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Chapter 4

Resources and Trade:

The Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Prepared by Iordanis Petsas

To Accompany

International Economics: Theory and Policy, Sixth Edition

by Paul R. Krugman and Maurice Obstfeld

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Chapter Organization

Introduction
A Model of a Two-Factor Economy
Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies
Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model
Summary
Appendix: Factor Prices, Goods Prices, and Input Choices

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Introduction

In the real world, while trade is partly explained by differences in labor productivity, it also reflects differences in countries’ resources.
The Heckscher-Ohlin theory:

Emphasizes resource differences as the only source of trade
Shows that comparative advantage is influenced by:

Relative factor abundance (refers to countries)
Relative factor intensity (refers to goods)

Is also referred to as the factor-proportions theory

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Assumptions of the Model

An economy can produce two goods, cloth and food.
The production of these goods requires two inputs that are in limited supply; labor (L) and land (T).
Production of food is land-intensive and production of cloth is labor-intensive in both countries.
Perfect competition prevails in all markets.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Input combinations

that produce one

calorie of food

Unit land input a_TF,

in acres per calorie

Unit land input a_LF,

in hours per calorie

Figure 4-1: Input Possibilities in Food Production

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Factor Intensity

In a world of two goods (cloth and food) and two factors (labor and land), food production is land-intensive, if at any given wage-rental ratio the land-labor ratio used in the production of food is greater than that used in the production of cloth:

T_F/L_F > T_C/ L_C

Example: If food production uses 80 workers and 200 acres, while cloth production uses 20 workers and 20 acres, then food production is land-intensive and cloth production is labor-intensive.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Wage-rental

ratio, w/r

Land-labor

ratio, T/L

Figure 4-2: Factor Prices and Input Choices

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Factor Prices and Goods Prices

Stolper-Samuelson Theorem (effect):

If the relative price of a good increases, holding factor supplies constant, then the nominal and real return (in terms of both goods) to the factor used intensively in the production of that good increases, while the nominal and real return (in terms of both goods) to the other factor decreases.

The reverse is also true.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Relative price of

cloth, P_C/P_F

Wage-rental

ratio, w/r

Figure 4-3: Factor Prices and Goods Prices

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Land-

labor

Ratio, T/L

Relative

price of

cloth, P_C/P_F

Wage-rental

ratio, w/r

(P_C/P_F)¹

(T_C/L_C)²

(T_C/L_C)¹

(T_F/L_F)²

(T_F/L_F)¹

(w/r)²

(w/r)¹

Increasing

Figure 4-4: From Goods Prices to Input Choices

(P_C/P_F)²

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

An increase in the price of cloth relative to that of food, P_C/P_F,will:

Raise the income of workers relative to that of landowners, w/r.
Raise the ratio of land to labor, T/L, in both cloth and food production and thus raise the marginal product of labor in terms of both goods.
Raise the purchasing power of workers and lower the purchasing power of landowners, by raising real wages and lowering real rents in terms of both goods.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

Resources and Output

How is the allocation of resources determined?

Given the relative price of cloth and the supplies of land and labor, it is possible to determine how much of each resource the economy devotes to the production of each good.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

L_F

T_F

L_C

T_C

Labor used in food production

Labor used in cloth production

O_F

Increasing

Land used in cloth production

Land used in food production

O_C

Figure 4-5: The Allocation of Resources

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

How do the outputs of the two goods change when the economy’s resources change?

Rybczynski Theorem (effect):

If a factor of production (T or L) increases, then the supply of the good that uses this factor intensively increases and the supply of the other good decreases for any given commodity prices.

The reverse is also true.

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

L²_F

L²_C

T¹_F

T¹_C

F¹

L¹_F

L¹_C

T²_F

T²_C

Figure 4-6: An Increase in the Supply of Land

Labor used in food production

Labor used in cloth production

Increasing

Land used in cloth production

Land used in food production

F²

O¹_F

O²_F

O_C

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

TT¹

TT²

Output of

food, Q_F

Output of

cloth, Q_C

Slope = -P_C/P_F

Q²_F

Q²_C

Q¹_F

Q¹_C

Figure 4-7: Resources and Production Possibilities

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A Model of a Two-Factor Economy

An increase in the supply of land (labor) leads to a biased expansion of production possibilities toward food (cloth) production.
The biased effect of increases (decreases) in resources on production possibilities is the key to understanding how differences in resources give rise to international trade.
An economy will tend to be relatively effective at producing goods that are intensive in the factors with which the country is relatively well-endowed.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Assumptions of the Heckscher-Ohlin model:

There are two countries (Home and Foreign) that have:

Same tastes
Same technology
Different resources

Home has a higher ratio of labor to land than Foreign does

Each country has the same production structure of a two-factor economy.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Relative Prices and the Pattern of Trade

Factor Abundance

Home country is labor-abundant compared to Foreign country (and Foreign is land-abundant compared to Home) if and only if the ratio of the total amount of labor to the total amount of land available in Home is greater than that in Foreign:

L/T > L^*/ T^*

Example: if America has 80 million workers and 200 million acres, while Britain has 20 million workers and 20 million acres, then Britain is labor-abundant and America is land-abundant.

In this case, the scarce factor in Home is land and in Foreign is labor.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

When Home and Foreign trade with each other, their relative prices converge. The relative price of cloth rises in Home and declines in Foreign.

