Wassily Wassilyevich Leontief ( Russian : Васи́лий Васи́льевич Лео́нтьев ; August 5, 1905 – February 5, 1999), was a Soviet-American economist known for his research on input–output analysis and how changes in one economic sector may affect other sectors.
86-662: Leontief won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1973, and four of his doctoral students have also been awarded the prize ( Paul Samuelson 1970, Robert Solow 1987, Vernon L. Smith 2002, Thomas Schelling 2005). Wassily Leontief was born on August 5, 1905, in Munich , German Empire, the son of Wassily W. Leontief (professor of Economics ) and Zlata (German spelling Slata ; later Evgenia) Leontief (née Becker). Wassily Leontief Sr. belonged to
172-820: A consequence, he was detained several times by the Cheka . In 1925, he was allowed to leave the USSR, mostly because the Cheka believed that he was mortally ill with a sarcoma , a diagnosis that later proved false. He continued his studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and, in 1928, earned a Ph.D. degree in economics under the direction of Werner Sombart , writing his dissertation on The Economy as Circular Flow (original German title: Die Wirtschaft als Kreislauf ). From 1927 to 1930, he worked at
258-407: A country where capital and land are abundant but labor is scarce has a comparative advantage in goods that require lots of capital and land, but little labor — such as grains. If capital and land are abundant, their prices are low. As they are the main factors in the production of grain, the price of grain is also low—and thus attractive for both local consumption and export. Labor-intensive goods, on
344-513: A family of Russian old-believer merchants living in St. Petersburg since 1741. Evgenia (Genya) Becker belonged to a wealthy Jewish family from Odessa . At 15 in 1921, Wassily Jr. entered University of Leningrad in present-day St. Petersburg . He earned his Learned Economist degree (equivalent to Master of Arts ) in 1925 at the age of 19. Leontief sided with campaigners for academic autonomy, freedom of speech and in support of Pitirim Sorokin . As
430-451: A local supply. If the two countries have separate currencies , this does not affect the model in any way— purchasing power parity applies. Since there are no transaction costs or currency issues the law of one price applies to both commodities, and consumers in either country pay exactly the same price for either good. In Ohlin's day this assumption was a fairly neutral simplification, but economic changes and econometric research since
516-483: A lot less like the world modelled by Heckscher and Ohlin. It has been argued that capital mobility undermines the case for free trade itself, see: Capital mobility and comparative advantage Free trade critique . Capital is mobile when: Like capital, labor movements are not permitted in the Heckscher–Ohlin world, since this would drive an equalization of relative abundances of the two production factors, just as in
602-669: A similar manner as and announced alongside the Nobel Prize recipients, and receive the Prize in Economic Sciences at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. That the prize is not an original Nobel Prize has been a subject of controversy, with four of Nobel's relatives having formally distanced themselves from the Prize in Economic Sciences. The award was established in 1968 by an endowment "in perpetuity" from Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank , to commemorate
688-424: A simple form where F C {\displaystyle \mathbf {F_{C}} } is the net trade of factor service vector for country c {\displaystyle c} , V C {\displaystyle \mathbf {V_{C}} } the factor endowment vector for country c {\displaystyle c} , and s C {\displaystyle s_{C}}
774-432: A single worldwide investment pool. Differences in labour abundance would not produce a difference in relative factor abundance (in relation to mobile capital) because the labour/capital ratio would be identical everywhere. (A large country would receive twice as much investment as a small one, for instance, maximizing capitalist's return on investment ). As capital controls are reduced, the modern world has begun to look
860-528: Is a general equilibrium mathematical model of international trade , developed by Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin at the Stockholm School of Economics . It builds on David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage by predicting patterns of commerce and production based on the resources of a trading region. The model essentially says that countries export the products which use their relatively abundant and cheap factors of production, and import
946-426: Is an "unrealistic" simplification designed to highlight the effect of variable factors. This meant that the original H–O model produced an alternative explanation for free trade to Ricardo's, rather than a complementary one; in reality, both effects may occur due to differences in technology and factor abundances. In addition to natural advantages in the production of one sort of output over another (wine vs. rice, say)
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#17327824476611032-709: Is an economics award funded by Sveriges Riksbank and administered by the Nobel Foundation . Although not one of the five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895, it is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics , and is administered and referred to along with the Nobel Prizes by the Nobel Foundation. Winners of the Prize in Economic Sciences are chosen in
