Sources of International Comparative Advantage

Book excerpt: This is the first book to present a clear empirical picture of the international exchange of goods and of the resources that account for the exchanges that occur. It fully articulates the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of international comparative advantage, in which a country's factor endowments (land, labor, capital) play a crucial role in determining trade patterns. The theory is carefully link to the book's analysis. Using tables, graphs, and econometric data summaries, Learner describes the patterns of trade and the patterns of resource supplies of fifty-nine countries and explains these trade patterns in terms of the abundance of eleven resources. His study should create a standard by which other data analyses will be judged in the future. Edward E. Learner is Professor of Economics at the University of California at Los Angeles.