The history of commercial entrepreneurship in Russia goes back hundreds of years. During this time, certain traditions of commercial activity have developed, which must be taken into account by modern business.
The formation of trade in Russia is attributed to the VIII-IX centuries. The market ("bargaining", "trade") was usually located in the center of ancient Russian cities. Domestic trade in those days was carried out by the producers themselves without intermediaries.
The most important milestone in the development of Ancient Russia was the development of the waterway through the basins of the Dnieper and Volga, which became the basis for the functioning of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" and trade with the countries of the East. Furs, honey and wax went to the East along this path, precious metals, spices, glassware, brocade and silk went to the North. The creation of a network of communications and income from transit trade served as an incentive for the growth of ancient Russian cities and the strengthening of ties between them.
The development of commerce in Russia is associated with the appearance in the X-XII centuries. trade intermediaries. Russian artisans are gradually moving from working to order to making products for the market. The products of artisans went to merchants, some products - jewelry "forge" and padlocks - were exported along with traditional furs and wax. Residents of the cities also got acquainted with imported goods: silk fabrics, spices, glassware were brought from Byzantium, bronze bowls from Germany, and amphorae with wine from the Crimea. In the markets one could find Syrian beads, Iranian ceramics, and overseas curiosities like Indian chess. Visiting merchants from neighboring countries offered their goods at marinas and markets. The information brought by the merchants contributed to broadening one's horizons and familiarizing oneself with new cultural values.
The first mention of the merchants in Kievan Rus dates back to the 10th century. Merchants - a social stratum engaged in trade. In Russia, two concepts were used: merchant - a city dweller engaged in trade; the guest is a merchant who trades with other cities and countries.
The development of the merchant class and trade was slowed down during the period of the Tatar-Mongol domination, which lasted for several centuries and caused enormous damage to Russia. Regular requisitions pumped considerable funds out of the country, which could be invested in the development of the economy and culture. The decline in production and trade led to a weakening of trade relations, a reduction in imports.
After the liberation from the Tatar yoke and the unification of the Russian lands, there was a rise in the economy and trade. Merchant corporations appear in large cities. In the XIV-XVI centuries. Veliky Novgorod, Smolensk, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities became centers of trade. However, Moscow was the largest craft and trade center. The richest merchants lived in it. Increased turnover and foreign trade. Russian goods consisted of timber, furs, hemp, lard, linen fabrics. Russia received hardware, paints, cloth, wines, haberdashery and other goods.
The merchant class grew stronger, and its importance in the state increased. Large Russian open spaces, bad roads did not stop enterprising merchants who made deals in spite of all adverse factors. The government obliged wealthy merchants to carry out important public services in particular the collection of fees. Some merchants became prominent government officials.
A new stage in the development of trade in Russia began in the era of transformations initiated by Peter the Great, which served as a powerful stimulus for the development of commercial activities. These transformations led to a crisis of medieval merchant corporations and a change in the terms of trade. The Collegium of Commerce, which dealt with practical issues of developing trade, became the conductor of the state's trade policy. The government adhered to the principles of mercantilism, encouraging foreign trade and striving to ensure an active foreign trade balance. The authorities sought to transfer foreign trade from the usual route through Arkhangelsk to a new shorter route to St. Petersburg. The development of trade and the domestic market was facilitated by the improvement of means of communication, the arrangement of channels. Peter I encouraged the development of the "social" form of entrepreneurship and contributed to the modernization of the trade business. Under Peter the Great, in 1703, the first exchange was established in St. Petersburg.
In the XVIII century. the merchant class was finally formalized into an independent estate. The merchants were divided into three guilds: the first included large merchants, the second - wholesalers and retailers with a smaller turnover, the third - small merchants. Belonging to a particular guild was determined by the amount of capital. The guild merchants did not carry recruiting duties. Merchants had the right to conduct wholesale and retail, ownership of plants, factories, courts. Merchants of the 1st guild were allowed to trade not only in Russia, but also abroad. Merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds were exempted from corporal punishment. Merchants of the 1st guild were allowed to ride around the city in a carriage drawn by a pair of horses, merchants of the 2nd guild - “in a carriage in a pair”, merchants III guilds- harnessing no more than one horse.
From the end of the XVIII century. in large cities, permanent (store) trade began to grow, rich guest houses were built in many cities. Fairs played an important role in the development of trade, one of the largest and most famous was the Nizhny Novgorod fair. Foreign trade relations also expanded. European countries bought bread and raw materials in Russia, the developing Russian industry needed machines, tools, paints, etc. Luxury goods for wealthy people were also imported into Russia.
In the XIX - early XX century. merchants continued to play an important role in Russian economy. A kind of "code of honor" of the Russian merchant was formed, based on the inviolability of the "merchant's word". The merchant's reputation was highly valued. Many merchants and merchants became famous thanks to their philanthropic and charitable activities and made a visible contribution to the development of Russia.
After the October Revolution, cardinal changes took place in the Russian economy associated with the establishment of a system corresponding to the new system. In 1918-1921, during the period of war communism, enterprises were nationalized, private trade was prohibited, and the foundations of a command-administrative system gradually began to take shape.
Some revival of trade came during the NEP, when small business was allowed.
The main sphere of activity of the Nepman bourgeoisie was precisely trade. However, the introduction of market elements during this period was of a forced and tactical nature, and the establishment of a command-administrative system, where there was no place for entrepreneurship and commerce, was strategic.
In subsequent years, up to the 90s. 20th century trade remained largely state-owned. The development of trade was suspended during the Great Patriotic War when it was replaced by a normalized distribution. The practice of organizing trade in the Soviet Union had both positive and negative aspects. Many retailers, especially in large cities, took care of the culture of service, technological improvement of the trading process, formation corporate identity, creating comfort for buyers, which was an extremely difficult task in the conditions of a commodity shortage.
Transition in the 1990s to market relations marked the beginning of a new period in the history of our country. The first stages on the way to the market turned out to be extremely difficult and took place in the conditions of the deepest economic recession, inflation, falling living standards of the population, criminalization of business, disregard for the norms of law and morality in commercial activities. A specific feature of the 90s. began the development of an unorganized market, including the "shuttle business", while a large number of cheap, low-quality and often counterfeit goods appeared on the shelves. At the same time, in recent years there has been a certain shift towards the formation of civilized entrepreneurship, and the need to develop modern methods commercial activity in these conditions is steadily increasing.
The history of the emergence of trade
The history of trade as an exchange of commodity-material values has been known since the Stone Age. Even then, it existed in the meaning familiar to us: an offer for an exchange with the aim of deriving benefits.
At first, trade was exclusively natural and, according to one version, it originated from the custom of exchanging gifts. Such an exchange had a symbolic meaning and sanctioned peace, union, friendship. Later, people began to exchange items of equal value, for example, a hammer instead of an ax or animal meat instead of vegetables or fruits. The main prerequisites for the further development of trade were the specialization of industry and the coin, the role of which among different peoples was played by jewelry, slaves, furs, cattle, etc.
The history of trade in the ancient East goes back to 3.5 millennia BC. e. The main branches of production then were weapons, ceramics and textiles.
In Egypt in that era, there was mainly land trade: caravans brought luxury items - fragrances, metals, wood, precious stones. Eastern traders pitched huge tents and laid out their goods for sale.
Ancient Eastern trade entered a new phase of development with the Phoenicians - it became maritime. Now the ships took away local goods - timber, metals and fruits, and returned with grain, wine, oil, raw materials, livestock and others. Goods were often sold right in the ports, from the side.
Trade received a huge impetus from the ancient Persians thanks to a developed transport system. Persian fabrics and carpets, furniture made of precious woods, mosaics and enamel had no rivals. These goods were transported by caravans and sold in large cities at fairs. Of course, commercial equipment was then in its infancy: either things were laid out in tents on the ground, or on simple racks, benches and wooden counters on the street.
In ancient Greece, the rise of trade began with colonization. Oils, silver, bread, wine, purple and iron were imported from various regions. Trade was concentrated in large markets, where there were open stalls and sheds.
The trade of ancient Rome is characterized by the early appearance of fairs dedicated to the festivities. The most important of them took place at Soracta, an Etruscan mountain near Rome. It was a grandiose event, where many merchants converged. They laid out the goods in tents, sheds and on the counters, and crowds of buyers walked between them. In huge quantities, various varieties of fish, a variety of vegetables and fruits, wine, oils, and salt were sold. For wealthy Romans, they brought precious furniture decorated with silver, marble and elegant statues. Until the end of the third century, the Roman Empire was the greatest area of free trade.
The turning point in European trade occurred during the era of the Crusades. When the knights became aware of the luxury of the East, the demand for oriental goods increased, and Italy began to look for an opportunity to bypass Byzantium, which until now was an intermediary between the West and the East. The Levant ports were opened to the Italians. Merchants penetrated deep into Asia and bought expensive spices and camphor, Persian sulfur and Chinese porcelain, Indian steel and glass in the famous oriental bazaars.
The flourishing of Levant trade immediately reverberated in Europe. The Italians mastered the secrets of Eastern industries, markets and fairs began to develop, merchants organized themselves into guilds, and cities into unions. Numerous trading enterprises were opened - shops, the founders of modern stores. Shelves were installed in them, where the goods were placed, and there was a counter behind which the seller stood.
Of great importance for the development of trade were geographical discoveries, the era of which began in 1475. Then the Portuguese reached the equator. The discovery of America and new sea routes provided access to new markets for raw materials and sales and made trade world wide.
In Russia, which was at the center of many trade routes, trade also developed very actively. It is noteworthy that in the code of laws of the 14th century there is an indication of the cost of domestic animals: "... For a cat, pay 3 hryvnias, for a dog - 3 hryvnias, for a mare - 60 kunas, for an ox - 2 hryvnias." Since the hryvnia was equal to 50 kunas, it turns out that dogs and cats were valued like one ox or three horses.
Associations of trade enterprises - markets and fairs - were transformed into shopping arcades and guest yards. These were impressive buildings, for example, Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg (18th century), Upper Trading Rows in Moscow (19th century). They were akin to modern, equipment for shops, which housed various goods.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first shop windows appeared: the number of stores grew, and buyers needed something to attract. In 1909, Gordon Selfridge opened a department store in London that kept the window open at night so customers could inspect the merchandise even in the dark. This quickly made the store popular. Later, other trade enterprises began to actively use the shop windows: they were painted by popular artists, including Salvador Dali, they were filled with amazing installations. trade commodity material
Shopping centers in their modern sense appeared in the early 40s. 20th century in the USA. Their emergence is due to the rapid development of transport. The lack of parking places has led to the fact that in the territories free from housing construction, large centers were erected, surrounded by huge parking lots. The first such enterprises are considered to be a complex near San Diego and Roosevelt Field near New York.
In Western Europe, such centers began to be built after the Second World War. The first were the complexes in Coventry, UK, and Liil-baan in Holland.
In June 1963, the first hypermarket was opened in the suburbs of Paris by Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforet. It occupied an area of 2.5 thousand square meters and had a parking lot for 500 cars. At first, the trading world reacted to this idea as an eccentricity, but the Carrefour company continued to expand, and soon 5 more hypermarkets opened. The success of this venture became obvious, and others followed the example of Carrefour.
At first, hypermarkets were mainly grocery stores, but gradually acquired multiple specializations, expanding product range. Today, these are huge shopping malls, where the latest commercial and refrigeration equipment is installed, and all the equipment as a whole is focused on convenience for customers.
The evolution of trade, of course, did not end there: the next step was the transfer of stores to the Internet. This made the buying process as comfortable as possible. The consumer does not have to spend time looking for the necessary things in physical outlets- he can open the website of an online store, where any goods are presented on virtual showcases, provided with a detailed description and characteristics. You can select and order them with a couple of clicks of a computer mouse.
What will be the next step in the development of trade? You can assume different options, but one thing is for sure: the exchange for the purpose of obtaining benefits will exist as long as humanity is alive.
Definition of trade, the history of the emergence of trade
The definition of trade, the history of the emergence of trade, the basics of trade
1. History of trade
Trade in Russia
History of trade of the developed countries of the world
Trade in Europe in the 20th century
2. Fundamentals of international trade
World trade Organization(WTO)
Theoretical concepts of foreign trade
3. Retail
4. Black Market
5. Barriers to trade
Trade is the process of exchanging goods, services, values and money. In a broad sense, the entrepreneurial activity associated with the sale and purchase of goods.
Trade- the branch of the economy, the economy and the type of economic activity, the object, the field of action, which is the exchange of goods, the sale of goods, as well as customer service in the process of selling goods and their delivery, storage of goods and their preparation for sale;
Trade is a significant source of tax revenues to the budget of a country or region. Commercial activity expressing the relationship of economic intermediation between producers and consumers, carried out by purchasing goods from manufacturers for the purpose of resale to consumers or by selling goods to consumers with subsequent payment of their cost to the manufacturer.
Trade- a branch of the national economy that ensures the circulation of goods, their movement from the sphere of production to the sphere of consumption.
Trade- commerce, purchase and sale of goods. A distinction is made between wholesale trade in large quantities of goods for industrial consumption or resale and retail trade in single items or a small number of them, serving the final consumer. A product sold at retail is called a piece.