1118-443: Is assumed to exhibit constant returns to scale (CRS). CRS technologies implies that when inputs of both capital and labor is multiplied by a factor of k , the output also multiplies by a factor of k . For example, if both capital and labor inputs are doubled, output of the commodities is doubled. In other terms the production function of both commodities is " homogeneous of degree 1". The assumption of constant returns to scale CRS
1204-672: Is bound to diminish in the same way that the role of horses in agricultural production was first diminished and then eliminated by the introduction of tractors. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences , officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( Swedish : Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne ),
1290-425: Is caused, however, not by an inadequate selection of targets, but rather by our inability to hit squarely on them, ... by the palpable inadequacy of the scientific means with which they try to solve them. ... The weak and all too slowly growing empirical foundations clearly cannot support the proliferating superstructure of pure, or should I say, speculative economic theory.... By the time it comes to interpretations of
1376-417: Is possible to ask how this system of equations holds. The results obtained by Bowen, Leamer and Sveiskaus (1987) were disastrous. They examined the cases of 12 factors and 27 countries for the year 1967. They found that the two sides of the equations had the same sign only for 61% of 324 cases. For the year 1983, the result was more disastrous. Both sides had the same sign only for 148 cases out of 297 cases (or
1462-428: Is sometimes called the "2×2×2 model". The model has "variable factor proportions" between countries—highly developed countries have a comparatively high capital-to-labor ratio compared to developing countries . This makes the developed country capital-abundant relative to the developing country, and the developing nation labor-abundant in relation to the developed country. With this single difference, Ohlin
1548-582: Is useful because it exhibits a diminishing returns in a factor. Under constant returns to scale, doubling both capital and labor leads to a doubling of the output. Since outputs are increasing in both factors of production, doubling capital while holding labor constant leads to less than doubling of an output. Diminishing returns to capital and diminishing returns to labor are crucial to the Stolper–Samuelson theorem . The CRS production functions must differ to make trade worthwhile in this model. For instance if
1634-511: The Financial Times , both the former Swedish minister for finance , Kjell-Olof Feldt , and the former Swedish minister for commerce, Gunnar Myrdal , wanted the prize abolished, with "Myrdal rather less graciously want[ing] the prize abolished because it had been given to such reactionaries as Hayek (and afterwards Milton Friedman )." Relatedly, it has been noted that several members of the awarding committee have been affiliated with
1720-539: The Harvard Society of Fellows . In 1975, Leontief joined New York University and founded and directed the Institute for Economic Analysis. He taught graduate and undergraduate classes. In 1932, Leontief married the poet Estelle Marks (1908-2005). Their only child, Svetlana Leontief Alpers , was born in 1936. Estelle wrote a memoir, Genia and Wassily , of their relations with his parents after they came to
1806-921: The Institute for the World Economy of the University of Kiel . There he researched the derivation of statistical demand and supply curves. In 1929, he traveled to China to assist its ministry of railroads as an advisor. In 1931, he went to the United States and was employed by the National Bureau of Economic Research . During World War II, Leontief served as consultant at the U. S. Office of Strategic Services . Leontief joined Harvard University 's department of economics in 1932 and in 1946 became professor of economics there. In 1949, Leontief used an early computer at Harvard and data from
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#17327824476611892-605: The Mont Pelerin Society . Milton Friedman was awarded the 1976 prize in part for his work on monetarism . Awarding the prize to Friedman caused international protests. Friedman was accused of supporting the military dictatorship in Chile because of the relation of economists of the University of Chicago to Pinochet , and a controversial six-day trip he took to Chile during March 1975 (less than two years after
1978-571: The Nobel Prize in Economics for his development of its associated theory. He has also made contributions in other areas of economics, such as international trade where he documented the Leontief paradox . He was also one of the first to establish the composite commodity theorem. Leontief earned the Nobel Prize in economics for his work on input–output tables. Input–output tables analyze the process by which inputs from one industry produce outputs for consumption or for inputs for another industry. With
2064-710: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to divide the U.S. economy into 500 sectors. Leontief modeled each sector with a linear equation based on the data and used the computer, the Harvard Mark II , to solve the system, one of the first significant uses of computers for mathematical modeling, along with George W. Snedecor 's usage of the Atanasoff–Berry computer . Leontief set up the Harvard Economic Research Project in 1948 and remained its director until 1973. Starting in 1965, he chaired
