Testing the General Validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bernhofen, Daniel M.; Brown, John C.
• 署名单位: American University; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Clark University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20130126
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 54-90
• 关键词: comparative advantage; JAPAN; TRADE; wages

摘要

We exploit Japan's mid-nineteenth century transition from autarky to open trade to test Alan Deardorff's (1982) seminal and parsimonious autarky price formulation of the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem. Factor price data from Japan's late autarky period impose a refutable restriction on Japan's factor content of trade. Our data are constructed from many historical sources, including a major Japanese survey of agricultural techniques and a rich set of nineteenth century comparative cost studies. Evaluating Japan's factor content of trade during 1865-1876 under alternative theoretical assumptions about technology, we provide robust evidence in favor of the Heckscher-Ohlin hypothesis.