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This paper examines the theoretical underpinning of contemporary trade policies through a social economics lens. The paper offers a social economic critique of the theory of comparative advantage and the recently developed theory of comparative institutional advantage. Subsequently, the paper develops a more comprehensive and general theory of comparative institutional advantage consistent with the principles and methodology of social economics. Furthermore, it suggests ways in which this social economic-geographic version of the theory of comparative institutional advantage can be used in the construction of trade policies which are more likely to have a beneficial impact on the welfare of communities and to foster the fulfilling of human needs and potential. This version of the theory serves to reorient the focus of economic policy to the welfare of the community and the income-generating possibilities of trade. And it serves as a superior guide to policymaking because it is better able to define the root causes of regional success than standard trade theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of mainstream economists believe that globalization and trade liberalization have had a minor role in increasing U.S. wage inequality. A minority argues that capital mobility and outsourcing indicate a larger effect. This paper first surveys these views, and then argues that how we understand the policy consequences of trade liberalization helps determine the character our analysis of the issue itself. Thus, a shift in policy perspective, to consider the "equity costs" of trade liberalization in terms of eroded U.S. labor market institutions, produces a larger framework for analyzing the consequences of globalization and trade liberalization than is available in traditional comparative advantage efficiency reasoning. From this wider perspective, trade liberalization has likely had a greater impact on U.S. wage inequality than even the minority mainstream position allows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Economic Geography (NEG)'s agglomerative forces strongly determined the location of firms, in spite of policy intervention blatantly activist intended to reverberate the geography of production (during the communist regime). Recent models of geography and trade recognize a bijective interaction between NEG forces and comparative advantages, they fully explain productive specialization. Our interpretation of the Czech manufacturing is in accordance with the NEG and its recent integration with the comparative advantages stream. In the panel data float up some invariant characteristics enhancing the attractiveness of traditional industrialized territories. The estimates embody the population density and gravitational and agglomeration forces. The time-invariant characteristics are present in the most industrial regions, influencing the localization of manufacturing activity in these spots. In spite of the forceful influence of path dependence, the very manufacturing cores underwent a process of restructuration, adapting the old-fashioned specialization pattern toward a more coherent production tailored to local assets, endowments and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains, in terms of Galbraith's ‘conventional wisdom’ and ‘innocent fraud’ of mainstream economics, why the U.S. economy has experienced significant backsliding from the degree of progress our economic policies and institutions made toward producing a civilized economic society. It then sets out policy proposals for making progress toward a twenty-first-century ‘good society.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research examines the implication of Nigeria's lopsided land transport structure for performance and efficiency in the freight transport sector using the Lagos–Kano corridor as a case study. A comparative analysis of road and rail performance in freight transport using defined performance indicators shows that road transport performed better on all but two indicators, namely, freight ton-kilometres moved per vehicle hour travelled and throughput per unit of energy consumed. Other performance indicators such as absolute throughput of freight, freight ton-kilometres performed, speed, freight throughput per unit cost of operation and revenue per ton of freight moved favoured roads over rail. Clearly, rail comparative advantage relates to capacity, but freight shippers are looking for speed that shortens vehicle turnaround time. The lesson is that freight shippers will not explore modal comparative advantages (such as capacity and lower freight rates) except such advantages are complemented with competitiveness conferred by technology (especially speed). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a systematic descriptive and analytical framework for understanding the comparative advantages of member-owned businesses (MOBs) such as cooperatives, mutuals, and economic associations. First, it provides a short description of two main ownership types—consumer and producer—then it provides a taxonomy of all the main sub-types. An overview of the literature on comparative advantage follows. The three elements of ownership, control, and benefit are identified, and then advantages arising from these elements are identified and discussed with historical examples and empirical evidence derived mainly from the author's previous work. There is a brief discussion of the wider advantages to society in general from the presence of an MOB sector. A section on disadvantages identifies problems such as difficulty in raising capital, and governance failure due to lack of member participation. The final section considers the comparative nature of advantage, comparing MOBs with other ownership types, and making a distinction between comparative advantage and competitive advantage under particular market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of distinct national varieties or systems of capitalism gained considerable currency in the last two decades. This review essay highlights three theoretical premises which define what we call the comparative capitalisms (CC) approach to political economy: First, national economies are characterized by distinct institutional configurations; second, these configurations are a source of comparative institutional advantage; and third, the configurations are stabilized by institutional path dependence. Within these common premises, the CC literature contains a number of competing theories and we highlight the fundamental distinctions among them and draw out their respective limitations. We specifically examine the role of politics within the CC literature and how emerging conceptions of politics may contribute to understanding institutional change in capitalist systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a multimarket von Thünen model that concerns change in the internal economic geography of two countries once trade develops between them. Using the principle of comparative advantage, an initial allocation of four industries is established across each of the countries based on local variation in factor endowments, regional demand at several centers, and internal transport costs. Once trade begins, reallocation of production in the four industries in each country is modeled as the response to comparative factor endowments across the countries, trade costs, transport costs, and differences in demand. The model's results indicate that geography matters in trade both within and across countries. Proximity is especially important. Regions of the trading countries that are effectively neighbors are affected more by the introduction of trade than are regions that are peripheral in the true geographical sense. At the national scale, results suggest that a high tariff in one country can raise aggregate production and distribution costs in another country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western New York state between 1840 and 1860 is used to test the Brinkmann thesis that local comparative advantage assumes increasing locational importance as transport costs decline under nonhomogeneous conditions. A canonical correlation model using agricultural census data, distance measures, and land capabilities indicates that the best developed of the four main agricultural systems in 1840 were oriented to the eastern market, regardless of land quality; in 1860 the four systems were better defined, more specialized, and located in closer conformity with physical conditions. The results confirm the hypothesis that transport costs are inversely associated with degree of specialization and trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]