Scottish economist who advocated private enterprise and free trade.doc

Scottish economist who advocated private enterprise and free trade (1723-1790)Scottish political economist and philosopher. His Wealth of Nations (1776) laid the foundations of classical free-market economic theory.Smith, Adam, 172390, Scottish economist, educated at Glasgow and Oxford. He became professor of moral philosophy at the Univ. of Glasgow in 1752, and while teaching there wrote his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), which gave him the beginnings of an international reputation. He traveled on the Continent from 1764 to 1766 as tutor to the duke of Buccleuch and while in France met some of the physiocrats and began to write An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, finally published in 1776. In that work, Smith postulated the theory of the division of labor and emphasized that value arises from the labor expended in the process of production. He was led by the rationalist current of the century, as well as by the more direct influence of Hume and others, to believe that in a laissez-faire economy the impulse of self-interest would bring about the public welfare; at the same time he was capable of appreciating that private groups such as manufacturers might at times oppose the public interest. Smith was opposed to monopolies and the concepts of mercantilism in general but admitted restrictions to free trade, such as the Navigation, as sometimes necessary national economic weapons in the existing state of the world. He also accepted government intervention in the economy that reduced poverty and government regulation in support of workers.Smith wrote before the Industrial Revolution was fully developed, and some of his theories were voided by its development, but as an analyst of institutions and an influence on later economists he has never been surpassed. His pragmatism, as well as the leaven of ethical content and social insight in his thought, differentiates him from the rigidity of David Ricardo and the school of early 19th-century utilitarianism. In 1778, Smith was appointed commissioner of customs for Scotland. His Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795) appeared posthumously.icardo was born on 19 April 1772 in London. He was the third son of a Dutch Jew who had made a fortune on the London Stock Exchange. When he was 14, Ricardo joined his fathers business and showed a good grasp of economic affairs. In 1793 he married a Quaker called Priscilla Anne Wilkinson; Ricardo then converted to Christianity, becoming a Unitarian. This caused a breach with his father and meant that Ricardo had to establish his own business. He continued as a member of the stock exchange, where his ability won him the support of an eminent banking house. He did so well that in a few years he acquired a fortune. This enabled him to pursue his interests in literature and science, particularly in mathematics, chemistry, and geology. In 1799 he read Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations and for the next ten years he studied economics. His first pamphlet was published in 1810: entitled The High Price of Bullion, a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank Notes, it was an extension of the letters that Ricardo had published in the Morning Chronicle in 1809. In it, he argued in favour of a metallic currency, giving a fresh stimulus to the controversy about the policy of the Bank of England. The French Wars (1792-1815) caused Pitts government to suspend cash payments by the Bank of England in 1797. Consequently, there had been an increase in the amount of their paper currency and the volume of lending. This created a climate of inflation. Ricardo said that inflation affected foreign exchange rates and the flow of gold. The Bullion Committee was appointed by the House of Commons in 1819: it confirmed Ricardos views and recommended the repeal of the Bank Restriction Act.In 1814, at the age of 42, Ricardo retired from business and took up residence at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, where he had extensive landholdings. In 1819 he became MP for Portarlington. He did not speak often but his free-trade views were received with respect, although they opposed the economic thinking of the day. Parliament