外文文獻及中文翻譯-中國為什么這么有競爭力測評和解釋中國的競爭力情況whyischinasocompetitivemea

1、Why Is China So Competitive? Measuring and Explaining China s Competitiveness by F. Gerard Adams, Northeastern University, Byron Gangnes, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Yochanan Shachmurove, City University of New York1 Working Paper No. 04-62 October 2004 (selection) Comparative Advantage and I

2、nternational Competitiveness The explanation of international competitiveness by economists goes back many years to the theory of comparative advantage and factor pricing (Ricardo and Heckscher-Ohlin). While Ricardo focused on one production factor and differences in technology (climate), Heckscher

3、and Ohlin dealt with labor and capital inputs and justified comparative advantage on the basis of underlying differences in factor endowments and relative factor prices. This approach has been extended to many products and many factors (Dornbusch, Fisher, and Samuelson, 1977). In the modern theory o

4、f trade under imperfect competition, comparative advantage continues to play a central role in explaining trade patterns, although scale economies and strategic motives are also important (Helpman and Krugman, 1985). Ronald Jones (2000) has noted that absolute advantages may influence patterns of sp

5、ecialization if some inputs to production are mobile across borders. Comparative advantage may lie at the heart of the theory of specialization and trade but it is not always closely related to real world discussions of competitiveness. First, comparative advantage is a microeconomic concept, focusi

6、ng on industry-specific trade, explaining why one country might export labor-intensive products while another country might specialize in capital-intensive ones. By definition each country has a comparative advantage in the production of some productsthose for which it has a lower relative (opportun

7、ity) cost than its competitors. Therefore, comparative advantage has little significance from a macroeconomic perspective. It is not meaningful to say that at any time country A in the aggregate has a comparative advantage over country B. Second, comparative advantage is an equilibrium concept, pred

8、icting a pattern of trade when prices, trade flows and exchange rates are in equilibrium. Business decisions, in contrast, often must explicitly consider short-term developments as well as long term equilibrium outcomes. These will include current economic conditions, exchange rate fluctuations, and

9、 other factors that represent deviations from long-run equilibrium conditions. Finally comparative advantage does not take specifically into account all the technological options available to the producers. At the microeconomic level, when dealing with specific products, it is not always clear from

10、theory which country has the most favorable mix of resourcesand factor prices for various types of production. Depending on technology and infrastructure, a shortage of labor relative to capital which implies relatively high wage rates may be offset by differences in productivity. High wages may or

11、may not translate into competitive disadvantage for labor-intensive products if alternative technologies using less labor and more capital are available. For example, many products that are produced by hand in China are also produced, by machine, in the United States. Competitiveness, a term used wi

12、dely in the business administration literature (Porter, 1990), has been often been applied in Europe and the US to represent the failures or successes of the economy. By competitiveness we mean the ability under present conditions of a country s products to command w markets. In contrast to comparat

13、ive advantage, it is appropriate to talk meaningfully about international competitiveness both on the macro and micro level. International competitiveness is a matter largely of costs: which country is able to deliver the product to the market most cheaply. Contributing to costs are factors that dir

14、ectly affect input prices, such as exchange rates, domestic wages and material costs, and productivity, but also capabilities to produce goods of appropriate quality and meeting market specifications. Transportation and communication costs, and trade barriers and trade strategy may all play a role.

15、Competitiveness is not an equilibrium concept. It represents a position at a point in time or its change over time. Since adjustment on the product supply side is likely to be very slow it takes many years to establish production facilities and export markets competitiveness typically refers to a ti

16、me of disequilibrium when a country can increase its share of export markets. In other words, competitiveness often refers to dynamic rather than static perspectives. Common usage of the term, competitiveness, is usually broader than would be implied by a formal definition. In particular, advocates

17、for competitiveness often stress the role of sustained productivity growth in producing products that meet the test of international markets and that leads to higher living standards. (Porter 1990, Competitiveness Policy Council, 1992). It is in this context that the term has been embraced by politi

18、cians to represent the failures or successes of Western economies. But, the ability to command world markets (for a time) does not necessarily imply higher living standards. A country prsoducts may be competitive because it has undervalued its currency. In that case, terms of trade may be unfavorabl