The history of the emergence of trade
Trade in Russia
Trade arose with the advent of the division of labor as an exchange of surpluses of manufactured products and products. The exchange at first had a natural character; with the advent of money, prerequisites arose for the establishment of commodity-money relations. Trade, as a process of exchanging commodity-material values, has been known since the Stone Age. Both at that time and now, the essence of trade is an offer for an exchange, or for the sale of inventory, as well as non-material values in order to benefit from this exchange.
In Russia, the formation of trade is attributed to the 13th - 9th centuries. The centers of ancient Russian cities were markets (“bargaining”, “marketplace”). In the 9th century in Kievan Rus, with the emergence of commodity-money relations, the development of trade accelerated. Most often, domestic trade was carried out by the producers themselves, without intermediaries, and foreign trade was carried out by merchants. The most ancient cities arose most often on the most important trade routes.
One of these trade routes was the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. Through the Neva or the Western Dvina and the Volkhov with its tributaries and further through the portage system, the ships reached the Dnieper basin. Along the Dnieper, they reached the Black Sea and further to Byzantium. Finally, this path took shape by the 9th century. Another trade route, one of the oldest in Eastern Europe, was the Volga trade route, which connected Russia with the countries of the East. The development of commercial activity in Russia is associated with the appearance in the 10th - 11th centuries. resellers (intermediary groups) - prasols, ofenes, peddlers, merchants. These terms of Russian origin are interpreted as follows.
Prasol- an intermediary who collects goods directly from manufacturers and sends them to certain trading or sorting points, from where these goods go to larger distribution centers (points) for their subsequent sale. According to this scheme, salt, copper, wax, resin, furs, flax reached the buyer, i.e. goods mainly of natural origin with relatively low labor costs for extraction and processing and characteristic mainly for Russia.
Ofenya(peddler) - a traveling merchant, delivering small goods everywhere. If prasol was as close as possible to the manufacturers of products, then ofenya - to the end user (buyer).
Merchants - a special social stratum engaged in trade under private ownership. The merchant purchases goods not for his own consumption, but for subsequent sale in order to make a profit, i.e. acts as an intermediary between the producer and the consumer (or between producers various kinds goods).
In ancient Russia, in relation to the merchant class, two terms were mainly used - “merchant” (a city dweller engaged in trade) and “guest” (merchant trading with other cities and countries). In the 12th century, in the largest cities, the first merchant corporations.(from Latin Corporatio - association, community, i.e. society, union, group of persons united by a common professional or estate interests) In Russia, merchant corporations have been known since the 12th century. In the 12th - 14th centuries, during the period of feudal fragmentation, trade was limited to the scale of individual principalities, however, trade relations existed between them based on the natural geographical division of labor. Novgorod was a major trading center, which traded with Western Europe. In northeastern Russia, from the second half of the 14th century, Moscow became a trading center. In the formation of the Russian centralized state in the 15th - 16th centuries. important trade between the principalities. Many social groups (artisans, peasants, service people, nobles, boyars), as well as monasteries, participated in internal trade. The main form of trade in the cities became daily markets instead of weekly bazaars. arose living yards. Various forms of mobile trade developed, which were carried out by buyers, prasols, peddlers, etc. However, the remnants of feudal fragmentation and numerous internal customs duties retarded the development of internal trade.
In the XVI century. the cities already showed considerable demand for agricultural products. The greatest development of barter in general and the sale of agricultural products in particular reached in the central regions of the Russian state. Moscow was the largest center of the grain trade, where a huge amount of bread flowed. According to the Yaroslavl road alone, according to the testimony of the English navigator Richard Chancellor, who visited Russia in the 1950s, 700-800 wagons of grain arrived in Moscow daily. The lesser dependence of prices on local accidental causes, which has been observed since the second half of the 16th century, and their leveling, are undoubted evidence of the mutual connection of markets. The specialization of a number of regions in the production of one or another type of product led to an increase in trade in handicrafts. The role of the buyer in trade operations has increased. Russian cities are becoming lively shopping centers with numerous shops, barns and gostiny yards. According to the data of the 80s of the 16th century, there were 2 gostiny yards in Veliky Novgorod - "Tverskoy" and "Pskov" and 42 shopping arcades, in which there were 1500 shops; in Pskov there were 40 shopping arcades with 1478 shops; in Serpukhov in the 50s of the 16th century. there were 250 shops and barns.
Thus, between individual cities, as well as between cities and agricultural districts, more or less permanent trade relations were established, which steadily grew with the development of commodity-money relations. In the second half of the XVI century. the prerequisites for the emergence of an all-Russian market are outlined, the process of addition of which dates back to the 17th century. At the same time, broad circles of the peasantry were still weakly drawn into commodity production; feudal lords, including clergy, who were protected from competition by various immune privileges, played a significant role in trade. The economic fragmentation of the country has not yet been overcome.
Growth of foreign trade
Regular trade relations existed not only between certain regions of the Russian state, but also with other countries. Trade with Ukraine and Belarus was lively. Russian merchants brought furs, leather, linen, weapons and other goods to the fairs of Ukraine and Belarus, and bought here Western European cloth, oriental silk fabrics and spices and local products and products - salt, vodka, paper, jewelry. Ukrainian and Belarusian merchants regularly visited Moscow and other Russian cities.
Moldova in the XVI centuries did not stop trade relations with Ukraine and the Russian state, exporting mainly agricultural products and importing industrial products.
The presence in Riga since 1522 of a special workshop of Russian retailers testifies to intensive trade relations between Russia and the Baltic states.
2.6 Trade in honey and bread in Novgorod. Miniature from the "Face Chronicle". XVI century
In the 16th century, in the trade routes along which Russia traded with foreign countries there have been significant changes. Many old roads have lost their significance. The southern routes through the Crimea are intercepted by the Tatars. The roads through Smolensk and across the Baltic Sea were closed after the Livonian War.
On the other hand, the northern sea route around the Scandinavian Peninsula, which has long been well known to Russian coast-dwellers and has been used by Russian diplomats, has received wide development. Russian diplomat and scientist Dmitry Gerasimov during the reign of Vasily III sailed around the Scandinavian Peninsula three times. He suggested the possibility of sailing across the Arctic Ocean to China and India. English, Dutch and other Western European merchants and travelers were also very interested in finding the Northern Sea Route to India. In 1553, the ship of Richard Chancellor got into the White Sea by the northern route; this marked the beginning of regular Russian-English trade relations.
In 1555, the Moscow Company was organized in England, which concentrated trade with the Russian state in its hands. In 1565-1566. Antwerp merchants appeared in Russian settlements on the Kola Peninsula (Kola, Pechenga Monastery). Later, the Dutch began to conduct trading operations at the mouth of the Northern Dvina. Due to the great commercial importance that northern path, on the Northern Dvina, on the site where the Archangel Michael Monastery stood, in 1584 a new city was founded - Arkhangelsk, which for a long time became the main trading port of the Russian state. The British and Dutch sought to become the only intermediaries in supplying other countries with Russian goods, the most important of which were technical raw materials (hemp, flax, wax, leather, tar, ash), as well as furs, ropes and other items.
From Western Europe, mainly cloth, metals and metal products, military equipment, wine, writing paper, precious metals, mainly in coins, were imported.
Simultaneously with the development of trade with the West, economic ties with eastern countries are intensifying. From the end of the XV century. relations are established with Turkey, from where Turkish and Greek merchants travel to Moscow. Crimean and Nogai merchants also regularly visited Moscow. Accession to the Russian state in the middle of the XVI century. Kazan and Astrakhan facilitated trade relations with the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Iran. A year after the annexation of Astrakhan, merchants from Khiva, Bukhara, Shamakhi and Derbent appeared in it. In 1557, a trade agreement was concluded with Shemakha, through which "Kyzylbash" (Iranian) goods went to Russia. In 1559, the first embassy from Central Asia arrived in Moscow. Later, especially in the 80-90s of the 16th century, trade and diplomatic representatives of the Central Asian states visited Russia almost every year.
From Russia to the East, mainly handicrafts were exported - leather, metalworking, woodworking, textile and craft products - furs, wax, honey. Cotton fabrics, silk, paints, oil were brought from the East. Also carpets, morocco, weapons, gems, groceries. A number of goods brought from the East (paints, etc.) played an important role in production and were used by artisans. Cheap cotton fabrics were in great demand. With the help of Central Asian merchants, they came to Moscow from the end of the 16th century. and Chinese fabrics.
Transit trade occupied a significant place in Russia's foreign trade. Eastern goods went through Russia to the Western European states, and, conversely, the goods of a number of European countries through Russia went to the East. Trade routes from England and Holland to Iran and Central Asia ran through the Russian state. Already in the XVI century. English and other merchants are trying to use the Russian trade routes to penetrate the East. The expeditions of Willoughby and Chancellor (1553), Stephen Burrow (1556), Barents (1596) and others are looking for routes to India along the Russian northern shores. Not only foreign, but also Russian merchants, who resold Shirvan silks to Western merchants and English cloth to the Crimeans and Nogais. However, the bulk of imported goods in the XVI century. settled within the country, just as the bulk of exported goods was of Russian origin.
In the 16th century, in connection with the expansion of the domestic and international market, a new type of trading person was noticeable in Russia. This is a large entrepreneur who carries out his trading operations in various places with the help of a more or less significant number of agents - clerks. So, for example, the "eminent people" Stroganovs conducted their trading operations in the Netherlands and in Bukhara.
In Russia, the path to the formation of independent and systematized commercial legislation was already outlined by the Council Code of 1649. In the 17th century. small local markets begin to merge into one all-Russian market. Moscow was the center of formation of this market. Wholesale and retail trade was carried out at fairs. The collection of taxes from trade and customs duties was in charge of Order of the Great Treasury. Facilitated the development of trade Trade charter 1653 In the second half of the 17th century, trading companies. Relations with India expanded, and under the Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689 - with China. Russian government in the 17th century. implemented a policy mercantilism(French Merkante - merchant, merchant; the theory of monetary balance substantiated a policy aimed at increasing monetary wealth by purely legislative means) and limited the trade of foreign merchants in Russia.
In the 16th - 17th centuries. there were privileged corporations of guests, trading people cloth and living hundreds. Within corporations, merchants were divided according to property, mainly into three categories - first-class, middle-class and third-class. The term "guild" was first mentioned (1719) in the regulations Commerce College. In 1721 Regulations Chief Master the creation of guilds in all cities was declared obligatory. The townspeople should be divided into "regular" and "irregular" citizens. The first, in turn, were divided into two guilds: the 1st included bankers, "noble" merchants, doctors, pharmacists and some categories of artisans (gold and silver craftsmen, etc.); 2nd - small merchants and artisans (with the formation of workshops in 1722, part of the artisans was outside the guild division). The rest of the population (laborers, "acquired in employment") were classified as "irregular" citizens. In practice, in the 20-70s. 18th century the townspeople, called the merchants, were still divided according to their predominant feature into three articles, or guilds, between which there were no significant differences in the class character. The situation changed in the 1970s and 1980s. 18th century. Manifesto March 17, 1755 The merchant class was divided into privileged guild merchants, depending on the available capital (three guilds) and philistines (other citizens).
2.7 Meeting of Russian "industrial people" with Dutch merchants on the shore Arctic Ocean. Engraving from 1595
At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. there was a gradual decline of the guild merchants. One of the main reasons for this was the wide competition of the trading serfs. With the development of capitalism, the role of the guilds fell. In 1863 the Third Guild was abolished. Since 1898 Guild certificates were acquired voluntarily only by persons seeking to obtain estate merchant rights.
Significant development of trade was facilitated by the reforms carried out in the first part of the 18th century by Peter I. Despite his knowledge of the trade business, Peter I himself often admitted that "of all the affairs of management, trade presents the most difficulties." The active conduct of foreign trade was hindered by the habit of Russian merchants for deceit ("roguery"), which Peter I tried to eradicate, for which he created a staff of rejecters, i.e. checkers for the trade in flax, lard, wax and yuft, i.e. the meager list of goods that were in demand among foreigners, and provided for the rules for such verification. In addition, in order to restore order in trade and protect buyers from deception, Peter I established the same scales and measures for all, samples of which are still kept in St. Petersburg.
In foreign trade, Peter I tried to teach Russian merchants to act together, in "companies", as they traded in foreign countries, encouraged the sending of merchants' children to foreign countries to study trading and develop the spirit of commercial entrepreneurship in Russian people.
In the field of internal trade, Peter I also carried out huge transformations. In 1713, he granted the right to all people to trade freely in Russia with the payment of moderate duties; limited state trade, which hampered private industry; the first exchange was created, and later exchanges began to be created in large cities. At the stock exchanges, sworn brokers were established, whose records had the force of court (loan) protocols.
In 1717 was established College of Commerce- the central state institution of Russia, in charge of trade issues, mainly foreign. The functions of the College of Commerce included: the construction of merchant ships, harbors, lighthouses, warehouses, etc.; management of trade consuls abroad, the sale of certain goods (furs, iron, etc.), the trade of which was monopolized by the treasury; monitoring of communication routes, fairs and execution of customs tariffs; patronage of the creation of merchant companies, etc. In 1731 -1742. was merged with the Manufactory and Berg Collegiums. In 1754, the State Commercial Bank was established under the Collegium of Commerce. In 1802, subordinate to the Minister of Commerce, and in 1818 it was abolished.
