国际贸易理论政策案例（国际教育）

Why Trade?

The Case for Free Trade

为什么要进行贸易？——自由贸易的理由

Some definitions 一些定义

Before we plough into the case for free trade, it is important that we define a few terms. 在我们深入讨论自由贸易的问题之前，重要的是我们要定义几个术语。

Absolute advantage 绝对优势

A country has an absolute advantage over another country in the production of a certain good if, for a given amount of resources, it can produce more of the good than its competitor. Another way of looking at it is that the country with the absolute advantage can make the same amount of the good with fewer resources. Basically, it is when one country is better at making a given good than another country. See the next Learn-It for a numerical example.

一个国家在生产某种商品时对另一个国家具有绝对优势，如果在一定数量的资源下，它能比其竞争者生产更多的商品。另一种看法是，具有绝对优势的国家可以用较少的资源生产同样数量的商品。基本上，它是指一个国家比另一个国家更善于制造某种特定的商品。请看下一个学习资料中的数字例子。

Comparative advantage 比较优势

The theory of comparative advantage takes absolute advantage a stage further. Even if a country is so bad at using a given set of resources that it is worse at making all goods than another country, it will still have a comparative advantage in the production of at least one good. This means that there will be at least one product where it is relatively better at producing, even though in absolute terms it is the worst at making everything.

比较优势理论把绝对优势又向前推进了一个阶段。即使一个国家在使用一组特定的资源方面非常糟糕，以至于它在制造所有商品方面都比另一个国家差，它仍然会在生产至少一种商品方面具有比较优势。这意味着，至少会有一种产品，它在生产方面相对较好，尽管从绝对意义上讲，它在生产所有产品方面是最差的。

The terms of trade 贸易条件

Put simply, the terms of trade are the 'terms' (or price) agreed when two countries trade. You will see that it is important to understand this concept when we look at numerical example of trade between countries below.

简单地说，贸易条件是两个国家进行贸易时商定的 "条款"（或价格）。当我们看下面国家间贸易的数字例子时，你会发现理解这个概念很重要。

Examiners often set multiple-choice questions on the terms of trade. You are expected to work out what will happen to the terms of trade if, say, the value of the pound rises. The 'terms of trade' for a country as a whole is the ratio of export prices to import prices. More formally:

考官通常会设置关于贸易条件的多项选择题。你应该计算出如果英镑升值，贸易条件会发生什么变化。一个国家整体的 "贸易条件 "是出口价格与进口价格的比率。更正式地说：

The index of export prices and the index of import prices are calculated in the same way as the Retail Price Index (RPI). A weighted average is calculated using the prices of thousands of exports and imports. Remember that an index does not have any units. The series of numbers are simply used to make comparisons of the average price level (for exports and imports in this case) over different time periods (monthly or yearly).

出口价格指数和进口价格指数的计算方式与零售价格指数（RPI）相同。使用数以千计的出口和进口的价格来计算加权平均。记住，一个指数没有任何单位。一系列的数字只是用来比较不同时间段（每月或每年）的平均价格水平（本例中为出口和进口）。

In the example above of a rising pound (ceteris paribus) the prices of exports will rise, and the prices of imports will fall. The terms of trade, therefore, will rise (the top part of the fraction is rising and the bottom part is falling, so, overall, the fraction rises).

在上述英镑上涨的例子中（其他情况下），出口价格将上升，进口价格将下降。因此，贸易条件将上升（分数的上半部分在上升，下半部分在下降，所以，总体而言，分数在上升）。

Trade barriers 贸易壁垒

It should be obvious that when an economist refers to free trade he is referring to international trade without trade barriers (i.e. trade 'free' of barriers). In the final Learn-It of this topic (called 'The case against free trade') the controversial issue of protectionism is covered. Some countries feel they need to 'protect' their domestic industries (and jobs) from foreign competition. They do this by using certain trade barriers. The more well know is the tariff, which is a tax on imported goods and services.