19、e from a welfare point of view, goods may be exported cheaply in terms of the imports. Nevertheless, the effects on trade and production are real, as are the necessary structural adjustments that go along with them. In contrast to comparative advantage, it is appropriate to talk meaningfully about i

20、nternational competitiveness both on the macro and micro level. At the macro level, a country esxports may be highly competitive in the destination countries or in comparison with products originating in other countries. That may reflect underlying factor cost and productivity considerations. It may

21、 also reflect the current exchange rate, undervaluation or overvaluation, as well as tariffs, transportation costs and trade restrictions as well as product quality and specifications. Competitiveness has dynamic attributes in the sense that, given resource environment, countries may become more com

22、petitive as a result of learning-by doing, assimilation of technology, capital accumulation, increasing scale of production, and policy intervention. Contrary to some thinking, it does make sense to think of a country s aggregate competitivenespsoalincdieasbout intended to advance its competitivenes

23、s. From a micro perspective as well, it is possible to ask whether certain industries are competitive in world markets. This calls for a cost comparison, at a prevailing exchange rate, involving such factors as wages and capital costs, scale of production, and, of course, productivity. As we have no

24、ted in the discussion of comparative advantage, some industries will be more suited to an economy sendowment of factors and skills than others. A dynamic improvement in competitiveness may mean that the competitiveness of currently exporting industries improves or that new products, perhaps technolo

25、gically more advanced ones, become competitive. Measurement of Competitiveness The measurement of international competitiveness may be approached from a “ results ” or fro“mcauses ” perspective. Results are basicalelyxport performance and the trade balance. These are ex post concepts and do not ask

26、“ why”t,hough there is often an implied explanation. Growth of exports, particularly growth that is more rapid than in other countries, implies competitiveness. A positive trade balance is also frequently cited as a positive measure of competitiveness. Presumably, competitiveness reflects relative c

27、osts, but it may also be affected by product attributes and trade restrictions. This may lead to confusion. Thus, a country that is running a trade surplus, may be suffering outflows of capital and its undervalued exchange rate may make its exports competitive. It is not clear that this type of comp

28、etitiveness is a good thing. Alternatively, a trade deficit may follow from a countr y s attractiveness to foreign investors whose capital inflow causes the exchange rate to be overvalued from the perspective of trade. A classical results measure, focused on particular industries, was Balassa “ reve

29、aledcomparative advantage ”（RCA） （Balassa, 1965）, the share of a country s exports of a specific product category （Xij） tts total exports （ 藝 iXij） as compared to the share of total world exports of the specific category （ in world exports of all goods （藝 i 工 jXij）, RCAij = Xij/ /（ 藝 iXij）/ （ 藝 jXij

30、）/ （ 藝 i 藝 jXij）. Balassa relates RCA measures to such underlying factors as capital intensity and human resource development （Balassa, 1979）. The RCAs are sector specific and static. It is possible to make them dynamic by focusing on comparisons over time and in terms of rates of change. For exampl

31、e, growth of a specific export more rapidly than world wide growth of the specific product exports suggests competitiveness in the specific product. Such a dynamic comparison is shown above. One may want to measure international competitiveness directly, seeking the causes for of a country or an ind

32、ustry ss international trade success. The exchange rate is, of course, the most immediate measure of the terms of trade. However, the nominal exchange rate, though relevant to trade transactions, fails to take into account differences in domestic currency production costs. Comparisons of the tempora

33、l movement of real exchange rates can be computed by adjusting changes in nominal exchange rates for the underlying domestic price movements. 中國為什么這么有競爭力？ 測評和解釋中國的競爭力情況 (節(jié)選) 比較優(yōu)勢和國家競爭力 經(jīng)濟學者對國際競爭力的解釋比對比較優(yōu)勢(李嘉圖)和要素稟賦理 論(赫克歇爾 - 俄林)晚許多年。比較優(yōu)勢理論中，李嘉圖強調(diào)生產(chǎn)要素和 技術(shù)差異；而赫克歇爾 - 俄林的要素稟賦理論關(guān)注勞動和資本的通入，并在 各國要素稟賦和相關(guān)要素價