was made up of landowners who wished to maintain the Corn Laws to protect their profits.Ricardo made friends with a number of eminent men, among whom were the philosopher and economist James Mill, the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Malthus, best known for his pamphlet, Principles of Population published in 1798. Ricardo accepted Malthus ideas on population growth. In 1815 another controversy arose over the Corn Laws, when the government passed new legislation that was intended to raise the duties on imported wheat. In 1815 Ricardo responded to the Corn Laws by publishing his Essay on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock, in which he argued that raising the duties on imported grain had the effect of increasing the price of corn and hence increasing the incomes of landowners and the aristocracy at the expense of the working classes and the rising industrial class. He said that the abolition of the Corn Laws would help to distribute the national income towards the more productive groups in society. In 1817, Ricardo published Principles of Political Economy and Taxation in which he analysed the the distribution of money among the landlords, workers, and owners of capital. He found the relative domestic values of commodities were dominated by the quantities of labour required in their production, rent being eliminated from the costs of production. He concluded that profits vary inversely with wages, which move with the cost of necessaries, and that rent tends to increase as population grows, rising as the costs of cultivation rise. He was concerned about the population growing too rapidly, in case it depressed wages to the subsistence level, reduce profits and checked capital formation.Illness forced Ricardo to retire from Parliament in 1823 and he died on 11 September at Gatcombe Park (which is now the home of the Princess Royal and her family). He was 51. 雷蒙德弗农出自 MBA智库百科(/)(重定向自Raymond Vernon)雷蒙德弗农(Raymond Vernon)雷蒙德弗农(Raymond Vernon)：美国经济学家，二战以后国际经济关系研究方面最多产的经济学家之一， 产品生命周期理论的提出者 编辑雷蒙德弗农简介 雷蒙德弗农(Raymond Vernon) 1931出生，是美国二战以后国际经济关系研究方面最多产的经济学家之一。他有着二十年在政府部门任职的经历，还在短期内从事过商业。从1959年开始,他在哈佛大学任教，是克拉维斯狄龙学院的国际问题讲座教授。 编辑雷蒙德弗农的贡献 雷蒙德弗农早期曾致力于区位经济学的研究,后转入对信息和专业化服务的研究, 受克拉伍斯(I Klar-Vas)和M. V.波斯纳(Michael V. Posner)技术差距理论的启发,于1966年发表产品周期中的国际投资和国际贸易一文,提出了著名的产品生命周期理论。他认为,产品生命周期理论可以解释发达国家出口贸易,技术转让和对外直接投资的发展过程。在国际贸易理论方面的主要贡献就是创立了产品周期理论. 产品生命周期理论(product life cycle model) 雷蒙德弗农于1968年在他的产品周期中的国际贸易一文中首次提出了产品周期理论,由此解释了国际贸易产生的原因.他认为商品与生命相似,有一个从出生,成熟,衰老的过程,弗农把产品的生命周期划分为三个阶段,新产品阶段,成熟产品阶段和标准产品阶段 1、新产品创始阶段 这一阶段中,国内市场容量大,开发研究资金多的国家在开发新产品,采用新技术方面居于优势.厂商掌握技术秘密,将新技术首次用于生产。此时对厂商来说,最安全最有利的选择是在国内进行生产,产品主要供应国内市场,通过出口贸易的形式满足国际市场的需求。 2、产品成熟阶段 在这一阶段中，新技术日趋成熟，产品基本定型。随着国际市场需求量的日益扩大，产品的价格弹性加大,降低产品成本尤为迫切。由于国外劳动力成本低于国内劳动力成本,国内生产的边际成本加上边际运输成本大于国外生产的成本,所以把生产基地由国内转移到国外更为有利。另外,由于产品出口量的急剧增加,厂商原来拥有的垄断技术也逐渐被国外竞争者掌握,仿制品开始出现,厂商面临着丧失垄断技术优势的危险。为了避开贸易壁垒,接近消费者市场和减少运输费用,厂商便要发 展对外直接投资,在国外建立分公司,转让成熟技术。一般来讲,厂商总要先到技术水平较接近,劳动力素质较好,人均收入水平较高并与本国需求类型相似的国家 或地区建立分公司,就地生产,就地销售,或向其他国家出口。 3、产品标准化阶段 在这一阶段,产品和技术均已标准化,厂商所拥有的技术垄断优势已消失,竞争主要集中在价格上。生产的相对优势已转移到技术水平低,工资低和劳动密集型经济 模式的地区。在本国市场已经趋于饱和,其他发达国家产品出口急剧增长的情况下,厂商在发展中国家进行直接投资,转让其标准化技术。根据比较成本的原则,厂商大规模减少或停止在本国生产该产品,转而从国外进口该产品。 编辑雷蒙德弗农的出版物与著作 1966年发表产品周期中的国际投资和国际贸易 1968年发表产品周期中的国际贸易 1977年出版跨国公司上空的风暴 在海湾的主权,美国企业的多国性扩展 消费偏好逆转说编辑本段消费偏好逆转说概述维拉范利斯维尔（Stefan ValavanisVail）针对里昂惕夫的发现，提出了各国的消费偏好可能发生“逆转”的推论1。维拉范利斯维尔认为，依照各国的要素禀赋状况判断它们各自的比较优势，以及在此基础上形成的对外贸易结构和商品流向，资本要素相对丰裕的国家出口资本密集型商品，劳动要素相对丰裕的国家出口劳动密集型商品等等，都只是从供给的角度考察要素供给与商品供给的相互一致性，因而也是很不全面的。 按照维拉范利斯维尔的推论，一旦资本要素相对丰裕的国家的消费者对资本密集型商品有超强的消费偏好，或劳动要素相对丰裕的国家的消费者对劳动密集型商品有超强的消费偏好，这样一种消费偏好的“逆转”就及有可能导致资本要素相对丰裕的国家的国内市场上资本密集型商品的供给相对不足，或者导致劳动要素相对丰裕的国家的国内市场上劳动密集型商品的供给相对不足。这就必然要求两国通过进口来对国内市场的供给进行补充。仅就商品生产中资本和劳动的耗费比例决定的两类商品的贸易模型分析，一类商品的进口最终都是要由另一类商品的出口来支付。于是，就出现了“资本要素相对丰裕的国家出口劳动密集型商品用以进口资本密集型商品”，或者“劳动要素相对丰裕的国家出口资本密集型商品用以支付劳动密集型商品的进口”这样看起来极不合理的“反常”现象。 维拉范利斯维尔将人们的视野由供给（生产）领域引导到需求（消费）领域的确很有见地，但他提出的各国的消费偏好可能发生“逆转”的观点毕竟只是一种推论。三年后，在霍特哈克（H. S. Houthakker）为纪念“恩格尔法则”（Engel Law）一百周年撰写的论文中，维拉范利斯维尔的推论在一定程度上间接地得到了验证2。 尽管如此，当时国际经济学理论界一般不赞成用消费偏好“逆转”说来解释里昂惕夫之谜。因为，第一，这一学说从根本上改变了赫克歇尔和俄林理论最核心的理论假定前提之一各国的消费偏好一致，且固定不变，因而消费对贸易不发生影响；第二，大量的实证研究材料表明，在工业发达国家之间，各国的消费结构基本认同，而且出现了随经济发达程度的提高和人均国民收入的增加，这些发达国家的服务性消费日益增多的共同趋势。显然，服务性消费增加同里昂惕夫在研究中发现美国进口资本密集型商品的“反常”现象没有太大关系。 编辑本段消费偏好逆转说的佐证1961年，斯塔芬林德（Staffan Linder）提出了“林德命题”（Linder Theorem）3，为消费偏好“逆转”说提