外文文献及中文翻译中国为什么这么有竞争力 测评和解释中国的竞争力情况 why is china so competitive mea.docx

外文文献及中文翻译中国为什么这么有竞争力 测评和解释中国的竞争力情况 why is china so competitive mea.docx

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外文文献及中文翻译中国为什么这么有竞争力测评和解释中国的竞争力情况whyischinasocompetitivemea

WhyIsChinaSoCompetitive?

MeasuringandExplainingChina’sCompetitiveness

byF.GerardAdams,NortheasternUniversity,

ByronGangnes,UniversityofHawaiiatManoa,

andYochananShachmurove,CityUniversityofNewYork1

WorkingPaperNo.04-62

October2004

（selection）

ComparativeAdvantageandInternationalCompetitiveness

Theexplanationofinternationalcompetitivenessbyeconomistsgoesbackmanyyearstothetheoryofcomparativeadvantageandfactorpricing（RicardoandHeckscher-Ohlin）.WhileRicardofocusedononeproductionfactoranddifferencesintechnology（climate）,HeckscherandOhlindealtwithlaborandcapitalinputsandjustifiedcomparativeadvantageonthebasisofunderlyingdifferencesinfactorendowmentsandrelativefactorprices.Thisapproachhasbeenextendedtomanyproductsandmanyfactors（Dornbusch,Fisher,andSamuelson,1977）.Inthemoderntheoryoftradeunderimperfectcompetition,comparativeadvantagecontinuestoplayacentralroleinexplainingtradepatterns,althoughscaleeconomiesandstrategicmotivesarealsoimportant（HelpmanandKrugman,1985）.RonaldJones（2000）hasnotedthatabsoluteadvantagesmayinfluencepatternsofspecializationifsomeinputstoproductionaremobileacrossborders.

Comparativeadvantagemaylieattheheartofthetheoryofspecializationandtradebutitisnotalwayscloselyrelatedtorealworlddiscussionsofcompetitiveness.First,comparativeadvantageisamicroeconomicconcept,focusingonindustry-specifictrade,explainingwhyonecountrymightexportlabor-intensiveproductswhileanothercountrymightspecializeincapital-intensiveones.Bydefinitioneachcountryhasacomparativeadvantageintheproductionofsomeproducts—thoseforwhichithasalowerrelative（opportunity）costthanitscompetitors.

Therefore,comparativeadvantagehaslittlesignificancefromamacroeconomicperspective.ItisnotmeaningfultosaythatatanytimecountryAintheaggregatehasacomparativeadvantageovercountryB.

Second,comparativeadvantageisanequilibriumconcept,predictingapatternoftradewhenprices,tradeflowsandexchangeratesareinequilibrium.Businessdecisions,incontrast,oftenmustexplicitlyconsidershort-termdevelopmentsaswellaslongtermequilibriumoutcomes.Thesewillincludecurrenteconomicconditions,exchangeratefluctuations,andotherfactorsthatrepresentdeviationsfromlong-runequilibriumconditions.

Finallycomparativeadvantagedoesnottakespecificallyintoaccountallthetechnologicaloptionsavailabletotheproducers.Atthemicroeconomiclevel,whendealingwithspecificproducts,itisnotalwaysclearfromtheorywhichcountryhasthemostfavorablemixofresourcesandfactorpricesforvarioustypesofproduction.Dependingontechnologyandinfrastructure,ashortageoflaborrelativetocapitalwhichimpliesrelativelyhighwageratesmaybeoffsetbydifferencesinproductivity.Highwagesmayormaynottranslateintocompetitivedisadvantageforlabor-intensiveproductsifalternativetechnologiesusinglesslaborandmorecapitalareavailable.Forexample,manyproductsthatareproducedbyhandinChinaarealsoproduced,bymachine,intheUnitedStates.

Competitiveness,atermusedwidelyinthebusinessadministrationliterature（Porter,1990）,hasbeenoftenbeenappliedinEuropeandtheUStorepresentthefailuresorsuccessesoftheeconomy.Bycompetitivenesswemeantheabilityunderpresentconditionsofacountry’sproductstocommandworldmarkets.

Incontrasttocomparativeadvantage,itisappropriatetotalkmeaningfullyaboutinternationalcompetitivenessbothonthemacroandmicrolevel.Internationalcompetitivenessisamatterlargelyofcosts:

whichcountryisabletodelivertheproducttothemarketmostcheaply.Contributingtocostsarefactorsthatdirectlyaffectinputprices,suchasexchangerates,domesticwagesandmaterialcosts,andproductivity,butalsocapabilitiestoproducegoodsofappropriatequalityandmeetingmarketspecifications.Transportationandcommunicationcosts,andtradebarriersandtradestrategymayallplayarole.Competitivenessisnotanequilibriumconcept.Itrepresentsapositionatapointintimeoritschangeovertime.Sinceadjustmentontheproductsupplysideislikelytobeveryslow—ittakesmanyyearstoestablishproductionfacilitiesandexportmarkets—competitivenesstypicallyreferstoatimeofdisequilibriumwhenacountrycanincreaseitsshareofexportmarkets.Inotherwords,competitivenessoftenreferstodynamicratherthanstaticperspectives.

