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Why Trade
Why Trade
Introduction
The Heckscher-Ohlin theory explains why countries trade goods and services with each other. One condition for
trade between two countries is that the countries differ with respect to the availability of the factors of production.
They differ if one country, for example, has many machines (capital) but few workers, while another country has a
lot of workers but few machines. According to the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, a country specializes in the production
of goods that it is particularly suited to produce. Countries in which capital is abundant and workers are few,
therefore, specialize in production of goods that, in particular, require capital. Specialization in production and
trade between countries generates, according to this theory, a higher standard-of-living for the countries involved.
Between 1944 and 1967, Bertil Ohlin was the leader of the
Swedish Liberal Party, and between 1944 and 1945 he was
also the Secretary of Trade of the Swedish Government.
Bertil Ohlin died in 1979.
Other goods require less equipment to produce and rely mostly on the efforts of the workers. These goods are called
labor intensive. Examples of these goods are shoes and textile products such as jeans.
The major factors of production, namely labor and capital, are not available in the same proportion in both countries.
The two goods produced either require relatively more capital or relatively more labor.
Labor and capital do not move between the two countries.
There are no costs associated with transporting the goods between countries.
The citizens of the two trading countries have the same needs.
According to the theory, the more different the countries are - regarding the capital-to-labor ratio - the greater the economic gain from
specialization and trade.
Example:
Imagine two countries that each produces both jeans and cell phones. Although both countries use the same production technologies,
one has a lot of capital but a limited number of workers, while the other country has little capital but lots of workers.
The country that has a lot of capital but few workers can produce many cell phones but few pairs of jeans because cell phones are capital
intensive and jeans are labor intensive. The country with many workers but little capital, on the other hand, can produce many pairs of
jeans but few cell phones.
According to the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, trade makes it possible for each country to specialize. Each country exports the product the
country is most suited to produce in exchange for products it is less suited to produce. The country that has a lot of capital specializes in
the production of cell phones, whereas the country that has more labor specializes in the production of jeans.
Wassily Leontief received the Prize in Economics in 1974. In one of his papers on trade theory he shows why the United State's (U.S.)
exports do not reflect a factor of production very abundant in the U.S. - capital. Even though the U.S. has more capital than most
nations, most of its exports were of goods requiring a lot of labor and its imports were mostly goods requiring capital. This is the
opposite of the outcome that one would at first expect from the Heckscher-Ohlin theory! However, Leontief's explanation was that the
workers in the U.S. have a lot of knowledge. In other words, the U.S. exports the goods that require a production factor that the U.S. is
particularly well-endowed with, namely knowledge. Thus, Leontief's explanation was consistent with the Heckscher-Ohlin theory.