Abstract
This article reviews the critiques on Emmanuel’s unequal exchange theory, and finds that a crucial concept, international value, has been neglect. Considering international value, there is no relationship between the formation of international production price that is the foundation of unequal exchange and the perfect mobility of capital among countries. An empirical estimation of equalization of profit rate based on the framework of regulation capital is used to certify this viewpoint. By introducing international value, the unequal exchange theory can survive from the critique focusing on the reality of international profit rate equalization. However, the international concept also implies that unequal exchange is not a straight result of the difference of domestic income distribution between countries, but a consequence of the international division of labor. The author also examines the existence of unequal exchange by calculating the gap between international production price and international value, i.e. the volume of transferred value of 40 countries, and finds that unequal exchange does exist and is significant enough to affect the development of one country.
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Feng, Z. (2018). International Value, International Production Price and Unequal Exchange. In: Economic Growth and Transition of Industrial Structure in East Asia. SpringerBriefs in Economics(). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2868-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2868-8_4
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