Commonusageoftheterm,competitiveness,isusuallybroaderthanwouldbeimpliedbyaformaldefinition.Inparticular,advocatesforcompetitivenessoftenstresstheroleofsustainedproductivitygrowthinproducingproductsthatmeetthetestofinternationalmarketsandthatleadstohigherlivingstandards.（Porter1990,CompetitivenessPolicyCouncil,1992）.ItisinthiscontextthatthetermhasbeenembracedbypoliticianstorepresentthefailuresorsuccessesofWesterneconomies.But,theabilitytocommandworldmarkets（foratime）doesnotnecessarilyimplyhigherlivingstandards.Acountry’sproductsmaybecompetitivebecauseithasundervalueditscurrency.Inthatcase,termsoftrademaybeunfavorablefromawelfarepointofview,goodsmaybeexportedcheaplyintermsoftheimports.Nevertheless,theeffectsontradeandproductionarereal,asarethenecessarystructuraladjustmentsthatgoalongwiththem.

Incontrasttocomparativeadvantage,itisappropriatetotalkmeaningfullyaboutinternationalcompetitivenessbothonthemacroandmicrolevel.Atthemacrolevel,acountry’sexportsmaybehighlycompetitiveinthedestinationcountriesorincomparisonwithproductsoriginatinginothercountries.Thatmayreflectunderlyingfactorcostandproductivityconsiderations.Itmayalsoreflectthecurrentexchangerate,undervaluationorovervaluation,aswellastariffs,transportationcostsandtraderestrictionsaswellasproductqualityandspecifications.Competitivenesshasdynamicattributesinthesensethat,givenresourceenvironment,countriesmaybecomemorecompetitiveasaresultoflearning-bydoing,assimilationoftechnology,capitalaccumulation,increasingscaleofproduction,andpolicyintervention.Contrarytosomethinking,itdoesmakesensetothinkofacountry’saggregatecompetitivenessandaboutpoliciesintendedtoadvanceitscompetitiveness.

Fromamicroperspectiveaswell,itispossibletoaskwhethercertainindustriesarecompetitiveinworldmarkets.Thiscallsforacostcomparison,ataprevailingexchangerate,involvingsuchfactorsaswagesandcapitalcosts,scaleofproduction,and,ofcourse,productivity.Aswehavenotedinthediscussionofcomparativeadvantage,someindustrieswillbemoresuitedtoaneconomy’sendowmentoffactorsandskillsthanothers.Adynamicimprovementincompetitivenessmaymeanthatthecompetitivenessofcurrentlyexportingindustriesimprovesorthatnewproducts,perhapstechnologicallymoreadvancedones,becomecompetitive.

MeasurementofCompetitiveness

Themeasurementofinternationalcompetitivenessmaybeapproachedfroma“results”orfroma“causes”perspective.Resultsarebasicallyexportperformanceandthetradebalance.Theseareexpostconceptsanddonotask“why”,thoughthereisoftenanimpliedexplanation.Growthofexports,particularlygrowththatismorerapidthaninothercountries,impliescompetitiveness.Apositivetradebalanceisalsofrequentlycitedasapositivemeasureofcompetitiveness.Presumably,competitivenessreflectsrelativecosts,butitmayalsobeaffectedbyproductattributesandtraderestrictions.Thismayleadtoconfusion.Thus,acountrythatisrunningatradesurplus,maybesufferingoutflowsofcapitalanditsundervaluedexchangeratemaymakeitsexportscompetitive.Itisnotclearthatthistypeofcompetitivenessisagoodthing.Alternatively,atradedeficitmayfollowfromacountry’sattractivenesstoforeigninvestorswhosecapitalinflowcausestheexchangeratetobeovervaluedfromtheperspectiveoftrade.

Aclassicalresultsmeasure,focusedonparticularindustries,wasBalassa’s“revealedcomparativeadvantage”（RCA）（Balassa,1965）,theshareofacountry’sexportsofaspecificproductcategory（Xij）toitstotalexports（ΣiXij）ascomparedtotheshareoftotalworldexportsofthespecificcategory（ΣjXij）inworldexportsofallgoods（ΣiΣjXij）,

RCAij=Xij//（ΣiXij）/（ΣjXij）/（ΣiΣjXij）.

BalassarelatesRCAmeasurestosuchunderlyingfactorsascapitalintensityandhumanresourcedevelopment（Balassa,1979）.TheRCAsaresectorspecificandstatic.Itispossibletomakethemdynamicbyfocusingoncomparisonsovertimeandintermsofratesofchange.Forexample,growthofaspecificexportmorerapidlythanworldwidegrowthofthespecificproductexportssuggestscompetitivenessinthespecificproduct.Suchadynamiccomparisonisshownabove.Onemaywanttomeasureinternationalcompetitivenessdirectly,seekingthecausesforofacountry’soranindustry’sinternationaltradesuccess.Theexchangerateis,ofcourse,themostimmediatemeasureofthetermsoftrade.However,thenominalexchangerate,thoughrelevanttotradetransactions,failstotakeintoaccountdifferencesindomesticcurrencyproductioncosts.Comparisonsofthetemporalmovementofrealexchangeratescanbecomputedbyadjustingchangesinnominalexchangeratesfortheunderlyingdomesticpricemovements.

中国为什么这么有竞争力？

测评和解释中国的竞争力情况

（节选）

比较优势和国家竞争力

经济学者对国际竞争力的解释比对比较优势（李嘉图）和要素禀赋理论（赫克歇尔-俄林）晚许多年。

比较优势理论中，李嘉图强调生产要素和技术差异；而赫克歇尔-俄林的要素禀赋理论关注劳动和资本的通入，并在各国要素禀