Customs reform 1753 -1757 abolished internal duties, which contributed to the growth of the all-Russian market. In the second half of the 18th century, the first shops at merchant houses appeared in Moscow. In 1797, it was allowed to have shops at residential buildings. In the 18th century trade developed on the principles protectionism. Protectionism - protection, patronage; economic policy, which is carried out with the help of trade and political barriers that protect the domestic market from the import of foreign goods, reduce their competitiveness compared to nationally produced goods. In the second half of the 19th century joint-stock trading partnerships arose, wholesale exchange trade developed.
In the 19th - early 20th centuries. commercial activity was the main object of occupation of the Russian merchants, which is an honorary class of Russian society. During this period, the art of commerce in Russia reached a high level. There was a kind of code of honor for the merchant-merchant, which proclaimed the firmness and inviolability of the merchant's word.
At the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. there is a further growth of trade, its concentration in the hands of monopolies. The share of fairs in the internal trade turnover fell, the shop form of trade developed, and the role of banks increased. In 1905, the Ministry of Trade and Industry was created. During the First World War 1914-1918. decreased production consumer goods, prices rose, speculation grew. A food crisis arose, which in many ways led to a revolutionary situation in Russia.
After the February Revolution and the October Revolution of 1917, private property was abolished, and with it the free exchange of goods. Along with nationalization, a state monopoly was established on trade (1918) in the most important consumer goods. First civil war(1918 - 1929) during the period of "war communism" commercial activities were prohibited, and a centralized distribution of consumer goods was established. In January 1919, introduced surplus appropriation. With the transition to new economic policy(NEP) the surplus appropriation was replaced by a tax in kind.
To market the products of large-scale industry, branch syndicates and other state wholesale organizations(Gossnabs). Retail trade was predominantly in the hands of consumer cooperation, and state trade was represented by a small network of trades and other organizations. Cooperative shop in the village. 1920s
cooperative trade
The organization of cooperative trade caused a lot of criticism. On July 3, 1927, the inhabitants of the village of Yasenev gathered for a meeting to decide what to do with the local cooperative store. At the village council there was a special "shop commission" of local residents, but it was difficult for them, who were not versed in trade and accounting, to control the work of the shop. The latest revision revealed financial irregularities, besides, the residents of Yasenev were not happy with the meager assortment - it was rare to find even the most necessary goods in the store. There was a lot of noise at the meeting. Different opinions were expressed about what to do with the shop, and about trading cooperatives in general. Thus, the peasant Volkov declared: “Commercial cooperation leads not to socialism, but to capitalism. It is not surprising that there were constant waste, trade in deficit (and almost everything was in deficit in those difficult times) for acquaintances and relatives from the "back door".
In the process of development of the planned-distributive economy and administrative-command methods of managing the national economy, three forms of internal trade were created and developed: state, cooperative, collective farm, which served the urban and rural population, respectively. State and cooperative trade together form the country's organized market, in which prices are directly set by the state.
New economic conditions focused on the transition to market economic relations, the introduction of private property, the development and strengthening of commodity-money relations, full cost accounting and self-financing - contributed to the emergence of a new type of organization of commercial relations between suppliers and buyers of goods. They opened wide scope for commercial initiative, independence and enterprise of trade workers. Without these qualities in market conditions, it is impossible to successfully carry out commercial activities.
History of trade in the developed world
The current debate about whether trade should be “free” or “fair” and how market openness affects the economy is often speculative, influenced by interest groups or biased considerations. A serious analysis of the development of world trade over more than half a thousand years allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion. Free trade countries prosper, while market closures lead to poverty and economic decline. This conclusion is confirmed by the experience of the Netherlands, Great Britain, USA, Japan and Germany.
The birth of international trade
The economy of the Roman Empire was characterized by developed trade relations - by land and sea - throughout the Mediterranean. With its collapse, this trading system ceased to exist. AT medieval Europe agricultural products produced in the autarkic fiefs were mainly consumed locally, which did not allow for the efficient use of natural resources and the division of labor. The standard of living of the majority of peasants, in fact, only ensured their livelihood. Crop failures often led to mass starvation. The life of the people was hard, primitive, and short. After the emergence of cities - still small - various craft guilds began to restrict access to the market, as well as the quantity and range of products produced: the purpose of this was to maintain high prices and control sales.
Netherlands
The Netherlands was one of the first countries to, out of necessity, begin to re-develop trade as the only possible path to prosperity. Since their country was small and deprived natural resources, the Dutch were forced to import wool, tin and copper from Germany. To pay for imported goods, they developed export-oriented industries. At a time when the whole of Europe was still in the grip of restrictions imposed by the guilds, crafts and manufactures flourished in Holland. As a result, well-defined and protected private property rights have emerged, a necessary prerequisite for the future growth of its economy.
Assertion of economic freedom
The transition from medieval regulation to Renaissance freedom in the Netherlands was not without difficulties and painful setbacks. Historian Henri Pirenne has shown that craft corporations resisted the opening of the market for a long time, but finally, at the end of the 14th century, were forced to give in:
“They did everything possible to completely exclude competition from outside. Ghent, Bruges and Ypres established an unprecedented regime of "industrial exclusivity" in the surrounding areas. Military expeditions were sent to the surrounding villages: they searched farmsteads and destroyed any tools for making fabrics. Crafts in small towns were tightly controlled by large cities, which, in the name of false "privileges", in fact, of a violent nature, did not allow them to copy their own wood products. This rampant protectionism, however, did not save crafts in the Dutch cities from decline ... By the end of the 14th century, it became obvious that this short-sighted policy was doomed to failure.
Later, the Netherlands became the main commercial center of Europe. Thanks to the development of maritime transport and shipbuilding, the capital of the country, Amsterdam, gained control over the grain trade in the Baltic region, as well as maritime transport of other bulky goods. As a result, Amsterdam became the central commodity market in Europe, which required skills in finance, insurance and other related activities. The emergence of shortages in every corner of Europe quickly and accurately manifested itself in rising prices on the Amsterdam Mercantile Exchange and rising freight rates - all these factors contributed to the prosperity of the city.
Religious tolerance also contributed to the development of the country. People who were persecuted for religious reasons elsewhere in Europe, such as the French Huguenots, settled in Amsterdam, giving it dynamism and greatly contributing to its economic prosperity. Trade imperatives also dictated a peaceful foreign policy and held back the growth of the state apparatus. As Cambridge University professor Charles Wilson notes, “The prosperity of a commercial republic was incompatible with arbitrariness, that integral element of the monarchy, which subordinated trade to political, diplomatic, fiscal and military considerations.”
Holland - Hong Kong of its time
The needs of trade also did not allow mercantilist policies to unfold. Unlike other European states of that era, the Netherlands did not prohibit the export of coins and precious metals, did not take measures to protect domestic industry, and, in fact, pursued a policy of free trade in its purest form. Wilson points out: “The doctrine of balanced trade, ... closely related to the idea of the need to “save” raw materials for profitable domestic production and export of its products, protect their own industrialists, encourage the development of manufactories, and the like, could not resonate with the people for whom these considerations, for objective reasons, were essentially irrelevant.” By the 17th century, the Dutch had become the richest people in the world. Their country served as a model for the free market and religious tolerance in England and America.
Fall from the pedestal
However, the leading position of Holland was soon undermined due to the strengthening of the power of the state and protectionist policies. By the end of the 17th century, taxes and customs tariffs in the country crept up. This led to a reduction in the volume of trade and an increase in wages: the workers demanded higher wages due to the rising cost of living. Skilled labor and commercial activities gradually moved to other regions, such as Hamburg, where taxes and tariffs were lower. In the 17th century, the Netherlands even abandoned the traditional policy of neutrality, and soon suffered a series of heavy defeats in the wars with England. The period of Dutch great power was over.
The driving force behind the rise of the Netherlands was freedom of trade. The Dutch were the first to throw off the shackles of regulation and economic restrictions that marked the economy of the Middle Ages. Moreover, the decline of the country was associated with the abandonment of this policy, the transition to protectionism, and the "growth" of the state, which ultimately stifled the creativity and enterprise of the Dutch people.
Great Britain
In the 16th century, as the Dutch were removing medieval restrictions on trade, England also began to open up its market. At the beginning of the century laws against usury ceased to apply, restrictions on the export of raw cloth were lifted, and some differential duties were abolished. Ongoing trade restrictions have generally been eased as well. The result, as the historian F.J. Fisher (F. J. Fischer), was the onset of "one of the greatest eras of free trade in the modern and recent history of England."
Unfortunately, the first period of free trade did not last long. By the second half of the 16th century, trade restrictions were reintroduced to protect domestic industries from the effects of the depression caused by government monetary policy. By 1604, however, as the effects of the depression eased, the House of Commons again passed laws that affirmed free trade.
Closing of the market in the 17th century
At the end of the 17th century there was a new surge of protectionism. From 1690 to 1704 the overall level of import duties quadrupled. First of all, this process was determined by the need to increase the revenues of the treasury; in practice, however, the result was a return to a protectionist tariff system. Moreover, at that time in France, the finance minister of Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, was trying to increase state revenues and give the French economy an autarkic character by restricting imports, including English goods, and developing domestic industry. This provoked retaliatory "punitive measures" in London.
The spread of mercantilist ideas by English publicists like Thomas Mun also contributed to the establishment of protectionism. These erroneous doctrines, alas, have much in common with today's theories. It was argued, in particular, that the prosperity of the state depends on the reserves of gold and silver, and such reserves should be accumulated by exporting more goods than are imported into the country. Today, many politicians also talk about the need to maintain a positive trade balance.
The Adam Smith Revolution
After the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the theory of free trade won the "ideological struggle" unconditionally in a matter of decades. Smith demonstrated that free trade and the international division of labor it creates benefits all participants in this process. However, the country's economy was still affected by remnants of mercantilist policies and even internal trade restrictions that had survived from the Middle Ages. Therefore, for the establishment of free trade, it was necessary to win many more fierce battles.
Among the major obstacles to free trade that persisted into the early 19th century were the shipping laws and the Corn Laws. The founding Navigation Act, passed as far back as 1660, required that most of the trade traffic to England and its colonies be carried out on British ships with British crews. The Corn Laws, in force since 1670, imposed protective tariffs on imported grain to keep domestic prices high as an incentive to develop domestic agriculture.
The campaign to liberalize trade began in 1820 and culminated in the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the Navigation Acts in 1849. The Anglo-French trade treaty of 1860 further strengthened the principles of free trade. From this point until the First World War, Great Britain basically followed a policy of free trade.
Economic giant
Trade liberalization has become a logical consequence of market economic policy. The booming British economy needed more and more imported goods, especially raw materials for industry and food for a growing population; in addition, the country needed markets for its own products. During this period, Britain was the richest and most powerful country in the world. Historian Paul Kennedy describes the situation this way:
“In the years 1760-1830. The UK accounted for about two-thirds industrial products produced in Europe, and its share in global commodity production increased from 1.9 to 9.5%; over the next thirty years, thanks to further industrial development, this figure rose to 19.9%, despite the spread of new technologies in other Western countries. By 1860 - around this time the country probably reached the zenith of its economic power - Great Britain provided 53% of the world's iron production, 50% of coal and lignite production, and consumed almost half of the world's raw cotton grown. Great Britain, whose population was only 2% of the world's population and 10% of the population of Europe, in terms of modern production capacity controlled 40-45% of the world's potential and 55-60% of the potential of Europe... It accounted for a fifth of the world's trade, and two-thirds of trade in manufactured goods. More than a third of all merchant ships on the planet sailed under the British flag, and this proportion has been constantly increasing. It is not surprising that in the middle of the Victorian era, the British were enthusiastic about their unique position, because their country had become ... the commercial center of the planet.
The departure from the principles of free trade in the UK began in response to the actions of Germany, whose authorities, under pressure large companies, introduced a protectionist tariff in 1879. This soon led to protectionist measures throughout Europe. Although Britain initially resisted this trend, at the turn of the 20th century it also began to take steps in the same direction. The main proponent of the idea of maintaining free trade within the British Empire while pursuing a protectionist policy towards other states was Joseph Chamberlain (Joseph Chamberlain). Here is how Lillian Knowles describes this change of course:
“In 1886-1914. Great changes took place in British politics. This was a period of departure from the principle of laissez-faire in the fields of colonization, trade, industry and agriculture. Great Britain began to modify its cosmopolitan ideas of free trade and laissez-faire, focusing on the development of trade within the British Empire itself.
In 1897, Great Britain denounced treaties with Germany and Belgium that prevented it from granting trade preferences to its own colonies. However, a fundamental break with the policy of free trade occurred in 1915, when the government imposed tariffs of 33 1/3% on imported motor vehicles and spare parts for them, musical instruments, watches and film. Later laws expanded the list of goods subject to protectionist tariffs.
The abandonment of free trade during World War I coincided with the onset of Britain's economic decline. Free trade was the main pillar of all British market economic policy. When this support collapsed, various socialist measures began to be taken in the country. The 20th century went down in the history of Great Britain as a period of almost constant increase in state intervention in the economy, and a simultaneous weakening of its power and influence in the international arena.
United States
Some protectionists argue that US economic strength and prosperity are due to trade barriers. However, the history of the development of trade in the United States consists of several different stages. It would be more accurate to say that the country's economy developed despite the restriction of imports.
The colony gains independence
In relation to its American colonies, Britain pursued a mercantilist policy. The metropolis believed that the colonial trade should bring her material benefits. The laws of navigation, as already noted, required that all trade with the colonies be carried out by British ships with British crews. In addition, some goods were ordered not to be delivered immediately to their destination, but first to the British Isles. Mercantilist policy caused considerable damage to the colonies. In this sense, it can be said that the mercantilism of London was one of the essential factors that determined the American Revolution.
