那么,换句话说,也就是说terms of trade 可以用来衡量一定时期内某个国家出口相对于进口的盈利能力和贸易利益,以此反应该国的对外贸易状况。
同学们一定还记得,如果两个在两种产品上具有相对优势的国家进行specialization过后,以A国对robot具有comparative advantage,B具有coffee的comparative advantage为例,则A exports robots and imports coffee,如果A生产coffee的opportunity cost为10个robot,此时如果A进口coffee的价格超过10个robot,A的状况则不及自己成产coffee,此时也就相当于export price/import price 下降了,是不是就意味着A的terms of trade 下降了,A过的international profitability下降了。
反之亦然;当然,我们这里仅仅是以两种产品为例,在面对无数类出口进口产品之时,我们便采取了类似计算inflation的方法,需要一个index来形容进出口整体price level 的变化,所以其实我们说的TOT是一个index of TOT。
话已至此,同学们应该可以理解为什么用terms of trade 来表示international competitiveness了吧!
或许有同学会问,可以代表international competitiveness 只有TOT吗?在这里老师可以告诉大家当然不止,我们还有收入贸易条件和要素贸易条件,有兴趣的同学可以继续深究啊!
还有需要提醒同学们注意的是,international competitiveness不是price competitiveness!
Concept:
The terms of trade is a concept that relates the prices that a country receives for its exports to the orices it pays for its imports, and can be defined as
improvement in the terms of trade:an increase in the value of the ratio of average export prices to average import prices. It involves a fall in the opportunity cost of imports.
deterioration in the terms of trade:a decrease in the value of the ratio of average export prices to average import prices.It involves an increase in the opportunity cost of imports.
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