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Why need alternative theories?
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H-O Model
- based on differences in relative abundant among countries
- based on differences in relative intensity among goods
- good for explaining rich/poor countries
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good for
- inter-industry trade: exports & imports from different industries
- intra-industry trade: exports & imports from the same industry
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From poor country perspective
- 80% of trade is with rich countries, most of this is inter-industry trade
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From rich country perspective
- 70% of trade is with other rich countries, most of this is intra-industry trade
- that's why need alternative theory (aka. new trade theory)
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Three Alternative Theories
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Internal Economies of Scale + Hysteresis
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internal economies at scale such that MES large relationship
- limited number of firms in world
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historical accident
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where initial firms located
- limited number of countries with comparative advantage located in
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External Economies + Hysteresis
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entry of new firms
- lower costs for all firms
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geography clustering
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+ max number of clustering before market saturated
- maximum # of countries
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+ historical accident
- specific countries
- comparative advantage locked in
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3 main sources of external econ
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transportation
- cost will decrease if many stores
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marketing
- saving marketing costs if in the area
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recruiting
- flexible labor
- geographic clustering
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Industry starts
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industry expands
- internal econ
- Q ( + )at each firm
- external econ
- entry of new firms
- opportunity costs (-)
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Internal Economies & Product Differentiation
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critical assumptions
- differentiated product
- MES large relatively to domestic markets
- different dominant tastes among countries
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Transportation Costs & Trade Patterns
- help explaining global trade expanding so rapidly
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3 transportation revolutions
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1950s
- shipping containers
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1980s-2000
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miniturization
- products getting smaller
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2000s-today
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digitalization
- services
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global supply chains
- comparative advantage in one part of a product
- Overall Conclusions