However, after independence, many Americans began to advocate the same protectionist course that they had previously condemned. Alexander Hamilton, the main proponent of import restrictions, justified his proposals with references to the interests of the nascent industry. In his “Report on Manufactories” (1791), he noted: “The superiority that states have long possessed, carefully bringing this or that branch of industry to perfection, is a formidable obstacle ... to the establishment of the same industry in a country where it was not previously existed. To maintain competition on equal terms between the newly created industry of one country and the mature industry of another, both in terms of price and quality, is in most cases inexpedient. By necessity, the difference in conditions must be significant, because in order to prevent the rival from succeeding, emergency assistance and protection of the state are needed.
First wave of protectionism
Although Congress enacted the first tariff as early as 1789, it main goal were additional government revenues. Tariffs ranged from 5 to 15%; the average level was about 8.5%. However, in 1816, Congress established an already clearly protectionist tariff of 25% on most types of textile products, and up to 30% on a number of manufactured goods. In 1824, protectionist measures were extended to products made from wool, iron, hemp, lead, and glass. Tariff rates for other products were also increased.
The first wave of protectionism came to a head in 1828 with the introduction of the so-called Tariff of Abominations. The average level of tariffs has risen to almost 49%. However, as early as 1832, Congress began to cut tariffs; a year later there was a further decline. In 1842 the tariffs were again increased, but by 1846 they had crept down again, and in 1857 they were cut again. After the adoption of the law in 1857, their average level was 20%.
Failure of tariff policy
The economist Frank Taussig, who carefully examined these tariff measures, concluded that they did nothing to promote American industry. "Almost nothing, if anything, was achieved as a result of the protectionist policies pursued by the United States" in the first half of the 19th century, he concludes. These data raise serious doubts about the validity of the arguments regarding the protection of young industries. “Those who speak of the need to protect the “young” industries are thus unaffected by the conclusions drawn from the practical experience of the United States, which tested these measures in practice: they prove that the deliberate introduction of protective tariffs in 1816, 1824, and 1828 did not bring much results,” notes Taussig.
Thus, the history of US trade policy at the first stage of the country's existence demonstrates the precariousness of the thesis that protectionism can help the development of industry. In practice, the so-called "emerging industries" cannot become competitive behind the "fence" of trade barriers: they remain underdeveloped, and therefore they have to be defended indefinitely. Gottfried von Haberler notes in this connection:
“Virtually all industrial tariffs were at first introduced to protect nascent industries, and were accompanied by promises that in a few years, when these industries were strong enough to withstand foreign competition, the restrictions would be lifted. In fact, this moment never comes. Concerned circles constantly demand to keep tariffs. This is how temporary “protective” tariffs are turned into permanent ones in order to preserve the industries they protect.”
It must also be borne in mind that the negative impact of tariffs in 19th century America was more than offset by economic activity for the development of the western part of the continent. Up to 20 million emigrants arrived in America this century. In addition, economic growth was largely supported by the development of transport, agriculture, extractive industries and the creation of infrastructure. After all, the United States itself was essentially a gigantic continent-sized free-trade zone stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as long as Madrid to Moscow.
After the Civil War, there was also some liberalization of tariffs, mainly not in the form of tariff reduction, but due to the exemption of goods from duties. As can be seen from Chart 1, prior to this, duties were a large percentage of the total value of imported goods: this is evidenced by the large overlap between the level of tariffs on all imports, and only on goods subject to duties. However, after the Civil War, there was a sharp discrepancy between these indicators.
Tariff policy in the late 19th - early 20th century
During the 1888 election campaign, the Republican Party advocated higher tariffs to protect American manufacturing. Benjamin Harrison's victory over free-trader Democrat Grover Cleveland led to the introduction of the "McKinley Tariff" in 1890. A remarkable feature of the tariff debate in 1890 was the fact that the protectionists no longer pretended that high tariffs were necessary in the interests of young industries. Even mature industries, they argued, needed protection. Their other argument was that high tariffs would reduce the budget surplus: protectionists understood that high enough rates would reduce imports so much that the government's tariff revenues would fall.
For the next 20 years, protectionist tariffs remained the cornerstone of Republican trade policy. Thus, in 1909, they so actively demanded the introduction of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff that President William Howard Taft, as a political concession to the Democrats for supporting this move, agreed to the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution, which authorized the establishment of a federal income tax. Perhaps it was one of the most destructive compromises in history - a typical example of a situation from which everyone lost.
The Underwood Tariff, adopted in 1913 after the Woodrow Wilson administration came to power, somewhat liberalized trade. But once the Republicans returned to the White House after World War I, they raised tariffs again. The Fordney-McCumber tariff in 1922 led to a general increase in tariff rates. At the same time, this law gave the president the power to reduce existing tariffs by 50%.
Deepening depression
The last egregious act of protectionist Republicans was the Smoot-Howley Tariff, passed in 1930. Tariff rates on imported goods reached their highest level in more than 100 years. In most cases, the increase was 50%, and sometimes reached 100%. Table 1 shows how much tariffs increased in the 1920s. as a result of the Fordney-McCumber and Smoot-Howley laws. A recent study estimates that the Smoot-Howley Tariff has resulted in a doubling of Underwood's rates.
Economists and historians are still arguing about what role the Smoot-Hawley Tariff played in the onset of the Great Depression. However, whatever the extent of this impact, it was negative, and the introduction of the tariff itself was undoubtedly a wrong step. As you can see, after the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Act, world trade experienced a real collapse. Thus, if it did not become the sole cause of the Great Depression, it undoubtedly exacerbated an already unfavorable situation.
On the path of free trade
However, politically at least, the memory of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff has long kept Americans committed to free trade. For over 60 years the founding principle foreign economic policy The US was to cut tariffs and all trade barriers and prevent "economic wars" at all costs. the best way achieving these goals were considered multilateral negotiations. Therefore, the United States took the lead in developing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which in the post-war years allowed for the reduction of tariffs on a global scale, and in the major rounds of negotiations on the liberalization of international trade under the auspices of the GATT, including the Kennedy Round, the Tokyo Round, and Uruguay round.
In recent years, however, the US free trade consensus has begun to weaken. Today, protectionist demands have reached almost the same intensity as in 1929. After the Second World War, supporters of protectionism were largely hesitant to openly call themselves protectionists. Now, however, prominent politicians like Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and South Carolina Democratic Senator Ernest Hollings are talking about it with pride. Nevertheless, protectionist policies have never been the source of America's economic power. And today, fortunately, the prevailing trend in US economic policy remains a commitment to free trade.
Japan
One reason for the weakening consensus on free trade in the US is the perception that Japan's prosperity has been based on protectionism and government support for industry. In fact, it owes these not to protectionist measures, but to sound economic policy. Protectionism held back Japan for centuries, and it was freedom of trade that made it a world economic power.
Protectionism is a source of weakness
During the period of the Tokugawa shogunate, in the 17th-19th centuries, Japan was almost completely isolated from the outside world. Although limited contact was still maintained with the Portuguese and Dutch, the Japanese were prohibited from traveling abroad, and even from building ocean-going ships. As a result, feudalism lasted much longer in Japan than in Europe, and industrialization was in its infancy at a time when the West had already passed through the Industrial Revolution.
In 1853, the US government organized a naval expedition under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry to force Japan to open one of its trading ports to resupply American ships bound for China and back. When an American warship entered Tokyo Bay and the squadron officers forced a weak Japan to accept all its terms, many of the country's leaders realized that isolation was no longer possible. To become a powerful power capable of defending its interests, Japan had to establish economic ties with the rest of the world. A gradual exit from isolation began, culminating in the Meiji Revolution of 1868: as a result, the shogun was overthrown, and power returned to the emperor.
Gain through trading
After the Restoration, trade played an important role in the economic development of Japan. Although it was initially dominated by foreigners, the Japanese quickly mastered the skills of competition: they imported technology and know-how, and quickly introduced them into the industry. It must be remembered that since the last decades of the 19th century, Japan has almost completely adopted the principles of free trade. This was due to the fact that its treaties with other powers did not allow restrictions on trade, and the state basically did not interfere in the economy.
Even after the First World War, when Japan partly went over to protectionism and militarization gained momentum in the country, economic growth here was still based primarily on private initiative. After studying the development of the Japanese economy in 1868-1938, William Lockwood came to the following conclusion:
“A study of the entire process of economic development in modern Japan leads to the conclusion that its real driving forces mainly lay outside the sphere of national-political ambitions and state activities. The latter, at best, only accelerated the process of industrialization, due to a combination of the whole set of factors. . . . Apart from the routine set of services provided by the state, his projects provided only an insignificant share of the gross national product. Moreover, genuine economic growth in Japan has been largely limited to those areas of private enterprise that have been least affected by government support and "politicized" subsidies.
Protectionist wars
In the 1930s, after the onset of the Great Depression, Japan was faced with the closure of markets and attempts by two colonial giants - Great Britain and France - to "close" trade within their own empires. As a result, Japan came to the conclusion that it was necessary to capture its own colonies in order to gain guaranteed access to markets and raw materials. In 1931 it invaded Manchuria, and in 1937 it unleashed aggression against China. In response to the American oil embargo resulting from this imperialist policy, Tokyo found it necessary to invade Indonesia and other Asian countries. The result was the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II.
MITI failures
After the war, the state in Japan retained a number of levers of control over trade and investment. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry (MVTP) has received broad powers to use these levers for the benefit of the domestic industry. Japan's greatest economic achievements in the post-war period have led many observers to conclude that the key to this success was the "active industrial policy" of the MITI. On closer examination, however, this conclusion looks doubtful. Thus, as early as 1976, Philip H. Trezise found that: , extremely active leadership, assistance, and intervention in the affairs of the private sector. The policy pursued by the MITI is protection against imports, control over foreign investment and the purchase of foreign technology, financial assistance to selected industries through state credit institutions, selective tax incentives, and administrative measures to prevent overinvestment and overproduction - in no way hindered the dynamic development of the economy. However, it is much less clear whether these policies actually made the consistent and positive – and even more so decisive – contribution to economic growth that is attributed to them.
In the years that have passed since the publication of this work, doubts about the contribution of the MITI to the prosperity of Japan have only intensified. Among the failed projects of this ministry are the following:
In the early 1950s The MITI tried to liquidate every automaker except Toyota and Nissan; in his opinion, the presence of more than two firms in the industry harmed its efficiency. Fortunately for the Japanese economy, these efforts failed.
Then, in the early 1950s, the MITI did not give permission to Sony to import transistor technology. While the firm was eventually able to get the ministry to change its mind, it had to wait two years to receive a sanction, all because one MITI official thought Sony couldn't handle the production. At the same time, MVTP provided assistance to two firms producing rapidly obsolete tube radios.
Japan's thirty-year attempts to create a breeder nuclear reactor ended in failure; at least $5 billion was spent on the project.
Launched with great fanfare in 1982, the "fifth generation" computer project was abandoned in 1992, when it became clear that the development of the computer industry had taken a completely different path from that predicted by MITI officials.
An ambitious program to develop high-definition television technology failed: the system, in which the MITI invested $ 1.2 billion, turned out to be obsolete.
Other failed ventures by the MITP include plans for a nuclear-powered merchant ship. power plant, the suppression of the development of cable television in Japan, since satellite was favored, a project to develop an offshore remote-controlled drilling rig and a nuclear blast furnace for the steel industry. A thorough empirical analysis of all the largest industrial projects in Japan, conducted by the Institute for Economic Research at Harvard University, showed: government subsidies had no bearing on their success or failure. Today, the MVTP is regarded as an outdated agency that can only exist if it is fundamentally restructured.
Of course, Japan maintains a significant bilateral trade surplus with the US, but economists today attribute this to macroeconomic factors rather than trade barriers or industrial policy. Briefly, the situation can be described as follows: in Japan there is an “excess” of savings, and in the United States there is a “shortage”. Therefore, Japan "exports" excess savings to the United States, which leads to a positive balance of its trade balance.
Japan may never be an absolute free trader, but even at its worst, its protectionist policies have not reached the scale that many economic hawks in the US have claimed. In fact, its success is primarily due to sound economic policy. Taxes in Japan, especially taxes on capital, are traditionally low. The level of savings has always been high, and the budget deficit has always been small. Although Japanese companies are protected to a certain extent from foreign competition, in the domestic market, the rivalry between them is very fierce. Inflation is kept low, property rights are guaranteed. These reasons are quite enough to explain the economic achievements of Japan.
Germany
American protectionists also cite Germany as a role model. Pat Buchanan, for example, backs up his arguments with quotes from the writings of the German protectionist Friedrich List. However, the study of German history, and even a deeper reading of the books of the same List, does not confirm the thesis about the effectiveness of the protectionist path to prosperity.
Damage from protectionism
First, let's not forget that back in the early 19th century, Germany was a loose confederation of independent states. The largest of these were Prussia and Austria. From an economic point of view, its main problem was the existence of numerous trade barriers erected by the German states, which prevented the large-scale development of industry and held back the growth of Germany's political influence. An important place among such barriers was occupied by unusually high fees for moving along the rivers, and in fact, before the advent of railways river transport was actually the only means of transporting large quantities of goods. A British traveler who visited Germany in 1820 described this customs system in this way:
“On the Weser, between Menden and Bremen, there are at least 22 toll points, of which seven belong to the overlord of Hanover. . . . At each such customs, all ships are stopped, and their cargo is inspected. On average, it takes an hour to inspect one ship, resulting in a whole day being spent on the road from one of these cities to another. Such a waste of time is probably more damaging to all interested parties than the duties paid by merchants. … It is said that the cost of collecting these fees is equal to their total amount.
