful site. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

VRS

At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it means a great deal to me

Miroslav Miskovic

Scientific-technological revolution and the historical consciousness.

Bicycle Headlights

Well now, I was searching for blogs on fitness or health when i came across this post. Although not exactly what I was expecting I will give it ****.

Belarus Kali

Thanks for the sharing of such information we will pass it on to our readers
This is a great reading.Thanking you

w.a.

nice post as always / thank you Rodrik

Account Deleted

yes,Great site. This could probably have the refactoring tag added t it.
http://www.sedanshoppers.se

Account Deleted

raf

Thanks.

ceejayhertz

The Stolper-Samuelson theorem demonstrates how changes in output prices affect the prices of the factors when positive production and zero economic profit are maintained in each industry . It is useful in analyzing the effects on factor income, either when countries move from autarky to free trade or when tariffs or other government regulations are imposed within the context of a H-O model.
http://www.genericviagrareviews.com

Ohioguide

columbus injury lawyer
I always enjoy reading your posts and I look forward to your next one.

Account Deleted

First of all let me tell you, you have got a great blog .I am interested in looking for more of such topics and would like to have further information. Hope to see the next blog soon
http://www.nobledrugstore.com/Men/Super-P-Force_495.html

Account Deleted

Great info! I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. http://www.easterndrugs.com/Anthelmintic/Stromectal_275.html

Account Deleted

Nice post. really very interesting things are said in this post. keep up the good job dude..
http://www.all-generic-drugs.com/darvocet.html

Account Deleted

I am so excited that I have found this your post because I have been searching for some information about it almost three hours. You helped me a lot indeed and reading this your article I have found many new and useful information about this subject

http://www.shopeastwest.com/med/

Account Deleted

Really very interesting things are said in this post. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. http://www.meridia-diet-pill.com/effexor.html

vgb

Account Deleted

It is useful in analyzing the effects on factor income either when countries move from autarky to free trade or when tariffs or other government regulations are imposed within the context of a Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) model.

Business Analysis Services

Account Deleted


http://www.hermesfantasy.com/hermes-birkin-hermes-birkin-40-c-6_10.html

7yyuythgbjghj

Account Deleted

http://www.ghdstyle-au.com/ghds.html
http://www.chihairflatirons.us
http://www.ghdsoutlet.com
http://www.googleghdhair.com

Account Deleted

The theory about the effect of market on the efficiency of the firm has always been ambigious.
viagra without prescription.

Account Deleted

One tablet of Generic Propecia everyday does the trick, but you have to wait for at least 3 months for results to show. If, for some reason, the medicine does not grow back hair on the head even after 12 months, then further intake will not be of any benefit. If Propecia grows back your hair, then you must continue using it; for if you stop taking the medicine, then within a year, you will slowly lose all the hair you had regained. The effect of the medicine lasts over the time you take it. The medicine should be taken with a full glass of water, regardless of food.
http://www.lasixmedication.info/darvocet

Account Deleted

Dani Rodrik says that trade with other nations may not cause the wages of unskilled workers to fall as predicted by generalizations of the Stolper-Samuelson theorem. Instead, the main impact may be the losses associated with the ...
http://www.lasixmedication.info
http://www.buylasix.info

Account Deleted

+++ rep !! ;)

Account Deleted

Raf
raf

Thanks for this ...

Account Deleted

I been looking for research materials that I can use on my blog. I been building 2 now. Then I stumbled upon your article and it after I read it, I realized this is a good material for my blog. The commenter believes that readers can find and use so many valuable information here. Surely I will recommend your site.
http://www.rentalprotectionagency.com/tenant-screening.php
http://www.bankruptcyhq.com/cheap-bankruptcy


Dan D

Have spent all evening reading up on your site, have to say that I share your views how to get rid of cellulite

Account Deleted

Useful information shared..Iam very happy to read this article. Thanks for giving us nice info. Fantastic walk-through. I appreciate this post.
http://www.easterndrugs.com
http://www.all-generic-drugs.com

Account Deleted

An awesome post with all valuable information. Really an easy and good read for me. There is something new and different in all your posts. Your great posts like this keeps me your regular reader. Every time i find something amazing and different here on this blog. A full and nice post with all the valuable information..So just keep posting real good stuff like this.
http://getfreesamplesbymailnosurveys.com
http://howtogetridofbedbugsbites.com
http://justfreedatingsites.com


Account Deleted

Many places and centers offer business and trade promotions to both buyers and supplier.What about the differences in skill intensities across industries? The job losses in the relatively unskilled-labor intensive battery industry should have little effect on the relatively skilled-labor intensive machinery
sexshop
sexyshop
sexshop online
alongador peniano

Gainmoremuscle

That's really cool you put the caveat at the very beginning warning readers that it's a long post.

Interesting ideas.

Vince Delmonte Review

Account Deleted


Amazing!I also wish him good luck to defend his gold medal. I like to share it with all my friends and hope they will also encourage him.


organic seo service

William  Ryall

Vaguely interesting.

http://www.rankcheckerreviews.com

Jonalyn Dislag

Trey Smith Blog

Hi Dani.. Indeed helpful!

Jonalyn Dislag

fitness centers minnesota

It's good to read this information from your post. You have an interesting way of drawing people in. Keep up the good works..

Account Deleted

compare electricity suppliers


Hello Dani. I couldn't find any blog site as conducive and informative a well as persuasive as yours. Keep us posted please. Thanks.

Account Deleted

Hey great stuff, thank you for sharing this useful information and i will let know my friends as well.
medicine forum

Account Deleted

Amazing!I also wish him good luck to defend his gold medal. I like to share it with all my friends and hope they will also encourage him.
drug forum

Account Deleted

Thank you very much for this relevant information!

Generic levitra

Account Deleted

powerpoint recover

Great article. Thanks for sharing information with us, this blog is very interesting,

Edward Son

The Stolper-Samuelson theorem is a remarkable theorem: it says that in a world with two goods and two factors of production, where specialization remains incomplete (plus a few more technical assumptions), China Direct

Asimnicol

In the so-called real world, I would be more concerned about the effect of leaving labor without In the so-called real world, I would be more concerned about the effect of leaving labor without the benefit of sufficient capital. The scenario in which the manufacture of widgets departs to China and leaves the former widget-makers without a factory in which to make widgets, is not a simple story of the ,a devaluing of widget-making.comparemeds

Bethdjoyce

I really appreciate on your blog! Thanks for sharing!

Order Propecia

Jerry John

I really like the dear information you offer in your articles. I'm able to bookmark your site and show the kids check out up here generally. Im fairly positive theyre likely to be informed a great deal of new stuff here than anyone else! Manhattan NY tax preparation

The comments to this entry are closed.