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

Hs INTERNATIONAL TRADE assistants and workmen, also paid at rates low in comparison to those of other countries. I will not say that this was the only factor that served to give Germany her unique position in the coal- tar industries. There were others, not least the marked faculty for elaborated organization which had developed during the latter years of the 19th century; a faculty that told with special effect in an industry like this — intricate, large in its scale of operation, yet not characterized by mass production. For the present purpose it is enough to note the influence of the labor situation. The special cheapness of the types of labor needed to an unusual degree in the industry served to give it a comparative advan- tage — that is, an advantage in the pecuniary terms which are decisive in the markets. And the advantage doubtless was not confined to the coal-tar and other chemical industries. It was probably generic. It appeared in scientific industries of other kinds, such as for example the making of optical instruments, surgical instruments, laboratory apparatus. Not one industry only, but a considerable number of German industries similar in character were given a place of their own in international trade because of the special position in Germany of the grade of labor needed for their products. Quite a different illustration, derived from the situation of a group lying not in the upper line of workers but in the lower, is to be found in the United States during the same period. A marked peculiarity of the American labor situation during the generation preceding the Great War was the comparatively low rate of pay for the unskilled laborers. It was low, that is, in comparison with the pay of the upper stratum of the skilled laborers. While the pick and shovel man got more in the United States than in Europe, he did not get as much more above the European rate as did the American mechanic. The differential in favor of the mechanic was greater in the United States; the unskilled were relatively cheap, even tho not absolutely so, for the American employer. The cause is not far to seek. The enormous influx of immigrants maintained a great supply of unskilled labor and kept down its rate of pay. In the manufacturing industries of the

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