2150-549: The committee 's bias towards mainstream economics , though heterodox economists like Friedrich Hayek ( Austrian School ) and Ronald Coase (associated with new institutional economics ) have won. In his speech at the 1974 Nobel Prize banquet, Friedrich Hayek stated that had he been consulted on the establishment of a Nobel Prize in economics, he would have "decidedly advised against it", primarily because "The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess. This does not matter in
2236-414: The natural sciences . Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to size if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally." Nevertheless, Hayek accepted the award. According to Samuel Brittan of
2322-454: The neo-classical economics . The original, 2×2×2 model was derived with restrictive assumptions, partly for the sake of mathematical simplicity. Some of these have been relaxed for the sake of development. These assumptions and developments are listed here. This assumption means that producing the same output of either commodity could be done with the same level of capital and labour in either country. Actually, it would be inefficient to use
2408-432: The wage rates seem to consistently converge between trading partners at different levels of development. The Stolper–Samuelson theorem concerns nominal rents and wages. The Magnification effect on prices considers the effect of output-goods price-changes on the real return to capital and labor. This is done by dividing the nominal rates with a price index , but took thirty years to develop completely because of
2494-428: The 1950s have shown that the local prices of goods tend to correlate with incomes when both are converted at money prices (though this is less true with traded commodities). See: Penn effect . Neither labor nor capital has the power to affect prices or factor rates by constraining supply; a state of perfect competition exists. The results of this work has been the formulation of certain named conclusions arising from
2580-635: The Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) model, developed by Swedish economists Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin from the Stockholm School of Economics. The H-O model advances international trade theory by introducing the concept of factor endowments within a country as well as the underlying causes for differences in comparative costs between countries, while assuming countries will have identical production technologies. The H-O framework finds that countries have differing comparative costs even though they have
2666-405: The Heckscher–Ohlin model is that the two countries are identical, except for the difference in resource endowments. This also implies that the aggregate preferences are the same. The relative abundance in capital leads the capital-abundant country to produce the capital-intensive good cheaper than the labor-abundant country, and vice versa. Initially, when the countries are not trading: The price of
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2752-452: The H–O model assumes capital is privately held. Bertil Ohlin first explained the theory in a book published in 1933. Ohlin wrote the book alone, but he credited Heckscher as co-developer of the model because of his earlier work on the problem, and because many of the ideas in the final model came from Ohlin's doctoral thesis, supervised by Heckscher. Interregional and International Trade itself
2838-558: The Leontief Prize in Economics each year in his honor. Leontief is listed in the Russian-American Chamber of Fame of Congress of Russian Americans , which is dedicated to Russian immigrants who made outstanding contributions to American science or culture. Much of current academic teaching and research has been criticized for its lack of relevance, that is, of immediate practical impact. ... The trouble
2924-488: The Nobel family has ever had the intention of establishing a prize in economics. He explained that "Nobel despised people who cared more about profits than society's well-being", saying that "There is nothing to indicate that he would have wanted such a prize", and that the association with the Nobel prizes is "a PR coup by economists to improve their reputation". Critics cite the apparent snub of Joan Robinson as evidence of
3010-568: The Nobel laureates in physics , chemistry , physiology or medicine , and literature , each laureate in Economics receives a diploma, gold medal, and monetary grant award document from the King of Sweden at the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm , on the anniversary of Nobel's death (December 10). The first prize in economics was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen "for having developed and applied dynamic models for
3096-526: The Prize in Economics for the coming year. Members of the Academy and former laureates are also authorised to nominate candidates." All proposals and their supporting evidence must be received before February 1. The proposals are reviewed by the Prize Committee and specially appointed experts. Before the end of September, the committee chooses potential laureates. If there is a tie, the chairman of
3182-934: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "administers a researcher exchange with academies in other countries and publishes six scientific journals. Every year the Academy awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Chemistry, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Crafoord Prize and a number of other large prizes". Each September the Academy's Economics Prize Committee, which consists of five elected members, "sends invitations to thousands of scientists, members of academies and university professors in numerous countries, asking them to nominate candidates for