很明显，当经济学家提到自由贸易时，他指的是没有贸易壁垒的国际贸易（即 "无 "壁垒的贸易）。在本专题的最后一个学习内容（称为 "反对自由贸易的理由"）中，涉及到保护主义这一有争议的问题。一些国家认为他们需要 "保护 "其国内产业（和就业）免受外国竞争。他们通过使用某些贸易壁垒来做到这一点。比较知名的是关税，它是对进口货物和服务的一种税收。

Why is free trade a good thing? 为什么自由贸易是一件好事？

The extensive analysis above shows how trade between countries is always a good thing. One would assume that the USA can make most things more efficiently than, say, Mexico (one of its neighbours). But the analysis above suggests that it is still in the interests of both the USA and Mexico that specialisation and trade occurs.

上面的广泛分析表明，国家之间的贸易总是一件好事。人们会认为，美国可以比墨西哥（其邻国之一）更有效地制造大多数东西。但上面的分析表明，专业化和贸易的发生仍然符合美国和墨西哥的利益。

Surely, then, it follows that anything that disrupts free trade between countries, such as tariff and non-tariff barriers is a bad thing.

那么，可以肯定的是，任何破坏国家间自由贸易的行为，都是一件坏事。

In the diagram above, DD and SD are the domestic demand and supply curves. If one assumes that this market is totally protected from foreign competition (through tariffs, for example) then the equilibrium price and output would be P1 and Q1 as expected.

在上图中，DD和SD是国内需求和供给曲线。如果我们假设这个市场完全不受外国竞争的影响（例如通过关税），那么均衡价格和产出将是预期的P1和Q1。

Let us assume that competition on the world market means that this good is supplied at a much lower price outside the domestic economy. The 'world' supply curve is SW and is assumed to be horizontal for simplicity of analysis. If barriers were then removed, so the trade was totally free, the new 'effective' domestic supply curve would be the line FECSW. The price would be P2, quantity demanded Q3, but only OQ2 would be supplied domestically. The rest (Q3 - Q2) would be imported from the cheaper world suppliers.

让我们假设，世界市场的竞争意味着这种商品在国内经济之外以更低的价格供应。世界 "供应曲线是SW，为了便于分析，假定它是水平的。如果壁垒被取消，贸易完全自由，新的 "有效 "国内供应曲线将是FECSW线。价格将是P2，需求量是Q3，但国内只供应OQ2。其余的（Q3-Q2）将从更便宜的世界供应商那里进口。

The red triangle (BCE) represents the welfare gain as a result of accepting foreign imports. Before imports arrived, consumer surplus was the area ABP1 and producer surplus (which is basically profit) was the area P1BF (see the topic called 'Market failure' for a reminder of these terms). As a result of free trade, the lower price means that consumer surplus is now the area ACP2. Although the producer surplus has dropped to P2EF, the huge rise in consumer surplus more than compensates (and, let's face it, the humble consumer is more important than the profit grabbing capitalist anyway!). The net gain is the red triangle BCE.

红色三角形（BCE）代表接受外国进口的福利收益。在进口到来之前，消费者剩余是ABP1区域，生产者剩余（基本上是利润）是P1BF区域（见 "市场失灵 "专题，以提醒这些术语）。由于自由贸易的结果，较低的价格意味着消费者剩余现在是ACP2的区域。虽然生产者剩余已经下降到P2EF，但消费者剩余的巨大增长足以补偿（而且，让我们面对现实，无论如何，卑微的消费者比攫取利润的资本家更重要！）。净收益是红色三角形的BCE。

This analysis is very simplistic but does highlight the gains of free trade, particularly for the consumer.

这个分析非常简单，但确实强调了自由贸易的收益，特别是对消费者而言。

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) 世界贸易组织

The WTO is the world policeman for matters associated with trade. It used to be called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The major industrialised countries signed this agreement straight after the war. Its purpose, in particular, was to reduce the use of tariffs around the world. Their ultimate objective was the elimination of all tariffs resulting in free trade around the world. It was very successful, reducing tariffs (on average) from around 40% after the war to fewer than 5% in the 1990s.

