Open AccessFragility of Comparative Advantage in Higher Dimensions: An Experimental Investigation
Author(s) -
Baboo M Nowbutsing
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of economics and behavioral studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-6140
DOI - 10.22610/jebs.v2i4.233
Subject(s) - autarky , comparative advantage , fragility , economics , competitive advantage , econometrics , production (economics) , microeconomics , international trade , chemistry , management , welfare , market economy
In this study, an experimental analysis of the fragility of the law of the comparative advantage in higher dimensions is performed. Noussair et al (1995) invoked a trading environment similar to the 2 x 2 Competitive Ricardian Model (CRM) and observed the law of comparative advantage. In this experiment, the same experimental setting is invoked however the number of goods and countries is increased. There were three countries and three goods, two countries were categorised as ‘intermediate’ comparative advantage while one as ‘extreme’ comparative advantage. However, the Jones (1961)’s criterion for optimal assignment was satisfied. The experimental findings reveal the following (1) both the autarky model and the competitive model are rejected as a representation of the data but the competitive model performs better than the autarky model (2) the CRM does not predict the production pattern (3) the CRM does not predict pattern of trade (4) output prices do not converge to the prediction of the theoretical model. Thus the results support the claim of Deardoff (2005).