The true meaning of David!Ricardo's four magic numbers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Maneschi, A
• 署名单位: Vanderbilt University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1996(03)00008-4
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 433-443
• 关键词: David Ricardo; comparative advantage; gains from trade

摘要

The four numbers in David Ricardo's example of comparative advantage have been traditionally interpreted as unit labor coefficients in the production of wine and cloth in UK and Portugal. A recent interpretation suggests that they represent instead the labor needed to produce the amounts of wine and cloth actually traded. Ricardo's four numbers are shown to yield each country's gains from trade by simply subtracting two of the numbers from the other two. Since the numbers also indicate each country's comparative advantage, Ricardo established a close connection between comparative advantage and the gains from trade. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.