Abstract
Exploring the Limits of Comparative Advantage. - The paper examines extensions of the Law of Comparative Advantage to several situations that have not been adequately covered before. The basic result is the positive one that a country’s pattern of trade will be negatively correlated with its relative autarky prices. The first extension is to situations of unbalanced trade. The second extension is to an economy with domestic distortions. Finally, the third extension is to a lumpy country model, in which regions of a country may differ in various ways, including differences in factor prices.
Zusammenfassung
Erforschung der Grenzen des Gesetzes der komparativen Vorteile. — Auf dem Prüfstand steht in diesem Artikel das Gesetz der komparativen Vorteile, das auf verschiedene Situationen, die bis jetzt nicht ausreichend behandelt worden sind, ausgedehnt wird. Das Hauptergebnis ist ein positives, nämlich daß die Struktur des Außenhandels eines Landes mit seinen relativen Autarkiepreisen negativ korrelieren wird. Die erste Ausdehnung des Gesetzes erfolgt auf Situationen mit ungleichgewichtigem Handel, die zweite auf eine Volkswirtschaft mit Verzerrungen auf den heimischen Märkten. Schließlich erfolgt die dritte Ausdehnung auf das Modell eines inhomogenen Landes, in dem die Regionen auf verschiedene Weise differieren können, auch in bezug auf Unterschiede in den Faktorpreisen.
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