3268-593: The US as émigrés. As hobbies Leontief enjoyed fly fishing , ballet, and fine wines. He vacationed for years at his farm in West Burke , Vermont, but after moving to New York in the 1970s moved his summer residence to Lakeville, Connecticut . Leontief died in New York City on Friday, February 5, 1999, at the age of 93. Leontief is credited with developing early contributions to input–output analysis and earned
3354-406: The analysis of economic processes". Three women have received the prize: Elinor Ostrom , who won in 2009, Esther Duflo , who won in 2019, and Claudia Goldin , who won in 2023. Goldin was the first woman to win the award solo. In February 1995, following acrimony within the selection committee pertaining to the awarding of the 1994 Prize in Economics to John Forbes Nash , the Prize in Economics
3440-417: The arable industry and the fishing industry it is assumed that farmers can shift to work as fishermen with no cost and vice versa. It is further assumed that capital can shift easily into either technology, so that the industrial mix can change without adjustment costs between the two types of production. For instance, if the two industries are farming and fishing it is assumed that farms can be sold to pay for
3526-450: The assumption that technology is not the same everywhere. This change would mean abandoning the pure H–O model. In 1954 an econometric test by Wassily W. Leontief of the H–O model found that the United States, despite having a relative abundance of capital, tended to export labor-intensive goods and import capital-intensive goods. This problem became known as the Leontief paradox . Alternative trade models and various explanations for
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3612-414: The assumptions inherent in the model. Exports of a capital-abundant country come from capital-intensive industries, and labour-abundant countries import such goods, exporting labour-intensive goods in return. Competitive pressures within the H–O model produce this prediction fairly straightforwardly. Conveniently, this is an easily testable hypothesis. When the amount of one factor of production increases,
3698-494: The award and funds the monetary component of the award. In 2022, the monetary portion of the Prize in Economic Sciences was 10 million Swedish kronor , the same amount as the original Nobel Prizes. Since 2006, Sveriges Riksbank has given the Nobel Foundation an annual grant of 6.5 million Swedish kronor (in January 2008, approx. US$ 1 million; € 0.7 million) for its administrative expenses associated with
3784-412: The award as well as 1 million Swedish kronor (until the end of 2008) to include information about the award on the Nobel Foundation's web site. The Prize in Economic Sciences is not one of the Nobel Prizes endowed by Alfred Nobel in his will. However, the nomination process, selection criteria, and awards presentation of the Prize in Economic Sciences are performed in a manner similar to that of
3870-527: The bank's 300th anniversary. Laureates in the Prize in Economic Sciences are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . It was first awarded in 1969 to Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen and Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes". An endowment "in perpetuity" from Sveriges Riksbank pays the Nobel Foundation's administrative expenses associated with
3956-536: The borders in the two economies, the main variables would remain unchanged. Avinash Dixit and Victor D. Norman (1980, chp.4) proposed the integrated world equilibrium (IWE) diagram to illustrate the equilibrium with mobile factors: world prices will remain unchanged when factor endowments are redistributed within the factor price equalization (FPE) set. Much literature confirmed this result fully. Elhanan Helpman and Paul Krugman (1985, p.23-24) further used equal-trade-volume lines to illustrate trade equilibrium and
4042-403: The capital-intensive good in the capital-abundant country will be bid down relative to the price of the good in the other country, the price of the labor-intensive good in the labor-abundant country will be bid down relative to the price of the good in the other country. Once trade is allowed, profit-seeking firms move their products to the markets that have (temporary) higher prices. As a result:
4128-455: The case of capital immobility. This condition is more defensible as a description of the modern world than the assumption that capital is confined to a single country. The 2x2x2 model originally placed no barriers to trade, had no tariffs , and no exchange controls (capital was immobile, but repatriation of foreign sales was costless). It was also free of transportation costs between the countries, or any other savings that would favor procuring
4214-400: The characteristics of trade flow between the U.S. and other countries, and found what has been named Leontief's paradox ; "this country resorts to foreign trade in order to economize its capital and dispose of its surplus labor , rather than vice versa", i.e., U.S. exports were relatively labor-intensive when compared to U.S. imports. This is the opposite of what one would expect, considering