世贸组织是与贸易有关事项的世界警察。它曾经被称为关税与贸易总协定（GATT）。主要的工业化国家在战后直接签署了这项协议。它的目的，特别是，是为了减少世界各地的关税使用。他们的最终目标是消除所有的关税，从而实现全世界的自由贸易。它非常成功，在战后将关税（平均）从40%左右减少到1990年代的5%以下。

GATT consisted of a number of 'rounds' where ministers and civil servants from all the important countries got together and thrashed out deals on tariff reduction. The final round (the Uruguay round) that finished in 1993 (these rounds could take a number of years to complete) was not only ambitious in terms of the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, it also created a new body (the WTO) to take over from the occasional policeman that was the GATT. The WTO was to be on going. Not only would it carry on the job of setting up 'rounds' of discussions for further reductions in barriers (the attempted introduction of the 'Seattle' round at the end of 1999 was not so successful), but it would act as the adjudicator when countries had a trade dispute.

关贸总协定由若干 "回合 "组成，来自所有重要国家的部长和公务员聚集在一起，就削减关税达成协议。1993年结束的最后一轮谈判（乌拉圭回合）（这些回合可能需要数年时间才能完成）不仅在消除关税和非关税壁垒方面雄心勃勃，而且还创建了一个新的机构（WTO），以取代关贸总协定这个偶尔出现的警察。世贸组织将继续存在。它不仅将继续为进一步减少壁垒而进行 "回合 "讨论的工作（1999年底试图引入的 "西雅图 "回合并不那么成功），而且它将在各国发生贸易争端时充当裁决者。

A good recent example of one such 'dispute' was between the USA and the EU (most of them are between these two huge economies) over the relatively humble banana. The EU gave preferential treatment to banana growers in African and Caribbean countries, partly due to historical colonial links, but also because they are at a huge cost disadvantage compared with the large, American owned, banana plants in Latin America. It would be no good for the EU if the poorer banana growers went bust.

最近一个很好的例子是美国和欧盟之间的这种 "争端"（大多数是在这两个巨大的经济体之间），其原因是相对不起眼的香蕉。欧盟对非洲和加勒比国家的香蕉种植者给予优惠待遇，部分原因是历史上的殖民联系，但也因为他们与美国在拉丁美洲拥有的大型香蕉厂相比，处于巨大的成本劣势。如果较穷的香蕉种植者破产，对欧盟没有好处。

The USA complained to the WTO in 1996. The WTO agreed with the USA and the EU was asked to change their banana regime. The proposed changes were not enough to satisfy the USA. It was at this point, towards the end of 1998, that the USA threatened to impose 100% tariffs on randomly selected EU products (Scottish Whiskey and French cheese to name but two). Again the WTO agreed and allowed the USA to go ahead with almost $200 million worth of retaliation. The EU finally backed down in 1999 with changes that the USA accepted.

美国在1996年向世贸组织提出申诉。世贸组织同意美国的意见，要求欧盟改变其香蕉制度。拟议的改变不足以满足美国的要求。就在这时，在1998年底，美国威胁要对随机选择的欧盟产品（苏格兰威士忌和法国奶酪，仅举两个例子）征收100%的关税。世贸组织再次同意并允许美国继续进行价值近2亿美元的报复。欧盟终于在1999年做出了让步，做出了美国接受的修改。

The long running nature of the dispute does highlight the difficulty in reaching agreement and the trouble that the WTO has in getting countries to comply with their judgements. It is a better system than the old GATT, though, which had to rely on voluntary compliance by quarrelling member countries. At least the WTO has a formal disputes procedure and can impose penalties on countries that are judged to be in the wrong.

争端的长期性确实突出了达成协议的困难，以及世贸组织在让各国遵守其判决方面的麻烦。不过，与旧的关贸总协定相比，这是一个更好的系统，因为旧的关贸总协定必须依靠争吵的成员国自愿遵守。至少世贸组织有一个正式的争端程序，并且可以对被判定为错误的国家进行惩罚。