34、格不同的基礎上，論證了比較優(yōu)勢。這種方法 延伸到許多產(chǎn)品和許多要素方面 ( Dornbusc，F(xiàn)isher and Smuelson,1977)。 在現(xiàn)代貿(mào)易理論中，在不完全競爭下，比較優(yōu)勢在解釋貿(mào)易方式方面繼續(xù) 擔當一個重要角色，雖然規(guī)模經(jīng)濟和動機策略也是很重要的(Helpman and Krugman,1985)。 Ronald Jones(2000) 已經(jīng)注意到，如果對生產(chǎn)的一些要 素的邊際投入是可變的，那么絕對比較優(yōu)勢將影響專業(yè)化的形式。 比較優(yōu)勢可能是專業(yè)化和貿(mào)易理論的核心，但是它并不總是接近被世 界廣泛討論的競爭力。首先，比較優(yōu)勢是一個微觀經(jīng)濟學的概念，它強調(diào) 的是產(chǎn)業(yè)專業(yè)化貿(mào)易，

35、 解釋為什么當一個國家專攻資本密集型產(chǎn)品的時候， 而另一個國家可能確在輸出勞動密集型產(chǎn)品。根據(jù)定義，每個國家在某些 產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)上具有比較優(yōu)勢 , 這些產(chǎn)品相關(guān)成本或機會成本低于它的競爭 者。因此，比較優(yōu)勢，從經(jīng)濟的宏觀方面來講，具有一定的重要性。但是 這并不意味著A國在某種產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)上永遠比 B國更占優(yōu)勢。 其次，比較優(yōu)勢是一個平衡的概念，當價格、貿(mào)易流量和匯率處在平 衡狀態(tài)時，預測一種貿(mào)易的形式。一項商業(yè)決策，相反，則要時常明確考 慮短期發(fā)展和長期發(fā)展的平衡結(jié)果。這些將會對包括現(xiàn)在的經(jīng)濟情況、匯 率變動和其他的來自長期平衡條件下的偏離要素。 最后，比較優(yōu)勢不把所有生產(chǎn)者都可以獲得的科學技術(shù)考

36、慮在內(nèi)。在 微觀經(jīng)濟下水平上，當涉及到某項特定產(chǎn)品時，但從理論方面來確定哪個 國家擁有最優(yōu)的資源組合和不同產(chǎn)品的要素價格不是很清楚。依賴科學技 術(shù)和內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu)形成的優(yōu)勢，可能會被由于與資本相關(guān)的勞動力短缺而造成 的勞動工資率過高而在生產(chǎn)力中被抵消。如果使用較少的勞動力和較多的 資本替代可選擇的技術(shù)是可能的， 那么高工資或許就不會轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)楦偁幜觿荨?舉例來說，許多在中國用手工生產(chǎn)的產(chǎn)品在美國同樣也有生產(chǎn)，但是使用 機器來生產(chǎn)的。 競爭力，一個在 1990 年被波特在商業(yè)管理報告中廣泛用到的詞語， 已 經(jīng)被歐洲和美國用作衡量經(jīng)濟的成功與失敗的指標。競爭力，我們是指在 現(xiàn)有條件下，一國產(chǎn)品在國際市場上的

37、占有率和獲利能力。 與比較優(yōu)勢不同，在宏觀和微觀層面討論國際競爭力是恰當?shù)?。國際 競爭力是一種成本比較： 哪一個國家能夠最廉價地把產(chǎn)品投放到國際市場。 影響成本的因素主要有那些直接影響價格的因素，比如：匯率、國內(nèi)工資 水平、生產(chǎn)資料價格、生產(chǎn)能力，但是還應包括能夠很好地生產(chǎn)高質(zhì)量并 能滿足視察概念特定要求的產(chǎn)品的能力。運輸費用和溝通成本、貿(mào)易壁壘 和貿(mào)易策略同樣有不可忽視的作用。競爭力不是一個平衡概念，它體現(xiàn)的 是一定時期的水平狀況或者是隨著實踐而發(fā)生的變化。因為在產(chǎn)品供給方 面的調(diào)整可能是賠償緩慢的構(gòu)建生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品的基礎設施和出口市場的開 發(fā)可能需要很多年，所以，競爭力典型地涉及到當一個國家可以

