If you walk into a supermarket and are able to buy South American bananas, Brazilian coffee and a bottle of South African wine, you are experiencing the effects of international trade.
International trade allows us to expand our markets for both goods and services that otherwise may not have been available to us. It is the reason why you can pick between a Japanese, German and American car. As a result of international trade, the market contains greater competition and therefore more competitive prices, which bring a cheaper product home to the consumer.
What Is International Trade?
International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries. This type of trade gives rise to a world economy, in which prices, or supply and demand, affect and are affected by global events. Political change in Asia, for example, could result in an increase in the cost of labor, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs for an American sneaker company based in Malaysia, which would then result in an increase in the price that you have to pay to buy the tennis shoes at your local mall. A decrease in the cost of labor, on the other hand, would result in you having to pay less for your new shoes.
Trading globally gives consumers and countries the opportunity to be exposed to goods and services not available in their own countries. Almost every kind of product can be found on the international market: food, clothes, spare parts, oil, jewelry, wine, stocks, currencies and water. Services are also traded: tourism, banking, consulting and transportation. A product that is sold to the global market is an export, and a product that is bought from the global market is an import. Imports and exports are accounted for in a country's current account in the balance of payments. (For more on this, see the articles What Is The Balance Of Payments? and Understanding The Current Account In The Balance Of Payments.)
Increased Efficiency of Trading Globally
Global trade allows wealthy countries to use their resources - whether labor, technology or capital - more efficiently. Because countries are endowed with different assets and natural resources (land, labor, capital and technology), some countries may produce the same good more efficiently and therefore sell it more cheaply than other countries. If a country cannot efficiently produce an item, it can obtain the item by trading with another country that can. This is known as specialization in international trade.
Let's take a simple example. Country A and Country B both produce cotton sweaters and wine. Country A produces 10 sweaters and six bottles of wine a year while Country B produces six sweaters and 10 bottles of wine a year. Both can produce a total of 16 units. Country A, however, takes three hours to produce the 10 sweaters and two hours to produce the six bottles of wine (total of five hours). Country B, on the other hand, takes one hour to produce 10 sweaters and three hours to produce six bottles of wine (total of four hours).
But these two countries realize that they could produce more by focusing on those products with which they have a comparative advantage. Country A then begins to produce only wine and Country B produces only cotton sweaters. Each country can now create a specialized output of 20 units per year and trade equal proportions of both products. As such, each country now has access to 20 units of both products.
We can see then that for both countries, the opportunity cost of producing both products is greater than the cost of specializing. More specifically, for each country, the opportunity cost of producing 16 units of both sweaters and wine is 20 units of both products (after trading). Specialization reduces their opportunity cost and therefore maximizes their efficiency in acquiring the goods they need. With the greater supply, the price of each product would decrease, thus giving an advantage to the end consumer as well.
Note that, in the example above, Country B could produce both wine and cotton more efficiently than Country A (less time). This is called an absolute advantage, and Country B may have it because of a higher level of technology. However, according to international trade theory, even if a country has an absolute advantage over another, it can still benefit from specialization. (For a review of some of these economic concepts, see the Economics Basics tutorial.)
Other Possible Benefits of Trading Globally
International trade not only results in increased efficiency but also allows countries to participate in a global economy, encouraging the opportunity of foreign direct investment (FDI), which is the amount of money that individuals invest into foreign companies and other assets. In theory, economies can therefore grow more efficiently and can more easily become competitive economic participants.
For the receiving government, FDI is a means by which foreign currency and expertise can enter the country. These raise employment levels and, theoretically, lead to a growth in the gross domestic product. For the investor, FDI offers company expansion and growth, which means higher revenues.
Free Trade vs. Protectionism
As with other theories, there are opposing views. International trade has two contrasting views regarding the level of control placed on trade: free trade and protectionism. Free trade is the simpler of the two theories: a laissez-faire approach, with no restrictions on trade. The main idea is that supply and demand factors, operating on a global scale, will ensure that production happens efficiently. Therefore, nothing needs to be done to protect or promote trade and growth because market forces will do so automatically.
In contrast, protectionism holds that regulation of international trade is important to ensure that markets function properly. Advocates of this theory believe that market inefficiencies may hamper the benefits of international trade and they aim to guide the market accordingly. Protectionism exists in many different forms, but the most common are tariffs, subsidies and quotas. These strategies attempt to correct any inefficiency in the international market.
Conclusion
As it opens up the opportunity for specialization and therefore more efficient use of resources, international trade has potential to maximize a country's capacity to produce and acquire goods. Opponents of global free trade have argued, however, that international trade still allows for inefficiencies that leave developing nations compromised. What is certain is that the global economy is in a state of continual change and, as it develops, so too must all of its participants.
