2.3.1 Traditional theories of international trade
We know that theories are needed us to know what is subject we are doing, so that
let’s look at those theories which is useful for us. Traditional trade theories focus on
differences among countries that are the result of differences in technology
differences in relative factor endowments, classical theory. One of the first theories of
international trade is the classical theory of absolute cost advantages of it.
(2) The Smith theory of absolute advantages. Adam Smith takes up the new idea
of Home and develops it in his Book IV of research into the nature and causes of the
wealth of nations, his theory is based on absolute advantage. He explains the trade by
the difference in the cost of production between nations according to the absolute
advantages of each nation. A country exports goods that it is able to produce at costs
that are lower than those prevailing in the rest of the world. In On the other hand, it
is advantageous to import goods at production costs higher than those of the
competition. For A. Smith, the division of labor and the specialization of tasks
perfectly increase productivity, therefore they allow economic growth and
improvement of the standard of living. But, if a country is at a disadvantage in all
activities compared to its competitors, its costs being the highest in all productions, it
cannot thus fit into the international trade network.
(2) The Ricardian Theory of Comparative Advantages. First of all, if we talk
about the Ricardian theory, there are three main assumptions of Ricardian, it is based
on the following assumptions. Firstly, there are only two countries, say A and B.
Secondly, they produce the same two commodities, X and Y third is that tastes are
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similar in both countries. And the last one will be labor that is the only factor of
production. The theory of comparative advantage introduces opportunity cost as a
factor for analysis in choosing between different options for production. Comparative
advantage suggests that countries will engage in trade with one another, exporting the
goods that they have a relative advantage in. There is also benefit of this theory, the
benefit of comparative advantage is the ability to produce a good or service for a
lower opportunity cost. A comparative advantage gives companies the ability to sell
goods and services at prices that are lower than their competitors, gaining stronger
sales margins and greater profitability.
(3) Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theory
This theory is the main extension of Ricardian analysis. This model is named
after its three authors, Swedish economists Eli Hecksher Berti Ohlin and American
economist Paul Samuelson. These are, at first, two literary presentations, due to
Hecksher and Ohlin where they seek the origin of the comparative advantage which is
based on the relative abundance of a factor of production, which we call the factorial
endowment. To do this, this neoclassical analysis abandons the Ricardian hypothesis
of the sole factor of production. It adopts the hypothesis of the combination of two
(or more) factors of production. The Hecksher - Ohlin theorem states that a country,
relatively endowed with a factor of production, will export goods intensive in this
factor in exchange for imported goods, which require more intensive use of its scarce
factors. The basic model of this theory is called "2-2-2", that is to say 2 countries
(foreign, national), two goods one is intensive in capital and the other is intensive in
labor, two factors of production (capital, labor). The national country will specialize
and export the products intensive in capital (or labor), and will import the products
intensive in labor (or in capital), the two countries are identical in every point, except
for the factorial endowments which will be at the origin of the exchange.Subsequently,
Paul Samuelson made an additional contribution by showing that free trade leads to an
international equalization of the prices of factors of production (HOS theorem -
Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson).The HOS theory assumes a static state of the
endowment of natural factors, while in reality the endowment of natural factors is not
a permanent phenomenon. Traditional theories have enabled the world economy to
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remove barriers and encourage nations to trade among themselves, which has shaped
the evolution of foreign trade. However, the evolution of the international
environment poses a problem of how the theories match reality. Can a theory born
at the beginning of the 19th century be suitable for explaining the international trade
of the 21st century? Indeed, three arguments explain the shortcomings of traditional
theories, the first argument is linked to the nature of trade flows between countries,
traditional theories are centered on the idea of specialization, that is to say
inter-branch trade, whereas international trade today is characterized by a strong flow
of industry trade; the second argument relates to the fact that the role of technological
innovation is excluded in traditional theories, while innovation creates particular
advantages for nations which will strengthen the competitiveness of firms, or even
monopoly situations, this which called into question pure and perfect competition.
The last argument stems from the fact that traditional theories made the nation the
main actor in international trade, they ignore the role of firms while international trade
today is dominated by multinational firms. Ultimately, these arguments constitute
important justifications for the advent of new theories of international trade. These
come to explain the new realities of foreign trade between the different economies.
The need for openness for a country has been mentioned, in the theory traditions of
international trade, particularly that of Ricardo, where the latter explained the value of
specializing countries according to their comparative advantage. Indeed, trade
openness allows a reorientation of scarce resources towards the most efficient sectors,
since the relative production costs are different and therefore, there will be an
improvement in the well-being of the population. The extension of this theory by that
of HOS has confirmed these gains and it has added others that are linked to the
remuneration of factors of production.
However, these theories presented some
limitations and difficulties related to issues of neglect of trade between identical
countries, industry trade and ignorance of the role of multinational firms. These
questions have found their answers in new theories of international trade which are
based on the principles of imperfect competition and returns to scale. Nonetheless, the
gains from openness in these theories are considered static, which allows growth
theory to look for dynamic gains if they exist. The traditional growth theory, derived
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from Solow's model, could not answer such a question, when it explains that growth is
based only on exogenous factors.
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