Question

Use the Rybczynski theorem to prove that the more dissimilar countries become in their factor endowments, the more likely it is to obtain complete specialization once trade begins

Answer 1

Answer :

• The H-O model is a two-country, two-good, two-factor model that assumes production processes differ in their factor intensities, while countries differ in their factor abundancies.
• The Rybczynski theorem states there is a positive relationship between changes in a factor endowment and changes in the output of the product that uses that factor intensively.
• The Stolper-Samuelson theorem states there is a positive relationship between changes in a product’s price and changes in the payment made to the factor used intensively in that industry.
• The Heckscher-Ohlin theorem predicts the pattern of trade: it says that a capital-abundant (labor-abundant) country will export the capital-intensive (labor-intensive) good and import the labor-intensive (capital-intensive) good.
• The factor-price equalization theorem demonstrates that when product prices are equalized through trade, the factor prices (wages and rents) will be equalized as well.

The factor proportions model was originally developed by two Swedish economists, Eli Heckscher and his student Bertil Ohlin, in the 1920s. Many elaborations of the model were provided by Paul Samuelson after the 1930s, and thus sometimes the model is referred to as the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson (HOS) model. In the 1950s and 1960s, some noteworthy extensions to the model were made by Jaroslav Vanek, and so occasionally the model is called the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek model. Here we will simply call all versions of the model either the Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) model, or simply the more generic “factor proportions model.”

The H-O model incorporates a number of realistic characteristics of production that are left out of the simple Ricardian model. Recall that in the simple Ricardian model only one factor of production, labor, is needed to produce goods and services. The productivity of labor is assumed to vary across countries, which implies a difference in technology between nations. It was the difference in technology that motivated advantageous international trade in the model.

The standard H-O model begins by expanding the number of factors of production from one to two. The model assumes that labor and capital are used in the production of two final goods. Here, capital refers to the physical machines and equipment that are used in production. Thus machine tools, conveyers, trucks, forklifts, computers, office buildings, office supplies, and much more are considered capital.

All productive capital must be owned by someone. In a capitalist economy, most of the physical capital is owned by individuals and businesses. In a socialist economy, productive capital would be owned by the government. In most economies today, the government owns some of the productive capital, but private citizens and businesses own most of the capital. Any person who owns common stock issued by a business has an ownership share in that company and is entitled to dividends or income based on the profitability of the company. As such, that person is a capitalist—that is, an owner of capital.

The H-O model assumes private ownership of capital. Use of capital in production will generate income for the owner. We will refer to that income as capital “rents.” Thus, whereas the worker earns “wages” for his or her efforts in production, the capital owner earns rents.

The assumption of two productive factors, capital and labor, allows for the introduction of another realistic feature in production: differing factor proportions both across and within industries. When one considers a range of industries in a country, it is easy to convince oneself that the proportion of capital to labor applied in production varies considerably. For example, steel production generally involves large amounts of expensive machines and equipment spread over perhaps hundreds of acres of land, but it also uses relatively few workers. (Note that relative here means relative to other industries.) In the tomato industry, in contrast, harvesting requires hundreds of migrant workers to hand-pick and collect each fruit from the vine. The amount of machinery used in this process is relatively small.

In the H-O model, we define the ratio of the quantity of capital to the quantity of labor used in a production process as the capital-labor ratio. We imagine, and therefore assume, that different industries producing different goods have different capital-labor ratios. It is this ratio (or proportion) of one factor to another that gives the model its generic name: the factor proportions model.

In a model in which each country produces two goods, an assumption must be made as to which industry has the larger capital-labor ratio. Thus if the two goods that a country can produce are steel and clothing and if steel production uses more capital per unit of labor than is used in clothing production, we would say the steel production is capital intensive relative to clothing production. Also, if steel production is capital intensive, then it implies that clothing production must be labor intensive relative to steel.

Another realistic characteristic of the world is that countries have different quantities—that is, endowments—of capital and labor available for use in the production process. Thus some countries like the United States are well endowed with physical capital relative to their labor force. In contrast, many less-developed countries have much less physical capital but are well endowed with large labor forces. We use the ratio of the aggregate endowment of capital to the aggregate endowment of labor to define relative factor abundancy between countries. Thus if, for example, the United States has a larger ratio of aggregate capital per unit of labor than France’s ratio, we would say that the United States is capital abundant relative to France. By implication, France would have a larger ratio of aggregate labor per unit of capital and thus France would be labor abundant relative to the United States.

The H-O model assumes that the only differences between countries are these variations in the relative endowments of factors of production. It is ultimately shown that (1) trade will occur, (2) trade will be nationally advantageous, and (3) trade will have characterizable effects on prices, wages, and rents when the nations differ in their relative factor endowments and when different industries use factors in different proportions.

It is worth emphasizing here a fundamental distinction between the H-O model and the Ricardian model. Whereas the Ricardian model assumes that production technologies differ between countries, the H-O model assumes that production technologies are the same. The reason for the identical technology assumption in the H-O model is perhaps not so much because it is believed that technologies are really the same, although a case can be made for that. Instead, the assumption is useful in that it enables us to see precisely how differences in resource endowments are sufficient to cause trade and it shows what impacts will arise entirely due to these differences.

The Main Results of the H-O Model

There are four main theorems in the H-O model: the Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) theorem, the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, the Rybczynski theorem, and the factor-price equalization theorem. The Stolper-Samuelson and Rybczynski theorems describe relationships between variables in the model, while the H-O and factor-price equalization theorems present some of the key results of the model. The application of these theorems also allows us to derive some other important implications of the model. Let us begin with the H-O theorem.

The Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem

The H-O theorem predicts the pattern of trade between countries based on the characteristics of the countries. The H-O theorem says that a capital-abundant country will export the capital-intensive good, while the labor-abundant country will export the labor-intensive good.

Here’s why. A country that is capital abundant is one that is well endowed with capital relative to the other country. This gives the country a propensity for producing the good that uses relatively more capital in the production process—that is, the capital-intensive good. As a result, if these two countries were not trading initially—that is, they were in autarky—the price of the capital-intensive good in the capital-abundant country would be bid down (due to its extra supply) relative to the price of the good in the other country. Similarly, in the country that is labor abundant, the price of the labor-intensive good would be bid down relative to the price of that good in the capital-abundant country.

Once trade is allowed, profit-seeking firms will move their products to the markets that temporarily have the higher price. Thus the capital-abundant country will export the capital-intensive good since the price will be temporarily higher in the other country. Likewise, the labor-abundant country will export the labor-intensive good. Trade flows will rise until the prices of both goods are equalized in the two markets.

The H-O theorem demonstrates that differences in resource endowments as defined by national abundancies are one reason that international trade may occur.