Liberalization of the movement of goods
List's concepts must be understood precisely in the context of this extreme disunity and the obstacles it created to trade. Although he advocated protectionist measures against imports from outside Germany, inside the country itself, List demanded the elimination of all barriers, including river tolls. In the end, his point of view prevailed: in 1833, the German states entered into a Customs Union (Zollverein). By 1854, all the states that existed on the territory of Germany joined the union. In other words, the main economic enterprise of the German states in the first half of the 19th century was the creation of a vast free trade zone in the center of Europe. These efforts were finally completed by the unification of Germany in 1871 as a result of the policies of the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. It is no coincidence that List is revered in Germany as one of the initiators of the unification of the country.
List advocated protectionism primarily for political reasons - in the interests of the unification of Germany. As for his purely economic arguments in favor of restricting imports, they boiled down to the now discredited thesis of supporting young industry. However, List conceived of protectionist policy as a temporary, and by no means permanent measure. In all other respects, this economist generally supported the free market.
Return to restrictions
Before 1879 the general level of tariffs in Germany was very low. However, it was in this year that the country began implementing a protectionist tariff policy. Although this course was usually advocated by interest groups, in this case from the steel industry, it was held back by the presence of a large agricultural sector in the country, whose representatives were generally in favor of free trade and needed open markets for their products. The political balance has shifted in favor of protectionism due to the state's need for additional revenue - at least that is what Bismarck motivated his support for tariff increases.
Ironically, the spread of protectionism in other countries eventually forced Germany to moderate its tariff policy. Beginning in 1891, it entered into a series of bilateral trade agreements with other states that reduced tariffs on many imported goods in response to similar measures against German exports. However, a new tariff law in 1902 narrowed the government's ability to lower rates through bilateral agreements by imposing a fixed tariff floor on many goods.
The First World War led to the rupture of trade relations between Germany and its opponents, and during the Great Depression, the entire system of world trade collapsed. Moreover, after Hitler came to power in 1933, the principle of autarchy characteristic of fascist ideology began to be embodied in the country, and in trade policy the thesis that world trade is in the hands of capitalists and Jews seeking to profit at the expense of Germany became the guide to action. . As a result, the country maintained high tariffs until the end of World War II.
After the war, the allied occupation authorities simply retained all the controls introduced by the Nazis. Trade was completely controlled by the allies. Thus, during this period, direct control, and not tariff policy, was the main obstacle to its development.
New liberalization
In 1948, Ludwig Erhard, who was then Minister of Economics of West Germany, literally overnight carried out a large-scale reform of the entire national economy. While his financial stabilization steps were best known, other key elements of change were tax reform, trade liberalization, and regulatory reform. Erhard later explained that he simply had no choice but to act radically - after all, if the permission of the occupying authorities was required to change any regulation, then a sanction was not needed to completely abolish them. Henry Wallich described what happened in the country on the day after the entry into force of financial reform and the abolition of price controls:
“On June 21, 1948, goods reappeared in stores, money began to perform its usual function, the “black” and “gray” markets shrank, forays into the countryside for food ceased, labor productivity increased, and output went up sharply. The mood in the country changed overnight. Pale, hungry people, like the living dead, wandering the streets in an eternal search for food, immediately came to life.
Although the Marshall Plan continues to be credited with Germany's economic renaissance, the country's robust economic growth began even before the plan's aid began to arrive. Moreover, one of the most important but little-known elements of the Marshall Plan was linking financial assistance with trade liberalization. It should be remembered that 16 European states received assistance under the Marshall Plan. At first, it was used to finance the expansion of trade between these countries, united in the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (the predecessor of the current Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Thus, the main impetus given by the Marshall Plan to the post-war prosperity of Europe was the removal of trade barriers.
In the future, Erhard continued to liberalize German trade, considering it an important driving force for growth. In addition, he was sure that in the face of unhindered competition with foreign manufacturers, German industry would become more competitive.
Germany did not adhere and does not adhere to a 100% free trade policy, but in the post-war years its course in the field of foreign trade was more liberal than that of any other European country. So, in the early 1980s. it restricted the import of far fewer goods than the rest of Western Europe. Its restrictions applied to 47 types of products, and in France and Italy, similar measures affected more than 500 categories of goods. In addition, in 1992 Germany initiated the elimination of trade barriers and the introduction of free trade within the European Union.
Conclusion
The goal was to demonstrate that, by and large, countries achieve wealth and power through free trade, and protectionism leads them to decline. Although none of the states discussed above practiced and does not practice free trade in its purest form, each of them during its "golden age" was distinguished by economic openness. Moreover, the histories of countries thought to have grown through protectionist policies—Germany and Japan—do not really fit into this model.
Trade in Europe in the 20th century.
At the beginning of the century, the movement towards protectionism continued. However, in 1914 when it broke out. The First World War, protectionism achieved relatively little success, although the world economy was no longer as free from control over trade as it was 50 years ago. International trade, however, was still governed by the gold standard, under which national currencies had a fixed value in gold, and disparities in payments between countries were settled by the transfer of gold in the corresponding amount. No country could maintain the competitiveness of its goods on the world market by devaluing the national currency; moreover, it was impossible to maintain a deficit in the balance of payments for an indefinitely long time. Therefore, all countries participating in international trade sought to ensure the competitiveness of their goods by reducing production costs.
Give a holistic description of the internal trade of individual countries in the 20th century. difficult. The total number of wholesale and retail trade enterprises, the number of employees, often data on trade turnover are known, but it is rarely possible to find all the necessary information related to a certain period, and it is even more difficult to conduct them. comparative analysis in comparable currencies. Judging by the number of employed, with the recovery of the economy of some European countries in the post-war period, wholesale and retail trade grew at relatively equal rates. In the 60s. in the conditions of excessive employment of the population, there was an urgent need to rationalize, first of all, retail trade: the growth in the number of employees lagged behind the increase in trade. The number of merchants in some countries has declined. The most obvious example is Great Britain, but, presumably, a similar situation has developed in Scandinavia and France. With a decrease in growth rates in the 70s and early 80s. the number of employed in a number of Western European countries began to decline, trade turnover stagnated or decreased in absolute terms. In Eastern Europe, the number of retail outlets was held constant or only slightly increased. Here the priorities were different. In the wholesale trade, stagnation or a downward trend was observed to a much weaker extent than in the retail trade. The latter develops parallel to the curve of the general economic growth.
International trade statistics have been kept much better since a certain time. Compared with large countries, the states of Europe, separated by many borders, from the point of view of international trade appear to be major powers, even if, like most continental countries, for example, they carry out foreign trade mainly with each other. In Europe, therefore, those movements of goods are recorded that are not included in foreign trade statistics in the USSR, USA, China, India or Brazil. According to the generally accepted rules for accounting for international trade, which is little considered with them, to Europe in 1913. accounted for 62% of world trade. For imports, the share was slightly higher, for exports - lower. Europe was a major importer primarily of commodities such as cotton, wool, grain, rubber, and coal, although it came primarily from the coal-producing countries of the continent itself. In world imports of these commodities, Europe accounted for almost three-quarters, while in terms of exports of primary commodities, it accounted for less than half of the world's total.
For industrial goods, the picture was reversed: Europe accounted for only about half of world industrial imports, and most of it was inter-European trade, while in world exports its share exceeded 75%, together with the United States, industrial Europe was a workshop. , workshop of the world. - Approx. per.). The First World War destroyed many, but not all, of Europe's trade links and its contacts with the rest of the world. Great Britain, in whose orbit of influence the overseas colonies remained, was forced to watch how many export markets were transferred to other states: because she was temporarily unable to deliver goods or her fleet could not cope with the transportation of goods. The foreign trade of neutral Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain also felt the effects of the war. After the war, they managed to restore the old trade relations to a greater extent. Europe as a whole, compared with North America, Japan, and for that period also with Latin America, lost ground, and, at least in the interwar years, she hardly managed to regain them. Even in 1928, on the eve of the high point of interwar economic stabilization, Europe accounted for only slightly more than half of world trade; 10% less than in 1913. In 1937, due to contradictions between European countries, the share of the continent again decreased. Europe's export opportunities fell first, the reduction in imports was smaller.
The trade of one country with other countries, consisting of imports and exports of goods, constitutes foreign trade; trade of different countries among themselves in its totality - international trade. Within a single country, trade performs a socially necessary function - bringing goods to the consumer (domestic trade). It is divided into wholesale trade and retail trade. The nature and role of trade are determined by the dominant mode of production.
Trading activity is carried out in various civil law forms, for example, on the basis of a sale and purchase agreement, a commission agreement, an agency agreement, etc. Pre-revolutionary Russian commercial law clearly distinguished between trade and sale. Unlike trade, sale was understood as the sale of not strangers, but own goods, products, in connection with which the state created more preferential legal conditions than for trading. In order to stimulate, as a matter of priority, precisely production (in the broad sense of the word) activity (production of not only products and goods, but also the performance of work and the provision of services on their own), sales in certain cases were not subject to duties and fees at all. In Russia, only the first steps are being taken in this direction.
Trade between countries (international trade) is divided into import and export
Fundamentals of International Trade
If you are a small business, you may get the impression that you have a very limited potential for generating profits. You can increase and diversify your profits through international trading.
1. Import.
Retail store owners can start purchasing products from foreign manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers to sell.
The advantages of importing are the possibility of choosing a wide range of goods, low prices ah and, accordingly, an increase in profits. You may even decide to switch entirely to importing products and become a wholesale distributor.
2. Export.
Producers can find new consumers of their products and services in foreign countries. Perhaps consumers in your country have lost interest in your products. They could become obsolete as a result of the advent of new technologies and technological processes. However, the foreign market may gladly accept your products. Perhaps your country is in a state of economic recession. Foreign states at this time can develop rapidly. Selling to consumers in these countries can help stabilize your income.
Exporting your products will also help smooth out the ups and downs in your income. For example, if you are in the business of selling winter sportswear, to compensate for the seasonal nature of your business, you can sell your products in both the northern and southern hemisphere countries. Of course, you can also consider selling sportswear for all seasons and still export it to other countries, thus increasing and diversifying your sources of income. You can also become an intermediary in organizing export transactions. Organize the sale of products manufactured by local companies to foreign markets and take a commission of 5-10% for this. It may seem to you that selling to foreign clients can be a risky venture, but you can secure all parties to the transaction by issuing a contract in the form of a letter of credit. An export-import intermediary can arrange the transaction so that 90% of the contract amount is paid directly to the local supplier and 10% to the intermediary.
3. Licensing.
Consider becoming a licensing agent. Earn from royalties by arranging contracts where foreign companies will be able to produce and sell products of local companies.
4. Intermediary commission.
Imagine the possibilities of earning on commissions in international trade! You can earn from rewards from local companies for finding foreign buyers (or for finding import foreign suppliers). It is also possible to earn by rewarding foreign companies for finding local companies that will be willing to purchase their goods (or for finding suitable suppliers and products among local companies).
5. Direct deliveries from the manufacturer's warehouse.
Imagine that you are receiving orders from customers located in a foreign country, and you do not have to deal with the packaging and delivery of the product. You do not need to complete any customs declarations or hire brokers. You are in charge of receiving orders, and deliveries are made directly by the manufacturer.
6. Ordering goods by mail.
As an addition to your current activities, you can engage in mail-order services. This delivery method will help manufacturers, retail stores and other companies to improve sales, and promote international trade.
7. Internet marketing.
You can expand your sales horizons to international consumers through the Internet. To the methods used to extend international business, include the placement of web advertisements on third-party sites. Internet auctions, online stores and web pages.
World Trade Organization (WTO).
World Trade Organization (WTO) - an international organization established in 1995 with the aim of liberalizing international trade and regulating trade and political relations of member states. The WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded in 1947 and for almost 50 years, actually performed the functions of an international organization.
The WTO is responsible for the development and implementation of new trade agreements, and also monitors compliance by members of the organization with all agreements signed by most countries of the world and ratified by their parliaments. The WTO builds its activities on the basis of decisions taken in 1986-1994 under the Uruguay Round and earlier GATT agreements. Discussions of problems and decision-making on global problems of liberalization and prospects for further development of world trade are held within the framework of multilateral trade negotiations (rounds). To date, 8 rounds of such negotiations have been held, including the Uruguay one, and in 2001 the ninth one started in Doha, Qatar.
The headquarters of the WTO is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
WTO head ( CEO) - Pascal Lamy.
As of 2001, the WTO included 141 states, of which more than 100 were developing. supreme body- ministerial conference - meets at least once every 2 years. Current issues are decided by the General Council. The WTO is headed by the Secretary General, who is elected for 3 years.
As of July 2008, 153 countries were members of the WTO. Each of them is obliged to provide other members of the organization with the most favored nation treatment in trade.
WTO rules provide for a number of benefits for developing countries. Currently, developing countries - members of the WTO have (on average) a higher relative level of customs and tariff protection of their markets compared to developed ones. However, in absolute terms, the total amount of customs tariff sanctions in developed countries is much higher, as a result of which market access for highly valued products from developing countries is seriously limited.