4300-496: The committee casts the deciding vote. Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences vote in mid-October to determine the next laureate or laureates of the Prize in Economics. As with the Nobel Prizes, no more than three people can share the prize for a given year; they must still be living at the time of the Prize announcement in October; and information about Prize nominations cannot be disclosed publicly for 50 years. Like
4386-422: The construction of fishing boats with no transaction costs. The theory by Avsar has offered much criticism to this. The basic Heckscher–Ohlin model depends upon the relative availability of capital and labor differing internationally, but if capital can be freely invested anywhere, competition (for investment) makes relative abundances identical throughout the world. Essentially, free trade in capital provides
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#17327824476614472-415: The country c {\displaystyle c} 's share of the world consumption and V {\displaystyle \mathbf {V} } the world total endowment vector of factors. For many countries and many factors, it is possible to estimate the left hand sides and right hand sides independently. To put it another way, the left hand side tells the direction of factor service trade. Thus it
4558-600: The coup that ended with the suicide of its democratically elected President Salvador Allende ). Friedman himself answered that he never was an adviser to the dictatorship, but only gave some lectures and seminars on inflation and met with officials, including Augusto Pinochet , in Chile. Four Nobel Prize laureates – George Wald , Linus Pauling , David Baltimore and Salvador Luria – wrote letters in October 1976 to The New York Times protesting Friedman's award. The 2005 prize to Robert Aumann
4644-418: The difference in the costs of a particular factor when a cheaper factor is more abundant. The theory predicts that nations will export the goods that make the most of the factors that are abundant in their soil and will import those that are made with scarce factors. Thus, this theory aims to explain the scheme of international trade that we observe in the world economy. Ohlin and Heckscher's theory advocates that
4730-405: The expense of its arable farms. Conversely, the workers available in the relatively labor-abundant country can be employed relatively more efficiently in arable farming. Within countries, capital and labor can be reinvested and reemployed to produce different outputs. Similar to Ricardo's comparative advantage argument, this is assumed to happen without cost. If the two production technologies are
4816-427: The fact that the U.S.'s comparative advantage was in capital-intensive goods. According to some economists, this paradox has since been explained as due to the fact that when a country produces "more than two goods, the abundance of capital relative to labor does not imply that the capital intensity of its exports should exceed that of imports." Leontief was also a very strong proponent of the use of quantitative data in
4902-505: The functions are Cobb–Douglas technologies the parameters applied to the inputs must vary. An example would be: where A is the output in arable production, F is the output in fish production, and K , L are capital and labor in both cases. In this example, the marginal return to an extra unit of capital is higher in the fishing industry , assuming units of fish ( F ) and arable output ( A ) have equal value. The more capital-abundant country may gain by developing its fishing fleet at
4988-459: The increased ability of transferring knowledge/ production technologies between countries, mainly focusing on factorial differences such as labor force and resource allocation as to why countries trade with each other. The Ricardian model of comparative advantage has trade ultimately motivated by differences in labour productivity using different "technologies". Heckscher and Ohlin did not require production technology to vary between countries, so (in
5074-567: The infrastructure, education, culture, and "know-how" of countries differ so dramatically that the idea of identical technologies is a theoretical notion. Ohlin said that the H–O model was a long-run model, and that the conditions of industrial production are "everywhere the same" in the long run. In a simple model, both countries produce two commodities. Each commodity in turn is made using two factors of production. The production of each commodity requires input from both factors of production—capital (K) and labor (L). The technologies of each commodity
5160-497: The input–output table, one can estimate the change in demand for inputs resulting from a change in production of the final good. The analysis assumes that input proportions are fixed; thus the use of input–output analysis is limited to rough approximations rather than prediction. Input–output was novel and inspired large-scale empirical work; in 2010 its iterative method was recognized as an early intellectual precursor to Google 's PageRank . Leontief used input–output analysis to study
5246-459: The inter-country variation of labour productivity that Ricardo had imposed exogenously. With international variations in the capital endowment like infrastructure and goods requiring different factor "proportions", Ricardo's comparative advantage emerges as a profit-maximizing solution of capitalist's choices from within the model's equations. The decision that capital owners are faced with is between investments in differing production technologies;
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#17327824476615332-487: The interests of simplicity) the "H–O model has identical production technology everywhere". Ricardo considered a single factor of production (labour) and would not have been able to produce comparative advantage without technological differences between countries (all nations would become autarkic at various stages of growth, with no reason to trade with each other). The H–O model removed technology variations but introduced variable capital endowments, recreating endogenously
5418-546: The model various real-world considerations (such as tariffs ) in the hopes of increasing the model's predictive power, or as a mathematical way of discussing macroeconomic policy options. Notable contributions came from Paul Samuelson , Ronald Jones , and Jaroslav Vanek , so that variations of the model are sometimes called the Heckscher–Ohlin–Samuelson model (HOS) or the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek model in
5504-468: The original Nobel Prizes. Laureates are announced with the Nobel Prize laureates, and receive the award at the same ceremony. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prize "in accordance with the rules governing the award of the Nobel Prizes instituted through his [Alfred Nobel's] will", which stipulate that the prize be awarded annually to "those who ... shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind". According to its official website,
5590-460: The other hand, China excels in the export of goods made with cheap labor such as textiles or shoes. This demonstrates why the United States has been a large importer of these Chinese products since it does not abound in cheap labor. While still building on traditional models such as the Ricardian framework, the mid 1900s bring forth innovation in international trade theory with the introduction of
5676-410: The other hand, are very expensive to produce since labor is scarce and its price is high. Therefore, the country is better off importing those goods. The comparative advantage is due to the fact that nations have various factors of production, the endowment of factors is the number of resources such as land, labor, and capital that a country has. Countries are endowed with multiple factors which explains
5762-598: The paradox have emerged as a result of the paradox. One such trade model, the Linder hypothesis , suggests that goods are traded based on similar demand rather than differences in supply side factors (i.e., H–O's factor endowments). Various attempts in the 1960s and 1970s have been made to "solve" the Leontief paradox and save the Heckscher–Ohlin model from failing. From the 1980s a new series of statistical tests had been tried. The new tests depended on Vanek's formula. It takes
5848-416: The pattern of international trade is determined by differences in factor endowments rather than by differences in productivity. The endowments are relative and not absolute. One nation may have more land and workers than another but be relatively abundant in one of two factors. For example; The United States is a leading exporter of agricultural products, which reflects its great abundance of arable land, and on
5934-510: The prize for work in the field of behavioral economics . Some critics argue that the prestige of the Prize in Economic Sciences derives in part from its association with the Nobel Prizes, an association that has often been a source of controversy. Among them is the Swedish human rights lawyer Peter Nobel , a great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel . Nobel accuses the awarding institution of misusing his family's name, and states that no member of
6020-416: The production of the good that uses that particular production factor intensively increases relative to the increase in the factor of production, as the H–O model assumes perfect competition where price is equal to the costs of factors of production. This theorem is useful in explaining the effects of immigration, emigration, and foreign capital investment. However, Rybczynski suggests that a fixed quantity of
6106-538: The products which use the countries' relatively scarce factors. Relative endowments of the factors of production ( land , labor , and capital ) determine a country's comparative advantage. Countries have comparative advantages in those goods for which the required factors of production are relatively abundant locally. This is because the profitability of goods is determined by input costs. Goods that require locally abundant inputs are cheaper to produce than those goods that require locally scarce inputs. For example,
6192-512: The rate of correct predictions was 49.8%). The results of Bowen, Leamer, and Sveiskaus (1987) mean that the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) theory has no predictive power concerning the direction of trade. Paul Samuelson (1949) initialed the study of trade equilibrium in Heckscher-Ohlin model . He verbally stated an idea that, assuming the borders between the two countries were redrawn and thereby production and factors "redistributed" across
6278-428: The return to labor). Also, if the price of labor-intensive goods increases, it increases the relative wage rate and decreases the relative rental rate. Free and competitive trade makes factor prices converge along with traded goods prices. The FPE theorem is the most significant conclusion of the H–O model, but also has found the least agreement with the economic evidence. Neither the rental return to capital, nor
