IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kch/wpaper/sdes-2018-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the General Impossibility of Persistent Unequal Exchange Free Trade Equilibria in the Pre-industrial World Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Soh Kaneko

    (Oita University)

  • Naoki Yoshihara

    (School of Management, Kochi University of Technology)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the persistency of the unequal exchange of labor (UE) in international trade. An intertemporal model of a world economy is defined with a leisure preference and no discount factor. Every incompletely specialized free trade equilibrium is characterized as having non-persistent UE, which verifies the convergence of economies without relying on economic growth or diminishing returns to scale. In particular, it characterizes a subclass of equilibria in which the sequence of real interest rates does not converge to zero, but UE tends to disappear while equivalently the distribution of capital assets tends to be equalized in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Soh Kaneko & Naoki Yoshihara, 2018. "On the General Impossibility of Persistent Unequal Exchange Free Trade Equilibria in the Pre-industrial World Economy," Working Papers SDES-2018-19, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Dec 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2018-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.souken.kochi-tech.ac.jp/seido/wp/SDES-2018-19.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2018
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberto Veneziani, 2013. "Exploitation, inequality and power," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 25(4), pages 526-545, October.
    2. Marc Fleurbaey, 2014. "The facets of exploitation," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(4), pages 653-676, October.
    3. Oded Galor & Andrew Mountford, 2006. "Trade and the Great Divergence: The Family Connection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 299-303, May.
    4. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2015. "Exploitation in economies with heterogeneous preferences, skills and assets: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 8-33, January.
    5. Morishima, Michio, 1974. "Marx in the Light of Modern Economic Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(4), pages 611-632, July.
    6. Bacha, Edmar L., 1978. "An interpretation of unequal exchange from Prebisch-Singer to Emmanuel," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 319-330, December.
    7. Yoshihara, Naoki, 2010. "Class and exploitation in general convex cone economies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 281-296, August.
    8. David Gale, 1967. "On Optimal Development in a Multi-Sector Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(1), pages 1-18.
    9. Allen, Robert C., 2011. "Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199596652.
    10. Naoki Yoshihara & Soh Kaneko, 2016. "On the Existence and Characterization of Unequal Exchange in the Free Trade Equilibrium," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 210-241, May.
    11. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "A Progress Report On Marxian Economic Theory: On The Controversies In Exploitation Theory Since Okishio (1963)," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1421-1448, December.
    12. Veneziani, Roberto, 2007. "Exploitation and time," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 189-207, January.
    13. Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "A Progress Report On Marxian Economic Theory: On The Controversies In Exploitation Theory Since Okishio (," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 632-659, April.
    14. Galanis, Giorgos & Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2019. "The dynamics of inequalities and unequal exchange of labor in intertemporal linear economies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 29-46.
    15. Medvegyev, Péter, 2013. "A necessary and sufficient condition for the positivity of the growth rate in the Neumann–Gale model of economic growth," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 173-176.
    16. Griffin, Keith & Gurley, John, 1985. "Radical Analyses of Imperialism, the Third World, and the Transition to Socialism: A Survey Article," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 1089-1143, September.
    17. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2006. "The World Distribution of Income: Falling Poverty and … Convergence, Period," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 351-397.
    18. Oded Galor & Andrew Mountford, 2008. "Trading Population for Productivity: Theory and Evidence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(4), pages 1143-1179.
    19. Duncan K. Foley, 1982. "The Value of Money the Value of Labor Power and the Marxian Transformation Problem," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 14(2), pages 37-47, June.
    20. Roemer, John E, 1982. "Origins of Exploitation and Class: Value Theory of Pre-Capitalist Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 163-192, January.
    21. Dan Ben-David, 1993. "Equalizing Exchange: Trade Liberalization and Income Convergence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 653-679.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cogliano, Jonathan F. & Kaneko, Soh & Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2020. "International Exploitation, Capital Export, and Unequal Exchange," Discussion Paper Series 718, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Naoki Yoshihara, 2021. "On the labor theory of value as the basis for the analysis of economic inequality in the capitalist economy," Japanese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2-3), pages 190-212, July.
    3. Weikai Chen & Naoki Yoshihara, 2019. "Persistent Exploitation with Intertemporal Reproducible Solution in Pre-industrial Economies," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-10, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "Globalisation and inequality in a dynamic economy: an axiomatic analysis of unequal exchange," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 49(3), pages 445-468, December.
    2. Cogliano, Jonathan F. & Kaneko, Soh & Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2020. "International Exploitation, Capital Export, and Unequal Exchange," Discussion Paper Series 718, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    3. Naoki Yoshihara, 2021. "On the labor theory of value as the basis for the analysis of economic inequality in the capitalist economy," Japanese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2-3), pages 190-212, July.
    4. Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2018. "The Theory Of Exploitation As The Unequal Exchange Of Labour," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 381-409, November.
    5. Weikai Chen & Naoki Yoshihara, 2019. "Persistent Exploitation with Intertemporal Reproducible Solution in Pre-industrial Economies," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-10, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    6. Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2013. "The Measurement of Labour Content: A General Approach," Discussion Paper Series 587, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Jonathan F Cogliano, 2023. "Marx’s equalised rate of exploitation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(1), pages 133-169.
    8. Jonathan F. Cogliano, 2017. "Surplus Value Production and Realization in Marxian Theory - Applications to the U.S., 1987-2015," Working Paper Series 2017-01, Dickinson College, Department of Economics.
    9. Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2014. "One million miles to go: taking the axiomatic road to defining exploitation," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2014-10, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    10. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "A Progress Report On Marxian Economic Theory: On The Controversies In Exploitation Theory Since Okishio (1963)," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1421-1448, December.
    11. Yoshihara, Naoki, 2022. "Correspondence between Exploitation and Profits in General Neoclassical Production Economies," Discussion Paper Series 739, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    12. Galanis, Giorgos & Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2019. "The dynamics of inequalities and unequal exchange of labor in intertemporal linear economies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 29-46.
    13. Jonathan F Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2024. "The dynamics of international exploitation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(5), pages 1420-1446, August.
    14. Naoki Yoshihara & Roberto Veneziani, 2009. "Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour: An Axiomatic Approach," Working Papers 655, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    15. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2016. "The Dynamics of Exploitation and Class in Accumulation Economies," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 242-290, May.
    16. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2019. "Exploitation, skills, and inequality," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(2), pages 208-249, April.
    17. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2015. "Unequal Exchange, Assets, and Power: Recent Developments in Exploitation Theory," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Constanze Binder & Giulio Codognato & Miriam Teschl & Yongsheng Xu (ed.), Individual and Collective Choice and Social Welfare, edition 127, pages 253-287, Springer.
    18. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2015. "Exploitation in economies with heterogeneous preferences, skills and assets: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 8-33, January.
    19. Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2023. "The measurement of labour content: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 392-402.
    20. Yoshihara, Naoki, 2014. "A Progressive Report on Marxian Economic Theory: On the Controversies in Exploitation Theory since Okishio (1963)," Discussion Paper Series 607, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unequal exchange of labor; a world economy with a leisure preference; non-stationary relative prices of commodities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2018-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sachiko Minami (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/smkocjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.