外文文献及中文翻译-中国为什么这么有竞争力 测评和解释中国的竞争力情况 why is china so competitive measuring and explaining china’s competitiveness_学位论文.docVIP

PAGE 38 PAGE 9 Why Is China So Competitive? Measuring and Explaining China’s Competitiveness by F. Gerard Adams, Northeastern University, Byron Gangnes, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Yochanan Shachmurove, City University of New York1 Working Paper No. 04-62 October 2004 （selection） Comparative Advantage and International Competitiveness The explanation of international competitiveness by economists goes back many years to the theory of comparative advantage and factor pricing (Ricardo and Heckscher-Ohlin). While Ricardo focused on one production factor and differences in technology (climate), Heckscher and Ohlin dealt with labor and capital inputs and justified comparative advantage on the basis of underlying differences in factor endowments and relative factor prices. This approach has been extended to many products and many factors (Dornbusch, Fisher, and Samuelson, 1977). In the modern theory of trade under imperfect competition, comparative advantage continues to play a central role in explaining trade patterns, although scale economies and strategic motives are also important (Helpman and Krugman, 1985). Ronald Jones (2000) has noted that absolute advantages may influence patterns of specialization if some inputs to production are mobile across borders. Comparative advantage may lie at the heart of the theory of specialization and trade but it is not always closely related to real world discussions of competitiveness. First, comparative advantage is a microeconomic concept, focusing on industry-specific trade, explaining why one country might export labor-intensive products while another country might specialize in capital-intensive ones. By definition each country has a comparative advantage in the production of some products—those for which it has a lower relative (opportunity) cost than its competitors. Therefore, comparative advantage has little significance from a macroeconomic perspective. It is not meaningful