38、提高它產(chǎn) 品的國際市場份額時期的不平衡。換句話說，競爭力時常涉及動態(tài)的而非 靜態(tài)的遠景。 競爭力，一個經(jīng)常使用的術(shù)語，通常有著比正式定義更寬泛的含義。 尤其，競爭力的倡導者更加強調(diào)維持在生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品過程中生產(chǎn)力的提高以滿 足市場需求的能力和提高人們生活水平的能力（波特，競爭力政策議會， 1992）。在本文中，定義被政治家強調(diào)為體現(xiàn)西方經(jīng)濟的失敗和成功。但 是，在一定時期內(nèi)，能力并不能必然導致生活水平的提高。某國產(chǎn)品具有 競爭力可能是因為它的價格低于它的通貨價值。在這種情況下，從福利的 角度來看，貿(mào)易條件可能是不利的，產(chǎn)品可能會廉價地根據(jù)進口條件出口 輸出。然而，對貿(mào)易和生產(chǎn)上的影響是確定的，如必須

39、配合進行的結(jié)構(gòu)性 調(diào)整。 與比較優(yōu)勢不同，在宏觀和微觀層面全面討論國際競爭力是非常恰當 的。在宏觀層面，一個國家的出口商品在目的國或與其他生產(chǎn)國相比是具 有很強的競爭力的。那可能反映在下面的要素價格和生產(chǎn)力條件上，也可 能反映在現(xiàn)有的匯率、低估或高估，關(guān)稅、運輸費用、貿(mào)易限制和產(chǎn)品質(zhì) 量規(guī)格方面。在某種意義上，競爭力具有很強的這樣的屬性：在給定資源 環(huán)境下，一個國家，可能會因技術(shù)的進步、資本的積累，生產(chǎn)規(guī)模的不斷 增加和政策干涉而變得更有競爭力。和一般的觀點不同，這確實可以從整 體上考慮一個國家的競爭力和有關(guān)政策的實施會增強其競爭力。 從微觀層面看，我們可以討論某個特定產(chǎn)業(yè)在國際市場上是否具有

40、競 爭力。這就需要一個成本的比較，在一個現(xiàn)行的匯率水平上，包括的要素 有如工資、資本成本、生產(chǎn)規(guī)模，當然，還有生產(chǎn)能力。我們在前面有關(guān) 競爭優(yōu)勢的討論中已經(jīng)注意到，某種行業(yè)可能會在一個特定的經(jīng)濟體中比 其他行業(yè)更始與這個經(jīng)濟體的要素稟賦和技術(shù)條件。在競爭力的動態(tài)進步 中，可能是指現(xiàn)有出口產(chǎn)業(yè)競爭力的提高，或者是新的產(chǎn)品，比如，更高 技術(shù)更先進的產(chǎn)品，變得更有競爭力。 競爭力的評價 對國際競爭力，可以從“結(jié)果”和“原因”兩個方面進行評價。結(jié)果 方面基本是指出口表現(xiàn)和貿(mào)易平衡。 這些是一種概念而且不需要問為什么， 盡管也有些暗示性的解釋。出口增長，尤其是這種增長遠遠超過其他國家 時，則說明有競爭力

41、。貿(mào)易順差也經(jīng)常被當成能夠證明具有競爭力的衡量 指標。理論上，競爭力反映相關(guān)費用成本，但是它可能會被產(chǎn)品屬性和貿(mào) 易限制所影響，這種評價指標將導致混亂。因此，一個有貿(mào)易順差的國家， 可能正蒙受資本的外流，而且它的被低估的匯率則使其出口更具競爭力。 這種類型的競爭力是否是一件好事，則很難定論。另外，貿(mào)易逆差可能是 因為從貿(mào)易角度來看，這個國家匯率高估對國外投資者的吸引，而導致資 本的流入。 在結(jié)果評價方面，特別是針對某個特定產(chǎn)業(yè)，最經(jīng)典的是 Balassa 的 顯示性比較優(yōu)勢（RCA o RCA是指一國某特定產(chǎn)品的出口額（Xij）占該國總 出口額（工iXij）的比率與世界上該產(chǎn)品的出口總額 （工jXij）占世界總出口 額（工i工jXij）的比率的比值。 用公式表示是：RCAij = Xij/ /（ 工 iXij）/ （ 工 jXij）/ （