WTO rules regulate only trade and economic issues. Attempts by the United States and a number of European countries to start a discussion about working conditions (which would allow insufficient legislative protection of workers to be considered as an "illegitimate" competitive advantage) were rejected due to protests from developing countries, since such measures, in the long run, will further aggravate the situation of workers due to job cuts, lower incomes and lower levels of competitiveness.
A country - a candidate for WTO accession should bring its trade legislation and practice of regulation, foreign trade in line with the rules of this organization.
GATT/WTO activities are carried out through multilateral negotiations - rounds (there are 8 rounds in total). Of greatest interest is the Uruguay Round (1986-1994), where the following were adopted:
Agreement establishing the WTO,
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS),
Agreement on Trade Related Investment Activities (TRIM),
Agreement on Trade Aspects of Rights intellectual property(TRIPS).
Theoretical concepts of foreign trade
Today, international trade, on the one hand, has become a powerful factor in the economic growth of nation states, on the other hand, it contributes to the growth of their dependence on the world market.
Theoretical explanations of the reasons for the existence, development and increasing role of trade between countries and peoples appeared after the emergence of international exchange itself. There are two main approaches to international trade.
The first approach assumes free trade without restrictions from the state,
free trade - state policy that ensures complete freedom of foreign trade operations. The real scientific foundations, as well as the theory of international trade in general, were laid at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. classics of English political economy, primarily D. Ricardo. It was Riccardo who considered the problem of the advantages that countries receive as a result of foreign economic specialization, realized in the process of foreign trade.
The classics proceeded from the fact that the determining factor in the economy is not trade, but production, favorable conditions for the implementation of which are due to the availability of resources. The latter dictate its specialization and, consequently, the main directions of exports and imports.
The second approach is protectionism, which involves state intervention in foreign trade.
Protectionism is a state policy aimed at stimulating the export of national goods and restricting imports. Theoretically, it was first substantiated in the works of representatives of mercantilism (A. Moikretien and others), based on the postulate of the determining role of the sphere of circulation in the economy.
Mercantilists, who, as is known, were generally representatives of the first scientific economic school, considered only money to be wealth and demanded that the state encourage its inflow into the country by ensuring a positive foreign trade balance.
Consider the main theories that study international trade.
The theory of mercantelism (endXVI- StartXVIIIcenturies). The main representatives of this theory are Thomas Maine, J. B. Colbert, William Petty. The theory of mercantilism is the first theory in which an attempt was made to determine the meaning of foreign trade, to formulate its goals. economic system the mercantilists had three interrelated parts: manufacturing, agriculture, and foreign colonies.
Merchants are the most important social group, labor is the main factor of production.
The decisive role is given to the sphere of circulation. According to mercantilists, the country's wealth lies in the possession of valuables in the form of gold and precious metals. Therefore, the multiplication of gold reserves - the most important task states, and foreign trade should, above all, ensure the receipt of gold. This can be achieved by having more exports than imports or a trade surplus (more exports than imports).
In accordance with this, the state imposed a monopoly on foreign trade and carried out its strict regulation. This school made a major contribution to the development of the original foundations, as economic theory, and world trade, enriching it with such categories as the balance of payments, positive and negative balances, etc.
Free Trade and Adam Smith's Theory of Free Trade and Absolute Advantage (endXVIII- middleXIXcenturies)
The essence of free trade is the complete exemption from customs duties of almost all goods imported into the country from other countries and the expectation of a counter cancellation or a significant reduction in duties in other countries for the country that has applied free trade.
The essence of the theory of absolute advantage is that some countries can produce goods more efficiently than others, and on this basis they have absolute advantages realized through free trade with other countries.
Theories of relative (comparative advantage) or one-factor model of David Ricardo
The essence of this theory is that Ricardo proceeded from the factor of labor productivity as the only condition that makes it profitable to trade in all goods that a country can produce, regardless of the "absolute advantages" that Adam Smith spoke of.
Theory of labor and capital (the theory of the ratio of production factors - the Heckscher-Ohlin model)
The founder of the doctrine of the factors of production - Jean-Baptiste Sey. The theory itself was developed by two Swedish economists - E. Heckscher and B. Ohlin. According to this theory, there are only two countries and two goods, one is labor-intensive, the other is capital-intensive, and the factor of production is not one (labor), but two - labor and capital. At the same time, the prices of factors depend on their rarity or abundance.
International exchange proceeds from the relative abundance or from the relative scarcity of the factors of production that are at the disposal of different countries.
These relations characterize, respectively, the Measure - abundance and the Measure - rarity of factors of production.
Each country specializes in the production of that commodity for which the ratio of the factors of production at its disposal is the most favorable.
In other words, the country exports those goods for the production of which the total cost of all factors is lower than in other countries, and their sale in foreign markets is profitable.
Thus, international exchange is "the exchange of excess factors for rare (missing) factors".
The mobility of goods replaces the more difficult mobility of factors.
Consequently, in the case of homogeneity of factors of production and their intra-country mobility, identity of technology, free competition and complete mobility of goods in foreign markets, international exchange equalizes the price of factors of production between countries (the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theorem, HOS).
So, international exchange, according to Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson, is fully justified. It not only makes it possible to optimize the use of the production capacities of the whole world and the national factors of production that are at the disposal of each country, but also leads over time to the equalization of prices for factors of production.
This conclusion about the equalization of factors of production from the point of view of "economic mechanics" means that
The "conversion rate" between labor and capital levels off and becomes "single", which in turn may indicate a close relationship between Newton's laws of mechanics and the laws of economics.
An important contribution to the development theoretical foundations world trade introduced the concept of factors of production, the main provisions of which in relation to the problem under consideration are as follows.
Countries participating in international trade tend to export those goods for the manufacture of which they use factors of production that they have in excess, and import those products for the manufacture of which they are not enough. The movement of goods and services from country to country compensates for the low mobility of factors of production on the scale of the world economy, while ensuring its sufficient level, on the contrary, the movement of factors replaces exports or imports. finished products. This assumes that:
the partner countries have the same consumption structure;
producers have the same production capabilities;
export-import tariffs, transport costs and other costs are unchanged;
the marginal productivity of each of the additional factors involved decreases;
countries can increase the production of goods that require factors that are in abundance.
The development of international trade leads to equalization of prices for factors of production, and, accordingly, the income received by their owners. The principles of balancing factors can be reflected by the identity
In accordance with the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, a country seeks to export those goods whose production requires the use of factors that are available in a relatively larger volume than others.
Leontief's paradox
The so-called Leontief paradox is widely known in economics. Contrary to the conclusion that underdeveloped countries export more labour-intensive products, he presented case studies showing that the United States has a strong investment environment and a high wage, but their exports turned out to be more labor-intensive and less capital-intensive than their imports. Attempts to explain this phenomenon have expanded the understanding of the category of capital, highlighting human, physical capital and knowledge capital.
This is the so-called reversibility of the factors of production. The same product can be labor-intensive in a labor-abundant country and capital-intensive in a capital-abundant one.
This can be explained, for example, by the following identity, which characterizes the role of the Measure.
In the first identity, the "arrow of optimality" is directed from the labor abundance factor to the capital scarcity factor.
Here, labor begins to migrate from a labor-surplus country to a capital-intensive country.
Thus, in the United States after the Second World War, capital was an excess factor, and labor was scarce, so the level of wages was high, i.e. labor-saturated countries (labor-abundance) export capital-intensive products (highly skilled labor is more capital-intensive).
In the second identity, on the contrary, capital flees from a capital-abundant country to a labor-intensive country, from the capital abundance factor to the labor scarcity factor.
The paradox disappeared, the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem turned out to be valid in this case as well.
Unified theory of labor and capital (hypothesis)
The Heckscher-Ohlin model discussed above and its manifestation in the Leontief paradox, which reflects the reversibility of factors of production, makes it possible to write these models in a more general form.
Using the "lever scales" of the principles of complementarity, the relationship between labor and capital can be represented as the following identity
In this identity, the conversion of labor into capital and vice versa occurs according to the formulas
These formulas have the meaning of Newton's third law "The force of action is equal to the force of reaction .."
in relation to the economy, to the interaction of Labor and Capital:
"The force of action of Labor is equal to the Force of reaction of Capital ..."
If these Forces interact along one line, then we will have a single "rate of conversion" of one Force into another (1:1=1). Otherwise, Measure is a similarity coefficient.
From the point of view of mathematics and physics, this coefficient characterizes the angle between the direction of action of the Forces.
From the point of view of the physics of the microcosm, where as a result of the interaction of elementary particles a "mass defect" is generated, the Measure coefficient reflects the "force defect" of the interaction of Labor and Capital
At the same time, the Law of Conservation of the Force of the relationship between Labor and capital manifests itself in two forms
This law expands the understanding of the category of relations between labor and capital. This identity reflects the proof of a more general theorem than the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theorem, because in this identity all components are interconnected and interdependent and in general reflects the law of the Force of interaction between Labor and Capital.
Unified theory of goods and money (hypothesis)
The relationship of these identities with the laws of Newtonian mechanics may indicate that these identities will also be valid for many other dual economic categories. Thus, these identities will characterize the laws of conservation of the relationship between the commodity and money masses.
The law of conservation of the interaction of the commodity-money supply can manifest itself in two forms
This law can be summarized as follows:
The force of action of the Commodity is equal to the Force of counteraction of Money.
The defect of the Force of interaction is compensated by the coefficient of the Measure ("Measure-commodity"/"Measure-money").
With full balance of economic relations, the "Measure defect" is equal to One, which guarantees inflation-free development of the economy.
In accordance with this law of conservation in the USSR, before the reign of N. Khrushchev, annually, on April 1, prices were reduced, balancing the excess of produced commodity mass and the shortage of money supply.
But when, under N. Khrushchev, they decided to take the path of raising wages, the result was a completely different identity in which, following the example of Western countries, they skillfully replaced the Measure. Money began to reflect the Measure of abundance, and the Commodity of the Measure of scarcity. What happened as a result? Commodity flows began to be compensated and replaced by cash flows, giving rise to inflationary and other negative economic processes.
This identity, no matter how you twist it, characterizes the economy of Consumers. The productive economy is being stifled here. Here the Commodity is converted into money and is therefore the Measure of the value of money.
A theory of trade based on the size of a country.
This theory assumes that countries with large areas of land have a variety of climatic conditions and natural resources and are capable of greater self-sufficiency than small countries. At the same time, their production centers are located at a greater distance from other countries, thereby increasing transport costs in foreign trade.
Product life cycle theories (LCT)
R. Vernoy, C. Kindelberger, L. Wales made a special contribution to this theory. It is based on the fact that many finished products are first produced in the countries where they were developed (in industrialized countries). During the life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline), its production tends to be more capital intensive and moves to other, less developed countries, where they continue to make a profit for many years.
Theory" life cycle product and the leadership problem - argues that if research and development ceases to be the main factor determining the comparative advantage in a given product, then production will move to other countries that have a comparative advantage in other cost elements.
Country Similarity Theory
The founders of this theory are J. Mill, F. Edgeout, D. Mead, A. Marshall. The main idea of this theory is that a large share of the volume of foreign trade is trade in finished goods between industrialized countries, since they have similar market segments.
M.Porter's theory of competition
Based on this theory, it can be said that the competitiveness of a country and international trade is determined by four main components - factor conditions, demand conditions, the state of service and related industries, and the company's strategy in a certain situation.
These conditions can be written in a form that will reflect the export-import strategy in the relationship of a particular group of countries, a particular trade union.
Modern interpretation of the influence of factors of production on the structure of foreign trade
The ideas of the factorial approach to international trade were shared by American scientists F. Taussing, J. Weiner and S. Harris.
F. Taussing showed that differences in interest rates and the amount of capital used lead to a different structure of foreign trade. The export of manufactured goods from developed countries is the only way for developing countries to meet their needs due to their lack of factors of production.
In accordance with the theory of J. Weiner:
world trade and the international division of labor benefit all countries;
monetary costs and prices are generally proportional to real costs,
and the structure of exports and imports is determined on the basis of comparative production costs;
rich countries benefit less from international trade than poor ones, so the latter need to abandon protectionism;
only minor subsidies and export bonuses to some industries are allowed.
S. Harris in his theory expressed the following points:
the underdeveloped countries should be engaged in the development of natural resources, and the developed ones in industrial production, which should be encouraged by the export of capital from developed countries.
According to the theory of economies of scale, countries with the same supply of factors of production benefit from international trade when they specialize in those activities where this effect is observed, i.e., there is a decrease in unit costs as production volumes increase. Under these conditions, it is profitable for developed countries, provided with the main factors of production, to trade among themselves the products of those industries in which economies of scale take place.
The static or pure theory of international trade notes that opportunities for it arise as a result of differences in comparative costs or comparative advantages. Countries benefit from exporting goods that cost them less and importing those that cost more.
Thus, apart from the mercantilists, who derived the need for international trade from the task of increasing the reserves of gold and jewels in the country, all the main concepts see it in the economic advantages of the international division of labor.
Rybchinsky's theorem. This theorem proves that at constant prices and the presence of only two sectors in the economy, the growth of one of the factors of production leads to a reduction in the output of one of the goods.
Since Price is a Measure of the value of a commodity and this Measure does not change, this theorem can be written in the following form
Already these identities themselves serve as proof of the theorem, because they reflect the law of conservation of the "Force" of the interaction of masses of commodities at constant prices: "What is lost from one mass of commodities will be added to another"
Retail
The history of retail trade goes back to the deep past. From the time of inception material relations people exchanged goods and services. In Russia, in the pre-revolutionary period, retail trade was well developed. There is information that, for example, in Chelyabinsk in 1913 English bicycles of 1912 models were sold. There were three guilds of merchants: the turnover of the merchant of the 3rd guild did not exceed 5 thousand rubles a year, the turnover of the merchant of the 2nd guild did not exceed 100 thousand rubles a year, the merchant of the 1st guild (the richest) traded at least 100 thousand rubles a year .
The economic basis of retail trade is the trade margin (margin). The trade margin is the difference between the purchase and sale price. The trade margin is the main income of a retail enterprise; as a rule, in the food trade it does not exceed 25-30%. And, for example, in the clothing retail trade it can reach up to 200%.
From the received trade margin, the trader pays current expenses, such as: rent of premises, wages of employees, security, telephone, cleaning, etc., the profit of the trade enterprise is formed from the remaining funds. It ranges from 1-3% in large food retail chains to 20-30% and even 50% in non-food retail.
But the trade margin is not the only source of income for retailers. Retail also earns by placing ads, holding promotional events, selling retail space and shelf space. In order for the goods (this is typical for food trade) to be sold in any of the networks in Russia, it is necessary to pay a special “bonus for entering the network”. Thus, the operators of this market increase the profitability of their business.
The largest retail chain is American company Wal-Mart with a turnover in fiscal year 2005 of 315.6 billion US dollars.
Invisible Trade- services provided mainly by transport companies in the transportation of goods and passengers of third world countries; implementation of insurance and credit operations; organization of foreign tourism; leasing equipment and real estate abroad.
Retail(English retail, retail) - the sale of goods to the final consumer (individual).
Unlike wholesale trade goods purchased in the retail system are not subject to further resale, but are intended for direct use.
The relationship between the seller and the buyer in the retail system is regulated by a special law. AT Russian Federation This is consumer protection law.
The subjects of the retail trade process are the seller and the buyer. An indispensable attribute of retail is a cash register and cash receipt.
number of commodity items
customer service level
product placement technology
There are the following retail trading formats:
discounter
convenience store
supermarket
hypermarket
supermarket
store
Trade can be a powerful foreign policy tool. And to this day, the ability to trade, greatly affects the power of the state. If we compare retail trade as a branch of the economy, for example, with ferrous metallurgy, then retail trade has undeniable advantages: it does not pollute environment, does not require raw materials for reproduction.
Supermarket - a large self-service department store selling a full range of food and beverages. Also for the sale of household paper products, soaps, laundry and dishwashing powders, sanitation and hygiene items, paperback books. Here you can buy indoor flowers and plants, products for pets (dog and cat food). The list will continue with automotive products, toys, greeting cards, cosmetics, dishes, medicines (which are sold without a prescription). Some supermarkets have their own bakeries and offer various services (brokerage, insurance, etc.). Supermarkets are often branches of large retail chains.
Supermarkets are an American invention owned by Michael Callan, a grocery store manager in Gerrin, Illinois. In 1930, Callan opened the first supermarket in a former garage that provided free parking for customers' convenience. Two years later, Callan owned eight of these stores, generating $6 million a year.
A huge stimulus for the development of supermarkets was the invention in the late 30s. the owner of a supermarket in Oklahoma, Sylvan Goldman, a metal cart on wheels for groceries instead of a hand basket.
In the post-war period in the United States, due to a shortage of food, empty store shelves began to be filled with hygiene and cosmetic items. Shoppers welcomed the new types of products, and subsequently supermarkets began selling things like household supplies, gramophone records, greeting cards, and even clothing. At this time, new supermarkets began to be built on the outskirts of large cities, where the initiators were independent entrepreneurs associated with cooperatives that supply the trading market. food products. Cooperatives supplied them with products at low prices, so they could sell them in their stores at the same prices as their big competitors - chain stores, providing the customer with no less convenience. Many of these single stores have since grown into local chains.
A characteristic feature of supermarkets has been an increase in the range of goods and retail space. If in the 50s. The area of a supermarket in the USA averaged 2,000 sq.m. and 6000 items of goods, then in the 60-70s. - 2800 sq.m. and an assortment of up to 8000 items. In a modern supermarket, up to 25,000 items of goods are offered, and 8,000 new products appear annually. Technique has changed appearance and the nature of the supermarket: air conditioning systems have been installed, entrance doors open and close automatically, products are moved to the cashier on a conveyor belt.
The emergence of a new packaging material helped introduce self-service in the vegetable and dairy departments. Open freezers contributed to the expansion of the range of frozen products; in the bread department, the range of bakery products baked on site has expanded. A gastronomic department has appeared, where you can buy ready-made snacks. Computers were the last major innovation. The cash register began to be replaced by a computer that decodes a special barcode on the product label. Computers have increased productivity by speeding up cashiers and reducing errors, and have reduced store costs by registering product promotions and taking quick inventory.
Shopping in supermarkets is usually done a week in advance, as it is more profitable to buy products in large quantities.
Some firms began to open supermarkets with a limited range of goods and simplified service (discounters): the range of such stores does not exceed 500 types of non-perishable products.
Other entrepreneurs, seeking to increase sales, on the contrary, offer customers even greater convenience. They have increased the size of the supermarkets to almost 5,000 sq.m. and provided an even wider selection of food, beverages and other goods. Their goal is to cover a larger area than ordinary grocery supermarkets managed to do.
Combined stores have appeared: supermarkets and pharmacies, which should also attract customers and increase the amount of individual transactions.
More and more people prefer environmentally friendly products. Since 1990, in the US, manufacturers have been required to put on the labels full information about the quality of products (calorie content, total fat, salt, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugar, protein), as well as the recommended amount of the product for a single consumption. On perishable products, the last date of consumption or sale is indicated. Checkouts in supermarkets are equipped with laser scanning devices that instantly read the name and price of the packaged goods. In order not to create queues during “rush hours”, many supermarkets artificially “resolve” them, providing pensioners with discounts on purchases on weekdays at certain hours. You can save money on shopping at the supermarket if you use a special discount coupon with a designated expiration date. These reward coupons can be attached to the product on the shelf, often sent by mail to regular or potential customers. In some cases, the sent coupon (coupon) involves an additional purchase for a specific amount. Products can be purchased by phone or ordered online with home delivery. In some cases, this convenience does not require additional payment.
The administration of supermarkets is obliged to follow certain rules of trade. For example, in US supermarkets: each product must be clearly labeled with its price, and if there are several labels with different prices, the buyer must pay the lowest of them; certain types of products, which include meat and fish, juices and soft drinks, baby food, butter, coffee, jams, pet food, pasta, and laundry and detergents, should not only have a total selling price per package, but and price per weight or volume;
perishable goods, which in addition to dairy and meat products also include eggs, bread, culinary products, must have clearly marked dates of the last day of sale or consumption;
the scales must be between the seller and the buyer, and their scale must be clearly visible;
on the package with minced meat, all varieties of meat included in it must be indicated;
All products in factory packaging must clearly indicate the name of the product, the net weight, the ingredients contained in the product, as well as the name of the manufacturing company and its address.
Low price store (discounter) - shop with a narrow assortment and minimum set services for buyers, rather low prices. The management of such a store is aimed at reducing costs through minimalist execution. trading floor, simplified display of goods, reducing the number of employees, limiting the range, which should be sold in large enough lots due to low prices.
If there is a sufficiently large network of such stores, it is practiced to constantly move consignments of goods from one store to another, where there is a greater demand for this product. Thus, savings on storage space are achieved.
The first low-price stores appeared in Germany in the mid-1950s, with relative economic stability and minimal inflation. Today, such stores account for more than 40% of the total turnover, while the profitability of the selling space in such outlets is ten times higher than that of traditional supermarkets.
convenience store - small shop, designed to meet the current needs of customers living next to them. The assortment of such a store should be as balanced as possible and consist of consumer goods, since purchases "near the house" are made daily and include the main goods of the consumer basket.
hypermarket - a type of store that combines the principles of organizing a self-service store and a store divided into trade departments.
Hypermarkets differ from traditional self-service stores and supermarkets, first of all, by their scale in all respects. These are not only large retail areas (from 5 thousand m²), but also a huge range of goods related to both the food and non-food segments of the retail market, usually numbering from 40 to 150 thousand positions. Non-food products in hypermarkets account for 35 to 50% of the total assortment.
Stores of this type are characterized by low margins and, consequently, retail prices. Hypermarkets target both less affluent customers and wholesalers
"Cash & Carry" - trading format. Typically, a Cash & Carry store is a self-service store that provides customers with the opportunity to purchase various goods at retail and small wholesale.
Cash&Carry stores are focused on small wholesale and wholesale buyers who purchase goods for cash. The policy of low prices and the constant availability of wholesale and small wholesale lots of goods allows us to maintain a high turnover in all product categories. The Cash&Carry store provides a wide range of both food and industrial products. The depth of the assortment of each of the product groups is less diverse than in the hypermarket. The store of this format operates according to several price lists, depending on the volume of the purchase. Since the main customers are wholesale and small wholesale buyers, making a purchase involves the prompt preparation of accounting documents, the provision of additional documents for goods at points of sale.
Story
Initially, the Cash & Carry philosophy was developed in the USA, but this format was truly embodied in Germany, where in 1964 Professor Otto Beisheim founded the world-famous METRO Cash & Carry company today.
supermarket (short for "self-service general store") - a store that has a wide selection of goods in different categories on the price list, but most of the assortment is in food products. Unlike a regular store, in a supermarket, most of the goods are located in showcases in the public domain. The buyer himself chooses what he needs and pays at the checkout when leaving the store.
The first supermarket in the USSR was "Frunzensky" in the Kupchino district of Leningrad
The synonyms for the supermarket that appeared in the first half of the 1990s - "supermarket" and "hypermarket" - in fact differ from the supermarket in a much larger size of retail space and in the fact that food and industrial goods are presented in a range comparable in volume. By now, the use of such borrowed terms has generally been streamlined, and traditional neighborhood self-service stores have regained their common name for supermarkets. This happened mainly because the areas of many former Soviet supermarkets housed network discounters, much less often - supermarkets.
In the USSR, many supermarkets were located in special standard buildings. Most of them continue to function as supermarkets even now, some as independent joint-stock enterprises, some as part of large retail chains (for example, Kopeyka, Pyaterochka, etc.).
In the 80s, such supermarkets were often unofficially called "sam-take" (because of the principle of free access to goods, uncharacteristic of Soviet trade). In part, this name has survived to this day, and was used as the name of one of the trading networks.
Store (short for "department store") - a large store that sells, as a rule, non-grocery goods belonging to different groups. For example, the assortment of a typical department store designed for children may include stationery and school supplies, clothes, shoes, toys.
Black market
Black market - part of the shadow economy associated with the circulation of goods and services that in a given country either cannot be the subject of legal sale at all (for example, people, sexual services, etc.), or are limited in circulation (weapons and ammunition, drugs) . As a rule, the black market is closely associated with smuggling and is often controlled by organized crime. However, in this case, one cannot speak of the presence of an institutionalized market; trade occurs through difficult-to-form connections between the buyer directly with the seller or with intermediaries. Causes of the black market.
The black market exists almost everywhere where there is a ban on the trade of some product, or it is somehow limited. There are always a certain number of people who are trying to get what they want, despite the ban. Accordingly, there are also people who, in order to earn money, offer the necessary goods and services. Black market trading is more profitable than legal trading, but also more risky.
Examples of black markets
Drug dealing.
Trade in stolen works of art.
Bootlegging is the sale of alcohol during Prohibition.
Arms trade.
Trade in forged documents.
Trade in rare species of animals.
Slave trade (human trafficking).
Pimping.
Trade in pornographic and erotic materials where their distribution is prohibited.
The black market for food in countries where food rationing was introduced during the war.
Clonlegging is the illegal trade in human organs for transplantation.
Trade in abstracts, term papers and theses.
Black market in the USSR
The black market is an essential feature of a socialist economy. Since private enterprise and trade were prohibited by law in the USSR, in fact, any transactions outside the state trade system constituted a black market.
Barriers to trade
Background of protectionism. The idea that global trade is harming developing countries as a whole is rather dubious, as their ability to pay for imports with export earnings is steadily increasing. Of course, it can still be argued that the industrialized powers benefit more from international trade than the developing countries. However, this statement is not indisputable, since the most benefited from international trade are naturally considered to be those countries in which, without this trade, domestic prices would be significantly higher than world prices. As a rule, these are developing and small countries, because world prices are mainly determined by the domestic prices of large developed countries. In addition, trade is beneficial to countries with small economies due to their so-called. "demonstration effect": the population of these countries gets acquainted with new goods, and there is a desire to acquire them, and then produce them.
In addition, developing countries can immediately begin to produce the most profitable goods using the latest methods, if they have sufficient capital and a labor force with the appropriate skills. In the old industrial states, however, the products and methods of production that have become habitual turn into the fetters of progress. Workers here have largely lost the desire to change professions and the ability to quickly move to other regions, adapting to changing conditions. Japan was able to challenge the industrial dominance of the Western countries precisely because it did not suffer from their shortcomings. It started out with textiles and other low-cost products, but then moved on to electronics, boats, and cars.
