Abstract
This chapter puts the frontier concept into a ‘Christopher Columbus’ model of international trade and factor movements between ‘Europe’ and ‘America’. ‘Europe’ produces food with the aid of labor and a fixed supply of land and manufactures with labor and capital and in addition a raw material, ‘cotton’, which has to be obtained from ‘America’ with the aid of labor and land. Labor is obtained through immigration from ‘Europe’ and land through development of the agricultural frontier with the use of capital. ‘America’ can also produce food, again with the aid of labor and land. In addition to outputs, the model determines the agricultural frontier and the distribution of population between ‘Europe’ and ‘America’.
I am indebted to Richard Baldwin, André Burgstaller, Richard Clarida, Max Corden, Stanley Engerman, Michael Gavin, Knick Harley, Kevin O’Rourke and Alwyn Young for very helpful comments.
Revised from ‘International Trade and Factor Mobility with an Endogenous Land Frontier: Some General Equilibrium Consequences of Christopher Columbus’ by Ronald Findlay, in Wilfred J. Ethier, Elhanan Helpman and J. Peter Neary (eds), Theory, Policy and Dynamics in International Trade: Essays in Honor of Ronald W. Jones, 1993, Cambridge University Press, pp. 38–54. With kind permission of Cambridge University Press.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
See Williams (1929) for a classic critique of the Ricardian model in this regard.
- 2.
Turner’s thesis was first advanced in an essay of 1893. Webb’s thesis is perceptively discussed in Chapter 3, ‘The New Frontier’, by Elliott (1969).
- 3.
See Findlay (1990) for a model of the earlier phase of the Atlantic economy.
- 4.
I am indebted to Alwyn Young for making this important point.
References
Bailyn, Bernard. (1988). The peopling of British North America: An introduction. New York: Vintage Books.
Caves, Richard E. (1965). Vent for surplus models of trade and growth. In Robert E. Baldwin et al. (Eds.), Trade, growth and the balance of payments. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Caves, Richard E. (1971). Export-led growth and the new economic history. In Jagdish N. Bhagwati et al. (Eds.), Trade, balance of payments and growth. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Chambers, Edward J., & Gordon, Donald F. (1966). Primary products and economic growth: An empirical measurement. Journal of Political Economy, 74, 315–332.
Di Tella, Guido. (1982). The economics of the frontier. In Charles P. Kindleberger & Guido Di Tella (Eds.), Economics in the long view: Essays in honour of W. W. Rostow. London: Macmillan.
Easton, Steven T., & Reed, Clyde G. (1980). The staple model. Mimeo, Simon Fraser University.
Elliott, J. H. (1969). The old world and the new—1492–1650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Findlay, Ronald. (1990). The triangular trade and the Atlantic economy of the 18th century: A simple general equilibrium model. Essays in International Finance, no. 117, International Finance Section, Princeton University.
Findlay, Ronald, & Lundahl, Mats. (1994). Natural resources, vent for surplus and the staple theory. In Gerald M. Meier (Ed.), From classical economics to development economics. Essays in honor of Hla Myint. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Jones, Eric L. (1981). The European miracle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, Ronald W. (1971). A three-factor model in theory, trade and history. In Jagdish N. Bhagwati et al. (Eds.), Trade, balance of payments and growth. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kenen, Peter B. (1965). Nature, capital and trade. Journal of Political Economy, 73, 437–460.
Marshall, Alfred. (1938). Principles of economics (8th ed.). London: Macmillan.
McNeill, William H. (1983). The great frontier. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Smith, Adam. (1976). The wealth of nations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Turner, Frederick Jackson. (1920). The frontier in American history. New York: Henry Holt.
Webb, Walter Prescott. (1986). The great frontier. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Williams, J. H. (1929). The theory of international trade reconsidered. Economic Journal, 39, 195–209.
Woodruff, William. (1973). The emergence of an international economy 1700–1914. In Carlo M. Cipolla (Ed.), The Fontana economic history of Europe (Vol. 4, Part 2). London: Fontana.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Findlay, R., Lundahl, M. (2017). International Trade and Factor Mobility with an Endogenous Land Frontier: Some General Equilibrium Implications of Christopher Columbus. In: The Economics of the Frontier. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60237-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60237-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60236-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-60237-4
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)