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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part III. International trade under inconvertible paper

Collection:: Economics Books

356 INTERNATIONAL TRADE whelmingly the largest movement between countries is that of merchandise, while that of specie is small. But under paper, it is not merely a matter of preponderance in the merchandise movement. Nothing at all moves except merchandise. No money flows from country to country. And yet, tho what takes place is the mere exchange of commodities for commodities, tho this essential characteristic of all trade and all exchange seems to be conspicuously in evidence, each individual transaction remains a sale for money. No individual trader is aware that barter is taking place. As under specie conditions, so under dis- located exchanges, the entire series of transactions between the countries 1s wound up without any understanding of the situa- tion on the part of the individuals who consummate them, unless it be in the excessively rare case of a merchant or banker who has a grasp of the intricacies of theory. All works itself out thru the buying and selling of foreign exchange, the exchange quotations, the slow and unperceived shifts in the flow of goods from country to country, the gradual alterations in prices, the painful readjust- ment of the productive forces. The whole process operates thru the foreign exchange rate. But that exchange rate itself depends on the same factors on which the barter terms of trade also depend : on the extent to which a country values foreign goods, and chooses to consume these rather than the things which it can directly produce within its own borders. Some obvious qualifications on the scope and nature of these general conclusions should be borne in mind. There are of course limits and bounds within which both the barter terms of trade and the foreign exchange rate are confined. Those limits are reached when the barter terms become so unfavorable to one of the coun- tries that it can produce at home as advantageously as it is able to import. The wider the disparity between productive forces — the greater the absolute or comparative advantage possessed by a country — the wider the range within which the barter terms and the foreign exchange can fluctuate. So it is under specie condi- tions. The wider the disparities of advantages in production, the greater the possible differences of money incomes from country

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: International trade

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation