International Unequal Exchange:Theory And Measurement

At present,the game of global powers is growing tensions,and development issues such as anti-globalization,protectionism,the separation of the rich and the poor,and spatial imbalance have become the most prominent issues facing the international community in the process of global economic governance.For a long time,research on economic globalization and North-South issues has formed a rich theoretical foundation.Reviewing the differences of the "unequal" and "unbalanced" nature of international trade by classical,neoclassical and contemporary Western Marxism,all of which have certain one-sidedness.The classical school only sees the positive side of international trade to the economic development of participating countries,and ignores the inherent adverse impact in an unequal international political and economic order.Although contemporary Western Marxist scholars have objectively exposed the predatory and destructive nature of international trade to the development of national industrial and economic development,by capture the surplus of production for developing country.But they also ignores its positive effect on promoting the economic development of developing countries.The reason lies in the historical limitations of analytical paradigms,class positions,research perspectives and tools in theoretical research.The Marxist classic school grasped the profit-seeking nature of capital,and revealed the roots of international trade from the laws of capital movement and the globalization of division of labor and markets.To improve the explanatory power of Marxist trade theory,we must also keep pace with the times and adopt a more explanatory research paradigm to interpret the dynamic world economic system.So,recognize the "heterogeneity" or "inequality" nature of international trade,and use it as the foundation to interpret global unbalanced development,to finding the right path for the government of international unequal exchanges and global "development deficits".Which may provide a theoretical support for making international rules and national strategies.Therefore,the study is of important theories innovation and great practical significance.This article aims to carry out a more complete research for the theory of international unequal exchange,which is conducted based on Marxist international trade theory.On the one hand,the theoretical analysis of international unequal exchange,which is an expansive analysis for applying Marxist labor theory of value and the principle of value transformation to international markets and foreign trade.On the other hand,the empirical test and application analysis is another attempt to interpret or manage the "development deficit" in the capitalist world system,from the perspective of unfair distribution of trade benefits,such as the global uneven development and the widening gap between rich and poor.Therefore,this theory has attracted the attention of scholars in the field of Marxist economics,as well as scholars in the fields of international trade,development economics,and world economy,and then has important theoretical value.Strictly speaking,Marx has not fully and systematically stated his theory of international trade or unequal exchange in any of his works.Existing expositions on theories of Marx's international trade and international unequal exchange,are based on Marxist scholars' works and manuscripts,which have been collated,summarized and deepened.In view of this,this article uses a combination of written description and mathematical reasoning,a combination of normative analysis and empirical analysis,and a case analysis method that combines theory and practice,to construct a Marxist international unequal exchange theory and application analysis framework,would be able to further enrich and improve the construction of the Marxist international trade theory system,and also to enhance the explanatory power and influence of the Marxist international trade theory to a certain extent.On the basis of existing domestic and international theories and empirical research of international unequal exchange,and theories of international division of labor,world markets and foreign trade,starting from the theory of labor value and international value,deepening on the theory of value transformation,and based on the international distribution of total surplus value,a relatively complete theory and application analysis framework of international unequal exchange is constructed.After reviewing the existing research in the academic field,we mainly describes and define the theoretical analysis tools related to international unequal exchange based on three theoretical foundations: international division of labor,world markets and foreign trade.It mainly includes three parts:(1)introduction of the formation and development for international division of labor and the world market;(2)the definition of the relevant categories and general laws of the operation of the world market;(3)the western international trade theory and Marxism International trade theory are summarized separately.In the theoretical construction section,based on the change of the value form that forms the base price of commodities,which means the commodity values have four different levels of categories,that is the country value,international value,international production price,and international monopoly price.By use a method of the unity between logic and history,and combining the different forms of the law of value and the law of surplus value in the international market,we distinguishing the international unequal exchange into three different forms.(1)The first form of international unequal exchange is mainly caused by the existence of differences in labor productivity internationally.The specific manifestation is that under the conditions of simple capitalist production,when countries exchange on the world market in accordance with the international value of commodities,the national value of commodities in each country is not equal to international values.(2)The second form of international unequal exchange is mainly caused by the organic composition of capital or the difference in the rate of surplus value between industries.The specific manifestation is that under the conditions of competitive capitalist production,countries exchange on the world market in accordance with the international production prices of commodities.At the same time,the international value of a commodity deviates from the international production price.(3)The third form of international unequal exchange is mainly caused by monopoly factors;specifically,under the conditions of monopoly capitalist production,international exchange is based on the international monopoly price of commodities,and the international production price of commodities is different from the international monopoly price of commodities.After distinguishing the different forms of international unequal exchange,based on a general mathematical analysis of the transformation of commodity values,we then conducted more specific research on three different forms of international unequal exchange.First,based on the perspective of static analysis,we use a combination of textual description and mathematical reasoning to carry out mathematical analysis of three different forms of international unequal exchange,and put forward the following conjectures:(1)at present,the academia still has a greater dispute on whether the exchange of commodities at international value an unequal exchange? For this problem,the point of this article is: On the one hand,the exchange of commodities according to international value is an equivalent exchange,but this equivalent exchange is only equal in the form of exchange or in the field of circulation.On the other hand,the exchange of commodities according to international value is essentially unequal exchange,this attribute of inequality refers more to inequality in the field of international production.(2)The transformation of international value into international production price,so that commodities are exchanged at the international production price in the world market,which will cause industries with a low organic capital structure to transfer surplus value to industries with a high organic capital structure.Which concrete expression to the deviation of the average profit of the sector from the surplus value.However,the direction of this value transfer is not irreversible.Developing countries can focus on improving the organic composition of industrial sectors by expanding market scale and industrial structure transformation——comparative advantage shifts to competitive advantage,follow by shifts to running and leading.Therefore,narrowing the gap with developed countries,and then gradually reverse the trend of value loss(3)after the formation of a monopoly,the international production price is transformed into an international monopoly price,and the monopoly sector will realize an excess monopoly profit at the international market price,which based on the international monopoly price in the world market.And the non-monopoly sector will unable to achieve a normal "Average profit" in the international exchange,there will be an international transfer of value——in the form of profit transfer to the monopoly production sector.(4)International value,international production price and international monopoly price are equal in total.The international transfer of value that occurs during the transformation of international value of commodities is result of the readjustment of surplus value in the form of profits between different production sections,including monopoly and non-monopoly sectors.Second,based on the perspective of historical dynamic analysis,we conduct a general analysis for the international productive specialization and global trade pattern,in different development stages of the world capitalist accumulation.It is concluded that: international unequal exchange and exploitation in the field of circulation are formed in the international production field.And international unequal exchange has an active reactionary effect on international specialization,under certain conditions,it has a decisive effect on the development of production.Based on this,we express the chain relationship of the formation and development mechanism of international unequal exchange as: capital accumulation ? productivity and technology ? industrial competitiveness ? international division of labor ? international unequal exchange ? uneven distribution of trade benefits ? capital accumulation rate.Third,referring to the method of using the input-output table to estimate the value and the prices of production of commodities in existing literature,this paper uses the World Input-Output Database,which covers 43 major countries in the world for the period from 2000-2014.In order to verify the theoretical conjecture proposed in the theoretical analysis part of this article,we estimate the country value,international value,and international production price of commodities in different industries of each country.(1)By comparing the ratio of country value to international value of each country,we find that there is indeed a large gap in the level of labor productivity among countries.And the differences of international labor productivity in different countries are directly reflected on the difference between the country value and the international value of commodities.The degree of deviation between the country value of goods and the international value explains the phenomenon of "the richer the richer,the poorer the poorer" in some extent.(2)The international transfer of value caused by the transformation of international value of commodities,in some ways can explain the development gap between developed countries and developing countries,but it is not very remarkable.Regardless of the developed countries or developing countries,the transfer of surplus value brought about by the transformation of international value of commodities can have a substantial impact on one country's economy.It is more consistent with the inference of the theoretical sector that the international transfer of surplus value caused by the transformation of international value of commodities is not irreversible.(3)By measuring the difference between the international market price and the international production price,to estimate the proportion of the total value transferred in or out,which caused by monopoly factors,to the total output between different countries or regions,we found that international unequal exchange caused by monopoly,to a certain extent,explains the uneven development of the international community.The monopolistic competitive advantages of developed countries,in terms of capital,technology and industrial competitiveness,enable developed countries to realize value transfer in the form of monopoly profits,while developing countries continue to suffer a huge wealth transfer out.Fourth,through mechanism analysis and empirical test,we have the following enlightenments:(1)the formation and development mechanism of international unequal exchange is a self-reinforcing mechanisms for disproportionate accumulation of capital and an unbalanced development of countries that nested in the accumulation process of world capitalism.(2)With the capitalist system,the capitalist colonial system,and the capitalist world economic system formed around the world as the main hallmarks,the capitalist world system itself is a system that constantly creates and widens the development gap between countries.In this world system,the capital accumulation rate and capital adequacy are the fundamental factors that determine the international division of production,international exchange,and international distribution.(3)Global unbalanced development is promoted by a variety of factors.International unequal exchange is just one of them,which serves more as a mechanism to strengthen the development gap.Fifth,from the perspective of the governance of technological power and mutual benefit,this article proposes countermeasures to optimize China's foreign trade conditions and also the management of international unequal exchanges and the global "development deficit." Based on the domestic level,based on the perspective of adhering to innovation drive and improving the effective supply capacity of science and technology,an overall thinking and the path choices for the structural reform of the supply side of China's science and technology innovation are proposed.This not only provides driving force support for the high-quality development of scientific and technological innovation,but also provides decision-making suggestions for the high-quality development of China's economy.Based on the international level,it is proposed that in the face of severe challenges for global governance,it is necessary to follow the general idea of mutual benefit,adhere to the concept of economic globalization,an innovation-driven growth model,a fair and inclusive development model,so as to provide a Chinese solution for the governance of the global "development deficit".Finally,in the section of conclusion and enlightenment,we summarized the full text and points out future research directions.