IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v11y1979i4p3-15.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Limits of Unequal Exchange

Author

Listed:
  • Alain de Janvry

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics University of California Berkeley)

  • Frank Kramer

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics University of California Berkeley)

Abstract

This article critically examines unequal exchange, a theory of value transfer from low-wage (periphery) countries to high-wage (center) countries. Unequal exchange differs from other mechanisms of value transfer that are based on restricted trade or differential rates of profit in that it occurs under con ditions of free and competitive trade and equalization of profit rates worldwide. We discuss how various divergences can theoretically occur between relative em bodied labor of commodities and their corresponding relative world market prices. We show that, because unequal exchange is an exchange of unequal quan tities of social value rather than unequal quantities of labor time, it cannot apply to commodities that are nonspecific (i.e., produced in both center and periphery). Its applicability to specific goods is questionable in light of inadequate discus sion of what maintains the initial wage differential when equilibrium in the capi tal market has been obtained. We conclude that the theory is not useful as a gen eral basis for understanding underdevelopment, though in modified form it may be applicable to some products and countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain de Janvry & Frank Kramer, 1979. "The Limits of Unequal Exchange," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 11(4), pages 3-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:11:y:1979:i:4:p:3-15
    DOI: 10.1177/048661347901100402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/048661347901100402
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/048661347901100402?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. George Liodakis, 1990. "International Division of Labor and Uneven Development: A Review of the Theory and Evidence," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 22(2-3), pages 189-213, June.
    2. Andrea Ricci, 2016. "Unequal Exchange in International Trade:A General Model," Working Papers 1605, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2016.
    3. Oppon, Eunice & Acquaye, Adolf & Ibn-Mohammed, Taofeeq & Koh, Lenny, 2018. "Modelling Multi-regional Ecological Exchanges: The Case of UK and Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 422-435.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:11:y:1979:i:4:p:3-15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.