The Development and Testing of Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Models
The Development and Testing of Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Models

Author: Robert E. Baldwin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2008-11-07

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0262262053

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A review of the theoretical twists and turns in the development of the Heckscher-Ohlin model and an empirical assessment of the basic model and three related theorems. No names are more closely associated with modern trade theory than Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin. The basic Heckscher-Ohlin proposition, according to which a country exports factors in abundant supply and imports factors in scarce supply, is a key component of modern trade theory. In this book, Robert Baldwin traces the development of the HO model, describing the historical twists and turns that have led to the basic modern theoretical model in use today. Baldwin not only presents a clear and cohesive view of the model's evolution but also reviews the results of empirical tests its various versions. Baldwin, who published his first theoretical article on the HO model in 1948, first surveys the development of the HO model and then assesses empirical tests of its predictions. Most discussions of empirical work on HO models confine themselves to the basic theorem, but Baldwin devotes a chapter to empirical tests of three related propositions: the Stolper-Samuelson theorem; the Rybczynski theorem; and the factor price equalization theorem. He concludes that the formulation and testing of these later models have improved economists' understanding of the forces shaping international trade, but that many empirical trade economists (himself included) were so enamored of the elegant but highly unrealistic factor price equalization models developed from the insights of Heckscher and Ohlin that they have neglected investigation of other models without this relationship.

One Size Fits All?
One Size Fits All?

Author: Peter K. Schott

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

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Many previous tests of Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory have found underwhelming support for the idea that countries' endowments determine their production and trade. This paper demonstrates that those efforts suffer from their focus on the narrower of the model's two potential equilibria, which assumes that all countries produce all goods. In this paper we introduce a more general technique for testing the model that allows for the possibility that countries with sufficiently disparate endowments specialize in unique subsets of goods. Results using this technique indicate strong support for Heckscher-Ohlin specialization versus one-size-fits-all homogeneity. Our results also demonstrate that the empirical evaluation of trade models has been hampered by the coarse aggregation of output inherent in existing datasets. Indeed, we show that traditional categorizations of goods hide a substantial degree of cross-country price and input intensity heterogeneity, violating the assumptions of the factor proportions framework and rendering previous estimation results difficult to interpret. To overcome this problem, we introduce a methodology for aggregating goods that corrects for underlying product variation. Estimation of the model using corrected aggregates reveals even stronger support for Heckscher-Ohlin specialization. The importance of specialization for the evolution of developed country wage inequality is also discussed.

A Test of the General Validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem for Trade in the European Community
A Test of the General Validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem for Trade in the European Community

Author: Ms.Dalia Hakura

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1999-05-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 1451849133

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While the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) theorem has been a dominant paradigm in trade theory, the empirical evidence to support it has been weak. This paper develops a modified HOV model that allows technologies to differ across countries. The revised model significantly improves the theory’s accuracy in predicting trade flows in contrast to the traditional model. The paper also illustrates that, since countries have different technologies, measures of factor contents of trade in final goods using direct and domestically produced indirect input requirements are more accurate and yield more consistent predictions than do traditional measures.

Testing Trade Theory in Ohlin's Time
Testing Trade Theory in Ohlin's Time

Author: Antoni Estevadeordal

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13:

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An empirical tradition in international trade seeks to establish whether the predictions of factor abundance theory match present-day data. In the analysis of goods trade and factor endowments, mildly encouraging results were found by Leamer et al. But ever since the appearance of Leontief's paradox, the measured factor content of trade has always been found to be far smaller than its predicted magnitude in the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek framework, the so-called 'missing trade' mystery. We wonder if this problem was there in the theory from the beginning. This seems like a fairer test of its creators' original enterprise. We apply contemporary tests to historical data on goods and factor trade from Ohlin's time. Our analysis is set in a very different context than contemporary studies -- an era with lower trade barriers, higher transport costs, a more skewed global distribution of the relevant factors (especially land), and comparably large productivity divergence. We find some support for the theory, but also encounter common problems. Our work thus complements the tests applied to today's data and informs our search for improved models of trade.

China's Growing Role in World Trade
China's Growing Role in World Trade

Author: Robert C. Feenstra

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-03-10

Total Pages: 603

ISBN-13: 0226239721

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In less than three decades, China has grown from playing a negligible role in international trade to being one of the world's largest exporters, a substantial importer of raw materials, intermediate outputs, and other goods, and both a recipient and source of foreign investment. Not surprisingly, China's economic dynamism has generated considerable attention and concern in the United States and beyond. While some analysts have warned of the potential pitfalls of China's rise—the loss of jobs, for example—others have highlighted the benefits of new market and investment opportunities for US firms. Bringing together an expert group of contributors, China's Growing Role in World Trade undertakes an empirical investigation of the effects of China's new status. The essays collected here provide detailed analyses of the microstructure of trade, the macroeconomic implications, sector-level issues, and foreign direct investment. This volume's careful examination of micro data in light of established economic theories clarifies a number of misconceptions, disproves some conventional wisdom, and documents data patterns that enhance our understanding of China's trade and what it may mean to the rest of the world.

The Heckscher-Ohlin Model in Theory and Practice
The Heckscher-Ohlin Model in Theory and Practice

Author: Edward E. Leamer

Publisher: International Finance Section Department of Econ Ton Univers

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13:

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This study discusses the Hecksher-Ohlin factor-proportions theory of comparative advantage, which states that international commerce compensates for the uneven geographic distribution of productive resources, that traded commodities are really bundles of factors (land, labor, and capital), and that the exchange of commodities internationally is therefore indirect arbitrage, transferring the services of otherwise immobile factors of production from locations where these factors are abundant to locations where they are scarce. Under some circumstances, this indirect arbitrage can completely eliminate price differences. Despite new models in trade theory and evidence from trade theorists suggesting that the H-O model is faulty, the theory is still extraordinarily useful: pedagogically, in correcting the assumptions of the partial-equilibrium with regard to labor supply and wage rates; politically, in showing that although tariffs and quotas have redistributive effects, they reduce efficiency; and empirically, in explaining important aspects of the patterns of international trade. The H-O model is essential for any study of the impact of globalization on the American workforce.