国际贸易专业英语lesson 1.ppt

1、国际贸易专业英语（第二版）,檀文茹 主编,Unit One,International Trade Theories,Pre-reading questions:,What is international trade about? What are the incentives for countries to engage in international trade? What theories on international trade have you studied? Which theories do you think best explain the nature of i

2、nternational trade? In what way have these theories helped you understand international trade?,Mercantilism,International trade is a zero sum game, i.e. that the benefit which one country gains from international trade means a corresponding detriment to another country.,The Absolute Cost Model,A cou

3、ntry has the lowest production costs and supplies foreign markets, too, as a result. Example: say Turkey and Greece have the same average wage level,The Comparative Cost Model,The comparative cost model is based on two countries, two products and one factor of production: labor. Technical know-how o

4、r the state of technology is different in the two countries. There are also constant returns to scale and perfect competition.,The Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson (HOS) Model,This model was also based on the comparative cost concept and the idea that competitive positions depend on the supply conditions i

5、n specific locations and are therefore linked to countries (rather than companies).,The Leontief Paradox,Empirical research conducted by Leontief quite soon after the Second World War showed that the specialization process in the US, for example, did not correspond to what HOS predicted (and this wa

6、s repeatedly found in later research). Where free trade ought to have caused the Americans to concentrate increasingly on producing relatively capital- intensive goods the goods in which the US had a comparative advantage this did not appear to be what happened in practice; the US imported relativel

7、y capital- intensive goods instead of exporting them.,Factor Intensity Reversal,A fundamental criticism of the HOS model was that it assumes that the sectors can be arranged in order of capital-intensity and that this arrangement is universal, i.e. the same in all countries. This does not appear to

8、be so in reality: for example, where the agricultural sector in the industrialized countries often has above average capital-intensity, in the developing countries it is often highly labor-intensive in comparison with other sectors in those countries. Such a phenomenon is known in theory as factor i

9、ntensity reversal.,Modern Trade Theories,The new trade theories focused increasingly on the question: what can we say about the business characteristics of exporting companies as opposed to companies which do not or cannot export? The idea is that it is not so much national factors or, if you like,

10、locational factors that explain in which goods a strong competitive position can be developed, but rather factors relating to specific sectors or companies. Another important difference in relation to traditional trade theories is that modern trade theories abandon the assumption of constant returns

11、 to scale and replace it with the concept of economies of scale in production. For example, this may mean that as a company produces on a larger scale, average costs fall (internal economies of scale), but also that costs will decline if numerous other businesses are established in the vicinity (ext

12、ernal economies of scale), or both.,Key Terms,interest rate,The fee charged by a lender to a borrower for the use of borrowed money, usually expressed as an annual percentage of the principal; the rate is dependent upon the time value of money, the credit risk of the borrower and the inflation rate.

13、 Interest rates can be calculated as simple, compounded or effective.,division of labor,The increasing specialization of occupations and specific tasks within occupations. The Division of Labor becomes more evident with increasing industrialism and modernity in societies.,absolute advantage,Term coi

14、ned, and theory developed by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776). If country A can produce and export more of a commodity X at a cheaper cost or more efficiently than country B, then country A has an absolute advantage in producing X over country B.,free trade,Free trade exists when the inter

15、national exchange of goods is neither restricted nor encouraged by government-imposed trade barriers. Subsequently, the determination of the distribution and level of international trade is left to the operation of market forces.,comparative advantage,The theory of comparative advantage is a key ide

16、a in classical liberal economic theory put forward by David Ricardo. It posits that if all countries specialize in producing what they are comparatively best at - i.e. what they are most efficient at producing - and then trade freely with one another, then the world will be better off economically.,

17、opportunity cost,The cost of using a resource in one enterprise when it could be used in alternative enterprises or investment opportunities measured by the return that could be obtained from using the resource in the alternative in investment. For example, if cash used in crop production could be p

18、laced in the bank at a 10% rate of interest， the opportunity cost of cash to the crop would be 10%.,general equilibrium,The condition reached when all markets (for products and productive factors) have cleared, that is, established equilibrium prices and quantities.,factor of production,A human serv

19、ice or material good that can be used to contribute to the success of a process of production. A constituent element of any production process. Factors of production can be classified as to (1) human (labor) or nonhuman (material) factors, or (2) original or produced factors.,economy of scale,the re

20、duction in costs per item (unit costs) that results from large-scale production. The high capital costs of machinery or a factory are spread across a greater number of units as more are produced. This may be a result of automation or mass production; for example, in the car industry. Economies of scale can also be produced when firms that need similar services locate together, sharing the costs of their services; for example, on industrial estates.,factor intensity,The relative