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

FREIGHT CHARGES 139 If now the shipping is all done in British vessels (this of course was the sort of situation that prevailed as between these two countries for a generation preceding the war of 1914-18), the actual relations become different. The official statistics will again reflect the change; but again with figures not indicative of the real situation. If the merchandise imports and exports of the United States, as recorded by the United States, are the same in money value — that is, if the imports f.0.b. just equal the exports f.o.b. — the United States has nothing left with which to pay the freight charges due to British vessel owners. In due time the relation of imports to exports will become such as to bring about payment for this extra item; the exports recorded f.o.b. must exceed the imports recorded f.o.b. by the amount of the freight charges. An equilibrium of international payments will be reached only when the United States statistics regularly show an excess of impqrts. And this will indicate the real situation: the United States will be paying for the shipping services by sending merchan- dise to Great Britain. On the other hand, Great Britain, whose records would show an excess of imports in any case, because of her statistical practice, will again show — as in the case of trade with Australia — a greater excess of imports than would be shown if the shipping trade were equally divided. Part of her import excess will be nominal, but part will be real. In sum, the usual statistical practice — that of valuing imports c.f. and exports f.o.b. — makes the imports of most countries appear large in relation to their exports. If all countries kept their records in this way, all would tend to show an excess of im- ports. That is, to state it more carefully, if merchandise exports and imports were such as exactly to pay for each other — if this, the simplest situation in international trade, were established, and if shipping trade were equally divided, so that nothing from this factor intervened to disturb the simplicity of the situation — nevertheless the statistics would show for each and every country an excess of merchandise imports. And therefore if the shipping trade is not equally divided, allowance has to be made for this continuing deceptive circumstance; a discount, so to speak. has

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