In Home, the rise in the relative price of cloth leads to a rise in the production of cloth and a decline in relative consumption, so Home becomes an exporter of cloth and an importer of food.
Conversely, the decline in the relative price of cloth in Foreign leads it to become an importer of cloth and an exporter of food.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

RS^*

Figure 4-8: Trade Leads to a Convergence of Relative Prices

Relative price

of cloth, P_C/P_F

Relative quality

of cloth, Q_C + Q^*_C

Q_F + Q^*_F

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem:

A country will export that commodity which uses intensively its abundant factor and import that commodity which uses intensively its scarce factor.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Trade and the Distribution of Income

Trade produces a convergence of relative prices.
Changes in relative prices have strong effects on the relative earnings of labor and land in both countries:

In Home, where the relative price of cloth rises:

Laborers are made better off and landowners are made worse off.

In Foreign, where the relative price of cloth falls, the opposite happens:

Laborers are made worse off and landowners are made better off.

Owners of a country’s abundant factors gain from trade, but owners of a country’s scarce factors lose.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Difference between the specific factors model and the Heckscher-Ohlin model in terms of income distribution effects:

The specificity of factors to particular industries is often only a temporary problem.

Example: Garment makers cannot become computer manufactures overnight, but given time the U.S. economy can shift its manufacturing employment from declining sectors to expanding ones.

In contrast, effects of trade on the distribution of income among land, labor, and capital are more or less permanent.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Factor Price Equalization

In the absence of trade: labor would earn less in Home than in Foreign, and land would earn more.
Factor-Price Equalization Theorem:

International trade leads to complete equalization in the relative and absolute returns to homogeneous factors across countries.
It implies that international trade is a substitute for the international mobility of factors.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Has international trade equalized the returns to homogeneous factors in different countries in the real world?

Even casual observation clearly indicates that it has not.

Example: Wages are much higher for doctors, engineers, technicians, mechanics and laborers in the United States and Germany than in Korea and Mexico.

Under these circumstances, it is more realistic to say that international trade has reduced, rather than completely eliminated, the international difference in the returns to homogeneous factors.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Table 4-1: Comparative International Wage Rates (United States = 100)

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Three assumptions crucial to the prediction of factor price equalization are in reality untrue:

Both countries produce both goods
Both countries have the same technologies in production
Both countries have the same prices of goods due to trade

One thing the factor-price equalization theorem does not say is that international trade will eliminate or reduce international differences in per capita incomes.

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Effects of International Trade Between Two-Factor Economies

Table 4-2: Composition of Developing-Country Exports

(Percent of Total)

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Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Testing the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Tests on U.S. Data

Leontief paradox

Leontief found that U.S. exports were less capital-intensive than U.S. imports, even though the U.S. is the most capital-abundant country in the world.

Tests on Global Data

A study by Bowen, Leamer, and Sveikauskas tested the Heckscher-Ohlin model using data for a large number of countries.

This study confirms the Leontief paradox on a broader level.

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Table 4-3: Factor Content of U.S. Exports and Imports for 1962

Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

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Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Table 4-4: Testing the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

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Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Tests on North-South Trade

North-South trade in manufactures seems to fit the Heckscher-Ohlin theory much better than the overall pattern of international trade.

The Case of the Missing Trade

A study by Trefler in 1995 showed that technological differences across a sample of countries are very large.

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Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Table 4-5: Trade Between the United States and South Korea,

1992 (million dollars)

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Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

Table 4-6: Estimated Technological Efficiency,

1983 (United States = 1)

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Implications of the Tests

Empirical evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin model has led to the following conclusions:

It has been less successful at explaining the actual pattern of international trade.
It has been useful as a way to analyze the effects of trade on income distribution.

Empirical Evidence on the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

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Summary

The Heckscher-Ohlin model, in which two goods are produced using two factors of production, emphasizes the role of resources in trade.
A rise in the relative price of the labor-intensive good will shift the distribution of income in favor of labor:

The real wage of labor will rise in terms of both goods, while the real income of landowners will fall in terms of both goods.

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Summary

For any given commodity prices, an increase in a factor of production increases the supply of the good that uses this factor intensively and reduces the supply of the other good.
The Heckscher-Ohlin theorem predicts the following pattern of trade:

A country will export that commodity which uses intensively its abundant factor and import that commodity which uses intensively its scarce factor.

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Summary

The owners of a country’s abundant factors gain from trade, but the owners of scarce factors lose.
In reality, complete factor price equalization is not observed because of wide differences in resources, barriers to trade, and international differences in technology.
Empirical evidence is mixed on the Heckscher-Ohlin model.

Most researchers do not believe that differences in resources alone can explain the pattern of world trade or world factor prices.

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Appendix: Factor Prices, Goods Prices, and Input Choices

Units of land used to produce one calorie of food, a_TF

Units of labor used to produce one calorie of food, a_LF

Isocost lines

Figure 4A-1: Choosing the Optimal Land-Labor Ratio

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Appendix: Factor Prices, Goods Prices, and Input Choices

Figure 4A-2: Changing the Wage-Rental Ratio

Units of land used to produce one calorie of food, a_TF

Units of labor used to produce one calorie of food, a_LF

Slope = - (w/r)²

Slope = - (w/r)¹

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Appendix: Factor Prices, Goods Prices, and Input Choices

Slope = - (w/r)

Figure 4A-3: Determining the Wage-Rental Ratio

Land input

Labor input

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Appendix: Factor Prices, Goods Prices, and Input Choices

CC¹

Slope = - (w/r)¹

CC²

Slope = - (w/r)²

Figure 4A-4: A Rise in the Price of Cloth

Land input

Labor input