6364-472: The rules governing the committee during 1994: The prize's scope was redefined as one of social sciences, and Prize Committee members were limited to serve for three years. The award's official Swedish name is Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne . The Nobel Foundation's translations of the Swedish name into English have varied since 1969: Heckscher-Ohlin model The Heckscher–Ohlin model ( /hɛkʃr ʊˈliːn/ , H–O model )
6450-404: The same balance in either country (because of the relative availability of either input factor) but, in principle this would be possible. Another way of saying this is that the per-capita productivity is the same in both countries in the same technology with identical amounts of capital. Countries have natural advantages in the production of various commodities in relation to one another, so this
6536-534: The same production technologies due to differences in factors of production, such as the geographical abundance of natural resources or population size. Furthermore, what the H-O model concludes is that traded commodities are essentially bundles of factors (land, labor, and capital) and therefore the international trade of commodities is indirect factor arbitrage (Leamer 1995).The H-O model more accurately describes international trade patterns in modern times (post WWII) due to
6622-443: The secretary and four of the five members are professors of economics. In 1978, Herbert A. Simon , whose PhD was in political science , became the first non-economist to win the prize, for his work in the fields of economics and organizational decision making. Elinor Ostrom , also a political scientist, won the prize in 2009. Similarly, Daniel Kahneman , a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University , won
6708-458: The study of economics. Throughout his life Leontief campaigned against "theoretical assumptions and non-observed facts". According to Leontief, too many economists were reluctant to "get their hands dirty" by working with raw empirical facts. To that end, Wassily Leontief did much to make quantitative data more accessible, and more indispensable, to the study of economics. The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University awards
6794-432: The substantive conclusions, the assumptions on which the model has been based are easily forgotten. But it is precisely the empirical validity of these assumptions on which the usefulness of the entire exercise depends. ... A natural Darwinian feedback operating through selection of academic personnel contributes greatly to the perpetuation of this state of affairs. The role of humans as the most important factor of production
6880-511: The theoretical complexity involved. Heckscher and Ohlin considered the Factor-Price Equalization theorem an econometric success because the large volume of international trade in the late 19th and early 20th centuries coincided with the convergence of commodity and factor prices worldwide. Modern econometric estimates have shown the model to perform poorly, however, and adjustments have been suggested, most importantly
6966-559: The trade basics in the IWE diagram. Guo (2023) introduced a Dixit-Norman constant and used the equal trade volume line to obtain the general trade equilibrium by The factor-price equalization theorem about the relationship between factor prices and factor supplies is empty. This is an important supplement to show the supply-demand relationship between factor prices and factor supplies. The equilibrium links Heckscher-Ohlin theorem with factor price equalization theorem . The critical assumption of
7052-442: The two factors of production are required. This could be expanded to consider factor substitution, in which case the increase in production is more than proportional. Relative changes in output goods prices drive the relative prices of the factors used to produce them. If the world price of capital-intensive goods increases, it increases the relative rental rate and decreases the relative wage rate (the return on capital as against
7138-439: Was able to discuss the new mechanism of comparative advantage , using just two goods and two technologies to produce them. One technology would be a capital-intensive industry, the other a labor-intensive business—see "assumptions" below. The model has been extended since the 1930s by many economists. These developments did not change the fundamental role of variable factor proportions in driving international trade, but added to
7224-462: Was criticized by the European press for his alleged use of game theory to justify his stance against the dismantling of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine . Paul Krugman 's left-wing commentary has attracted both widespread praise and criticism. The 1994 prize to mathematician John Forbes Nash caused controversy within the selection committee. This resulted in a change to
7310-478: Was redefined as a prize in social sciences. This made it available to researchers in such topics as political science, psychology, and sociology. Moreover, the composition of the Economics Prize Committee changed to include two non-economists. This has not been confirmed by the Economics Prize Committee. The members of the 2007 Economics Prize Committee are still dominated by economists, as
7396-406: Was verbose, rather than being pared down to the mathematical, and appealed because of its new insights. The original H–O model assumed that the only difference between countries was the relative abundances of labour and capital. The original Heckscher–Ohlin model contained two countries, and had two commodities that could be produced. Since there are two (homogeneous) factors of production this model
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