IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/3813.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Endogenous Comparative Advantage, Government, and the Pattern of Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Richard H. Clarida
  • Ronald Findlay

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between government policy and comparative advantage in a neoclassical model of international trade. A specification of the Ricardo-Viner model with public goods and public inputs is presented that is used to study the role that government policy can play in the determination and promotion of comparative advantage and in the maximization of the gains that may be obtained from international trade. The model is also used to study the influence that international trade can exert on the scale and scope of government activity. The paper endeavors to reconcile a positive theory of trade and government with the apparent shift in measured productivity that often follows an opening to trade. The paper concludes by interpreting the model in the context of recent policy discussions of such issues as structural impediments, competitiveness, and the role of trade policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard H. Clarida & Ronald Findlay, 1991. "Endogenous Comparative Advantage, Government, and the Pattern of Trade," NBER Working Papers 3813, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3813
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w3813.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meltzer, Allan H & Richard, Scott F, 1981. "A Rational Theory of the Size of Government," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 914-927, October.
    2. R. Manning & J. McMillan, 1979. "Public Intermediate Goods, Production Possibilities, and International Trade," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 12(2), pages 243-257, May.
    3. Michael Connolly, 1972. "Trade in Public Goods: A Diagrammatic Analysis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 86(1), pages 61-78.
    4. Ronald Findlay & John D. Wilson, 1987. "The Political Economy of Leviathan," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka (ed.), Economic Policy in Theory and Practice, chapter 8, pages 289-306, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Ishizawa, Suezo, 1988. "Increasing Returns, Public Inputs, and International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 794-795, September.
    6. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka (ed.), 1987. "Economic Policy in Theory and Practice," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-18584-9, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Chatterjee, Arpita, 2017. "Endogenous comparative advantage, gains from trade and symmetry-breaking," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 102-115.
    2. Sergio Parrinello, 2006. "National competitiveneess and absolute advantage in a global economy," Working Papers in Public Economics 95, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    3. Arpita Chatterjee, 2014. "Endogenous Comparative Advantage, Gains From Trade and Symmetry-Breaking," Discussion Papers 2014-18, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    4. Lorz, Oliver, 2001. "On the effects of capital mobility on local infrastructure policy and rent-seeking," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2-3), pages 319-337, April.
    5. Pierre-Yves Hénin & Pierre Ralle, 1993. "Les nouvelles théories de la croissance : quelques apports pour la politique économique," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(1), pages 75-100.
    6. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1998. "On the effects of factor mobility on local infrastructure policy and rent-seeking," Kiel Working Papers 850, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Anwar, Sajid, 1998. "Government Size, Product Diversity and International Trade," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, February.
    8. Sergio Parrinello, 2002. "The 'institutional factor' in the theory of international trade: new vs. old trade theories," Chapters, in: Stephan Boehm & Christian Gehrke & Heinz D. Kurz & Richard Sturn (ed.), Is There Progress in Economics?, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1993. "Der Wettbewerb um international mobiles Kapital: Auswirkungen auf die nationale Finanzpolitik und die intertemporale Kapitalallokation," Kiel Working Papers 608, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Ronald Findlay, 1995. "Infrastructure, Human Capital and International Trade," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 131(III), pages 289-301, September.
    11. Boglioni, Michele, 2019. "European economic integration: Comparative advantages and free trade of the means of production," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 491-504.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Göbel, Jürgen, 2009. "In search of an appropriate tax base for local Leviathans," MPRA Paper 13940, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Wilson, John Douglas, 2005. "Welfare-improving competition for mobile capital," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. John Douglas Wilson & Roger H. Gordon, 2003. "Expenditure Competition," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 399-417, April.
    4. Aristomène Varoudakis & Claude Jessua, 1996. "Régimes non démocratiques et croissance : théorie et estimation," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 47(3), pages 831-840.
    5. Kong Weng Ho & Hian Teck Hoon, 1998. "Productivity Growth and Public Sector Employment," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 42(2), pages 73-79, October.
    6. Makoto Tawada & Nobuhito Suga & Akihiko Yanase, 2022. "Government, trade and comparative advantage, revisited," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(2), pages 1135-1165, May.
    7. Mats Lundahl & Fredrik Sjöholm, 2009. "Population growth and job creation in Timor-Leste," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 90-104.
    8. Ronald Findlay, 1995. "Infrastructure, Human Capital and International Trade," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 131(III), pages 289-301, September.
    9. Akihiko Yanase & Makoto Tawada, 2020. "Public infrastructure and trade in a dynamic two‐country model," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 447-465, May.
    10. Reiner Eichenberger & David Stadelmann, 2009. "Consequences of Debt Capitalization: Property Ownership and Debt/Tax Choice," CREMA Working Paper Series 2009-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    11. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 2002. "Political economics and public finance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1549-1659, Elsevier.
    12. Benoît Le Maux & Federica Minardy & Charlotte Magalhaes, 2011. "Determinants of Electoral Outcomes: A simple Test of Meltzer and Richard's Hypothesis," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2011-03-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    13. Graziella Bertocchi, 2011. "The Vanishing Bequest Tax: The Comparative Evolution Of Bequest Taxation In Historical Perspective," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 107-131, March.
    14. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2019. "From Microeconomic Favoritism to Macroeconomic Populism," CEPR Discussion Papers 13434, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Atanas Christev, 2006. "Learning Hyperinflations," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 475, Society for Computational Economics.
    16. Imrohoroglu, Ayse & Merlo, Antonio & Rupert, Peter, 2000. "On the Political Economy of Income Redistribution and Crime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-25, February.
    17. A. Phiri, 2019. "Asymmetries in the revenue–expenditure nexus: new evidence from South Africa," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 1515-1547, May.
    18. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," THEMA Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    19. Mejia, Daniel & Posada, Carlos-Esteban, 2007. "Populist policies in the transition to democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 932-953, December.
    20. Tim Besley & Rohini Pande, 1998. "Read my lips: the political economy of information transmission," IFS Working Papers W98/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.

    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:nbr:nberwo:3813. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.