英语经贸知识问答题

英语经贸知识问答题

Questions and Answers Lesson 1 International Trade (I) 1. How would you define international trade? It can be defined as the exchange of goods and services produced in one country with those produced in another. 2. Why did international trade first begin? The distribution of natural resources is uneven. Some countries are abundant in resources, while elsewhere reserves are scarce or even nonexistent. And a country may be rich in some resources but poor in others. The country that is rich will export some of its resources to the country that is in need. The opposite is also true. That is the reason why international trade first began.

3. What is the new incentive for trade that arose with the development of manufacturing and technology? With the development of manufacturing and technology, international specialization occurs. One country produces more of commodity than it uses itself and sells the remainder to other countries.

4. Explain the theory of absolute advantage and its application in international trade. It holds that a commodity will be produced in the country where it costs least in terms of resources (capital, land, and labor). This theory is illustrated in the following table. To be more illustrative, let us assume there are only two countries producing two commodities under perfect competition. Output per man-year of labour Country A Country B Computers 50 10 Cars 20 40 From the above table, we can see that a man in Country A can produce 50 computers in a year but only 10 in Country B. On the other hand, one man in Country B can produce 40 cars in a year but only 20 in Country A. So Country A is more efficient in producing computers than Country B, and we say the former has an absolute advantage over the latter in producing

computers. Similarly, Country B has an advantage over Country A in producing cars. As a result, Country A would specialize in producing computers and trade some of them for Country B’s cars, and Country B would specialize in producing cars and exchange some of them for Country A’s computers. Both countries will gain benefits through specialization and trade. 5. Who introduced the theory of comparative advantage? Which theory makes more sense, absolute advantage or comparative advantage? The English economist David Ricardo introduced the theory of comparative advantage. His theory of comparative advantage makes more sense. 6. Explain briefly why trade to exploit comparative advantage promote efficiency among countries. Where comparative advantage exists, two trading partners are both able to share the gains from the trade. The trade to exploit comparative advantage makes one country better off without making the other worse off. So trade to exploit comparative advantage promotes efficiency among countries. 7. Is comparative advantage something static? Is it purely decided by the endowments of nature? Give examples to show the development of comparative advantage by certain countries.

Comparative advantage is not something static. It is not purely decided by the endowments of nature. A country can develop a particular comparative advantage through its own actions, independent of its endowment of nature. Switzerland’s comparative advantage in making watches is a typical example. Similarly, the U.S. has developed comparative advantage in many lines that use the most up-to-date

technology.

Lesson 2 International Trade (II) 1. Are there other bases for trade when there are no differences among countries in