International trade

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1758394757

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136209

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Taussig, Frank William http://d-nb.info/gnd/120199459

Title:: International trade

Place of publication:: New York, NY

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: XXI, 425 Seiten; graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part I. Theory

Collection:: Economics Books

136 INTERNATIONAL TRADE country, not by the exporting. But in general price levels and income levels, and thereby in the barter terms of trade, there may ensue conditions different from what would have been in the ab- sence of such a charge. In consequence the net gain from the exchange of commodities may be quite as great to one of the trading countries, or nearly as great, as if they had been contiguous; nay, it is conceivable, even greater than if they had been contiguous. These, however, are recondite possibilities, quite beyond the ken of the individual buyers and sellers, and of interest only to the speculative economist. Even for him they constitute an intellec- tual plaything rather than a matter of substantive importance. They are no more than ramifications of the abstract theory, and belong among the phases of the theory which it is impossible to verify or illustrate from the actual course of events.! Of some substantive importance, on the other hand, is a com- plication which the item of freight charges entails in the interpreta- tion of import and export statistics. The common practice in the compilation of official statistics on the movement of merchandise is not the same for exports as for imports. To put the difference in commercial terms, exports are usually figured f.o.b. (free on board), imports usually c.i.f. (cost plus insurance and freight). The exports, that is, are recorded in terms of the value of the goods as put on board at the place of departure; the imports are recorded in terms of the value of the goods as received at the place of arrival. When valuing exports, cost of transportation is ignored; when valuing imports, it is included. The consequence is that recorded imports tend to be over-stated to the extent of that item, while recorded exports tend to be understated. The statistical puzzles to which the practice leads can be best illustrated by analyzing some possible cases. Simplifying the analysis, as has been done for other problems, we may take 1 See the well known passage on the subject in Mill, Book 3, Ch. 18, Sec. 3. 2 The passages which follow have no necessary relation to the preceding parts of this chapter. They are inserted here as the most convenient place for dealing with a somewhat intricate problem of statistical interpretation; and they may be skipped by those who wish to follow without digression the main course of the exposition.

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