如果妳走進超市，並能買到南美香蕉，巴西咖啡和壹瓶南非葡萄酒，您所遇到的影響國際貿易。
國際貿易使我們能夠擴大我們的市場，商品和服務，否則可能沒有提供給我們。這就是為什麽您可以挑選之間日語，德語和美國車。由於國際貿易，市場包含更大的競爭，因此更具有競爭力的價格，由此帶來更便宜的產品提供給消費者。
什麽是國際貿易？
國際貿易是交流之間的貨物和服務的國家。這種類型的貿易引起了世界經濟，在這種價格或供應和需求，影響和影響的全球性活動。政治變化，例如，亞洲可能會導致成本增加的勞動力，從而增加了生產成本為美國的耐克公司總部設在馬來西亞，然後導致價格上升，妳不得不花錢購買在網球鞋在您當地的商場。在減少的勞動力成本，另壹方面，將導致您不需要支付較少為您的新鞋。
貿易在全球範圍和國家為消費者提供的機會接觸到商品和服務不提供在自己的國家。幾乎每壹種產品可以在國際市場：食品，衣服，零件，石油，珠寶，葡萄酒，股票，貨幣和水。服務也是交易：旅遊，金融，咨詢和運輸。產品銷往全球市場的出口，和壹種產品，是購買的全球市場是壹個進口。進口和出口都是以壹國的經常賬戶的國際收支。 （欲了解更多關於這個，請參閱文章什麽是國際收支平衡？和了解目前帳戶收支平衡。 ）
提高效率，在全球範圍內的交易
全球貿易允許富裕國家利用它們的資源-無論是勞動，技術或資本-更有效率。由於國家賦予了不同的資產和自然資源（土地，勞動力，資本和技術），壹些國家可能產生同樣的好，因此更有效地銷售更便宜比其他國家。如果壹個國家不能有效地產生壹個項目，它可以取得該項目的貿易與其他國家可以。這就是所謂的專業化的國際貿易。
讓我們來壹個簡單的例子。 A國和乙國毛衣都生產棉花和葡萄酒。 A國生產10毛衣和六瓶葡萄酒，而乙國生產6毛衣和10瓶葡萄酒壹年。既可以產生，***有16個單位。 A國，但是，需要3個小時生產10毛衣和兩小時內產生的6瓶葡萄酒（***5個小時） 。 B國，另壹方面，需要壹小時生產10毛衣和三個小時的生產六瓶葡萄酒（***4個小時） 。
但是這兩個國家認識到，他們可以生產更多的是側重於這些產品，他們具有相對優勢。 A國然後開始只生產葡萄酒和乙國只生產棉花毛衣。每個國家現在可以創建壹個專門的產出20個單位，每年的貿易同等比例的兩種產品。因此，每個國家現在已進入20個單位的這兩種產品。
我們可以看到那兩個國家的機會成本，生產這兩種產品是大於成本的專業。更具體而言，每個國家的機會成本，生產16單位都毛衣和葡萄酒為20單位的兩種產品（交易）。專業化降低其機會成本，因此，最大限度地提高其效率獲取他們所需要的貨物。隨著更多的供應，每個產品的價格將下降，從而有利於最終消費者以及。
請註意，在上面的例子中，國家B可以同時生產葡萄酒和棉花比國家更有效的（更少的時間）。這就是所謂的絕對優勢，乙國可能是因為較高的技術水平。然而，根據國際貿易理論，即使壹個國家擁有絕對優勢，另外，它仍然可以受益於專業化。（審查其中的壹些經濟概念，請參閱經濟學基礎知識教程。 ）
其他可能的好處的交易在全球範圍內
國際貿易的結果，不僅提高了效率，而且也使國家參與全球經濟，鼓勵的機會，外國直接投資（ FDI ） ，這是的金額，個人投資於外國公司和其他資產。從理論上講，經濟增長因此可以更有效，也更容易成為有競爭力的經濟參與者。
為接受政府，外國直接投資是壹種手段，外匯和專門知識可以進入該國。這些提高就業水平，從理論上講，導致經濟增長在國內生產總值。為投資者，外國直接投資提供了公司擴張和增長，這意味著更高的收入。
自由貿易與保護主義
至於其他的理論，有反對意見。國際貿易有兩種截然不同的看法程度的控制放在貿易：自由貿易和保護主義。自由貿易是簡單的兩種理論：壹種放任自流的方式，沒有任何的貿易限制。主要的想法是，供應和需求的因素，在全球範圍經營，將確保發生生產效率。因此，沒有什麽需要做，以保護或促進貿易和市場力量的增長，因為這樣做將自動。
與此相反，保護主義認為調節國際貿易重要的是要確保市場的正常運作。主張這壹理論認為，市場的低效率可能妨礙國際貿易的利益，他們的目的是引導市場相應。保護主義存在於許多不同的形式，但最常見的是關稅，補貼和配額。這些戰略企圖，以糾正任何效率不高在國際市場上。
結論
因為它開辟了專門的機會，因此更有效地利用資源，國際貿易的潛力最大限度地發揮壹個國家的能力，以生產和收購貨物。反對者的全球自由貿易的主張，但是，國際貿易仍然允許效率低下離開發展中國家的損害。可以肯定的是，全球經濟正處於不斷的變化，因為它的發展，也必須在其所有與會者。