Many industrialized countries, however, had to endure many difficulties in the process of transition from the production of obsolete and uncompetitive products to the development of the latest knowledge-intensive industries. In the end, such a transition, of course, took place. The process of updating an outdated industrial structure is usually extremely painful and creates long-term problems. Countries that make such changes in production as a matter of urgency and export cheap goods are often accused of "dumping," or selling goods at prices below the wholesale prices of their home markets, in order to undermine competition. If such accusations are proved, the importing country has the right (in accordance with the anti-dumping code adopted in 1968) to introduce special anti-dumping tariffs. However, allegations of dumping are commonly disputed. In fact, cheap goods from individual countries flooded the world market - textiles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Pakistan and South Korea, televisions and cars from Japan or boats from South Korea - often indicate that these countries have a genuine competitive advantage. However
However, such exports cause serious damage to traditional industries in other countries, threatening workers with the loss of jobs, and cities with a decrease in population.
Protectionist measures. Many countries try to restrict imports in order to protect domestic industries from competition. For this, numerous measures are used, which have different effects.
Tariffs. The most common protectionist measure - tariffs, or customs duties - is taxes on imported goods, expressed as a percentage of their value (value) or in the form of a fixed fee per unit of goods, regardless of its value (specific). Such taxes go to the treasury and are used to cover government spending, but they are usually not introduced solely for the purpose of replenishing the budget. By raising the price of goods coming from abroad, tariffs help domestic producers with higher production costs than foreign rivals compete successfully in domestic markets. Output and employment in protected industries are boosted by reduced imports, which improves the country's trade balance. In addition, consumption in a country of products from protected industries tends to fall because they are more expensive. As a result, there is a redistribution of income from consumers to national producers. As for the world economy as a whole, the end result of protectionism is a reduction in the volume of trade and, as a result, a decrease in the efficiency of the use of resources and a drop in living standards.
Sometimes the rates are actually higher than it seems at first glance. Suppose a certain product is produced in only two countries. For its production, both countries purchase the necessary imported materials at the same cost; the cost of these materials is half the final price of goods in the domestic market. The other half of the domestic market price is the value added in the production process. One of these countries has introduced a tariff on the import of this product from another country in the amount of 10% of its price. However, the country that has taken protectionist measures is actually taxing the value added in the competitor's product at a "real" rate of 20%; a tariff rate of 10% is only "nominal". Naturally, the national producers of this country will not miss the opportunity to raise the price of their products by an amount equal to 20% of the value added.
Quotas. This is a much tougher protectionist measure compared to tariffs. Instead of a direct increase in the cost of imports (the volume of which is reduced only indirectly, as a result of a fall in effective demand), quotas involve the establishment of direct quantitative restrictions on the import of certain goods. Foreign producers can no longer improve their competitive positions by lowering prices. In addition, when quotas are established (and this is another difference from tariffs), as a result of limiting the volume of imports, the number of importers should also be reduced. Firms that have secured the right to import under such circumstances receive additional profit, since as a result of the introduction of quotas, there is a shortage of quota goods, and the prices of the domestic market for them exceed the world ones. Thus, quotas often lead to corruption, as bribes may be offered to officials distributing import licenses.
Sometimes exporting countries impose "voluntary quotas" on their exports in an effort to delay or prevent protectionist measures from importing countries. Usually, voluntary quotas are introduced under pressure from importing countries, which, as a rule, are justified by the fact that exporting countries, in particular Japan, do not open their borders to imports.
Subsidies. Tariffs and quotas are set by importing countries to protect national markets from competition with foreign-made goods. However, if domestically produced and exported products begin to lose competitiveness, tariffs and quotas are rendered useless. In such cases, the state sometimes helps national producers strengthen their competitive position by enabling them to sell goods on the world market at prices below the actual cost of production. Such measures allow to increase the volume of exports, however, since such an increase in volume is artificial, the end result is an unsustainable use of resources.
Currency control. Protectionism can also be carried out with the help of control over foreign exchange transactions. One of the measures of currency control is the introduction of multiple exchange rates, when the exchange of currency to pay for various goods is carried out at different rates: as a result, the import of those goods, the payment of which requires exchange of currency at the most unfavorable rate, is restrained.
Indirect trade barriers. After the reduction (and in some cases the abolition) of tariffs in the 1960s, it became clear that measures not specifically designed for this role could act as barriers to trade. Such barriers include the customs regime, classification and valuation of goods, technical standards and sanitary requirements, transport policy, public procurement policy, subsidies for exports and consumption of locally produced products, and taxation. Requiring long-term storage of imported goods at the country's borders or other rules that increase the price of goods, such as higher charges for transporting imported goods, government procurement policies predominantly from domestic producers, and taxes on goods produced abroad, restrict international trade. Loans to exporters at below normal interest rates are effectively export subsidies.
rationale for protectionism. Most experts believe that the overall balance of economic arguments is in favor of free or at least freer trade. However, two economic justifications for protectionism in special situations have gained wide currency: the case for supporting emerging industries and the case for optimal tariff setting.
Emerging Industries. The first US Treasury Secretary (1789-1795) Alexander Hamilton and the German-American economist of the 19th century. Friedrich List developed a theoretical justification for protectionism in relation to emerging industries. Hamilton and List emphasized that even in cases where a country cannot produce a product at a lower cost than competitors, it is able to establish and develop its production by erecting a protective barrier of tariffs and quotas. This buys time for workers to acquire the necessary production experience and for capitalists to expand production to a level sufficient to achieve economies of scale. According to its advocates, such a policy not only benefits the protectionist country, but also serves the interests of the world as a whole.
The validity of such arguments has been repeatedly disputed. Even if the fundamental premise - the desirability of gaining time for national producers - is correct, it does not imply the inevitability of protectionist measures. Instead of shielding inexperienced domestic producers from foreign competition, some economists argue, governments should subsidize established export industries and keep their products competitive abroad while they learn to cut costs and expand production.
Optimal rates. Another rationale for protectionism, built on the rationale for optimal tariffs, justifies the existence of a special kind of customs duty: a duty levied by an exporting (rather than an importing) country on exported (rather than imported) goods. Proponents of this view argue that if a product is primarily produced in one country, that country's national advantage - though not an advantage to the world as a whole - can be realized by imposing an export tariff paid by those who import the product. Given the control of production, the state is able to achieve this goal by simply raising the price. A similar policy can be carried out by a group of states united in a cartel. However, other countries, in turn, will try to take similar measures, especially if they are monopolists in the supply of any goods. As a result of all these actions, international trade as a whole may suffer.
Protectionism is resorted to not only in cases where there are grounds for protecting emerging industries or introducing optimal tariffs. Protectionist measures are often the result of nationalistic sentiments or serve the interests of certain groups of producers, bringing harm to the country applying them.
Sources
Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
World of dictionaries
The League of nations
Kulisher I. M., Essay on the history of Russian trade, P., 1923;
Lyashchenko P.I., History of the national economy of the USSR, vol. 1-2, 4th ed., M., 1956; Dikhtyar G. A., Internal trade in pre-revolutionary Russia, M., 1960.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia, ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. Moscow: "Soviet
encyclopedia", v. 14, 1973, 623 p.
History of Europe, v. 3 - From the Middle Ages to the New Age. Moscow: "Science",
Karamzin N.M. Traditions of the Ages. Moscow: Pravda, 1988, 766 p.
Klyuchevsky V. Brief guide to Russian history. Moscow: "Terra"; "Book
shop-RTR", 1996, 173 p.
Essays on the culture of Russia in the 16th century
Attached files: 1 file
The next stage in the development of trade in the 17th century was characterized by the following features and adopted reforms:
Industrial goods took the leading place in export;
Trade received a positive balance: exports exceeded imports;
The "Commerce Collegium" was created - a state body for the control and management of trade in Russia.
By the beginning of the era of the reign of Peter the Great, clear trends in the development of trade appeared on the territory of Russia: specialization of trade, division of trade into wholesale and retail, a large number of trading places and their diversity, concentration of trade in certain places according to the assortment profile, division of trade into seasonal (episodic) and permanent.
A significant role in the development of industry belongs to Peter
Great. At the beginning of his reign, he made great efforts to develop shipbuilding and mining, and during the Northern War, the development of cloth, linen, and weapons industries was encouraged.
Trade also made a significant step forward under Peter. Both external and internal, for example, if in 1703 113 foreign ships arrived in Russia with goods, then at the end of the reign of Peter - 453.
However, foreign trade remained predominantly passive in nature and was caused mainly by the needs of neighboring peoples. The Russian merchant had neither sufficient enterprise nor sufficient intelligence to establish new trade relations with foreign countries. Russian agricultural products were no longer exported by foreigners, foreign trade was conducted by the government itself. It concentrated in its hands one or the other most important object of trade at the moment. The sale of these so-called state-owned goods constituted the monopoly of the state, which became the largest merchant, although the export of monopolized goods was often farmed out to merchants or
companies for a fee.
State-owned goods included, for example: hemp, linseed, lard, wax, tar, molasses, caviar and some other goods.
After the conclusion of an agreement with Turkey in 1774 and the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1782, Black Sea trade through the port cities of Odessa, Ochakov, Nikolaev, Kherson, Sevastopol, Evpatoria, Kerch, Feodosia intensified. Trade has also intensified in the ports of the Azov Sea - Mariupol and Taganrog.
The development of foreign maritime trade brought significant revenues to the treasury and made it necessary to establish new customs in Odessa, Sevastopol, Kherson, Nikolaev and other ports.
Siberia played an active role in the development of trade during this period,
providing the export of such valuable export goods as furs, and receiving goods from China.
In the second half of the 18th century, Russia's foreign trade turnover increased
about 5 times, reaching almost 110 million rubles in the 90s. So
Thus, economic reforms contributed to the strengthening of trade turnover and the growth of external shopping centers not only in the north, but also in the south of the country.
In the field of domestic and foreign trade in Petrovsky times, a large role was played by the state monopoly on the procurement and sale of basic goods (salt, flax, furs, lard, caviar, bread, wine, wax, bristles, etc.), which significantly replenished the treasury. The creation of merchant "kuppanstvo" and the expansion of trade relations with foreign countries were encouraged in every possible way. At the same time, the importance of the richest merchants of the “commercial hundred” was declining. Fairs remained important points for the exchange of goods. The development of trade and the all-Russian market was facilitated by the improvement of communications, the construction of canals on waterways (Vyshnevolotsky, Ladoga, etc.), as well as the abolition in 1754 of internal customs duties.
At the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII century. the main outlines of the world market were outlined, and by 1815 it had become a real fact of history. The countries of the East by this time had become suppliers of agricultural raw materials and semi-finished products. Finished products from Europe were paid for by an ever-increasing amount of raw material from the countries of the East. The significance of foreign trade affected Russia somewhat differently. Being in the seventeenth century a country with characteristic eastern features of the organization of power and society, perceived in the East not as a European state, it nevertheless did not become completely eastern. The agrarian nature of the economy, a weak industrial base, a chronic shortage of precious metals in the domestic market, with a low population density and low efficiency of the productive forces, forced the use of an external factor in economic recovery more actively. In particular, in the middle - second half of the 17th century, Russia began a struggle for Western Russian lands, became more active on the border with China, and an active confrontation with Turkey began. But, being in a state of geopolitical isolation from the main world trade centers, Russia was forced to make a powerful leap towards modernization along the European model. Undoubted foreign policy successes directly influenced the intensification of the country's foreign trade activities. Compared to the seventeenth century volume foreign trade turnover by the end of the eighteenth century. increased by 80.6 times. As a result, the role of foreign trade in general
the country's trade turnover increased significantly, through it passed in 1724.
25%, and in 1753 - 39% of the country's total commodity mass. Foreign trade of Russia in the eighteenth century. developed quite rapidly, but it began to develop at an accelerated pace only starting from the 40s. So, export from St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk from 1718 to 1726. increased by only 3.5%.
But already from 1749 to 1760. export trade increased by 56%, and import - by 62%. Exports increased due to hemp, lard, butter, soft junk, iron and fish glue. If in 1749 the export of Russian products was 34%, then in 1758-1760. - 25%. On the contrary, imports increased due to the import of European products. There were
brought in 1.5-2 times more. From 1760 to 1780 the total turnover of foreign trade increased 2 times, in 1790 - 3.7 times, and in 1801 - 6.9 times. In total from 1726 to 1801. total turnover increased by 18.8 times (export increased by 15.8 times, import - by 24.6 times).
The active trade balance of Russia was carried out due to the export of raw materials and semi-finished products. The main cargo turnover in foreign trade belonged to the seaports. Thus, the share of maritime trade in 1780-1785. amounted to 87.7% and 88.7%, respectively, in 1788 - already 96%, in 1790 - 97.6%, and in 1792 - 96.3% of all foreign trade turnover of Russia. Only from 1794 did the share of overland trade turnover begin to grow due to an increase in freight traffic through the Orenburg, Mogilev, Vasilkov, Palangen, Dubasar and other land customs, reaching 17% by 1801.
The main cargo flow of maritime trade went through the Baltic ports, namely through St. Petersburg, Riga, Revel, Pernovsky, Narva, Libavsky and others. sharp
changed the share of foreign trade directions of Russia, traditional
for the seventeenth century Petersburg port, located on the Baltic Sea, was
closer to the trading ports of Europe, so Peter I takes all measures
to become the main foreign trade center. For this purpose, it was established that at least a third of the goods exported abroad were sent through St. Petersburg. In addition, in the early 1920s,
the import of Russian goods to Arkhangelsk, except for those produced in the district, was prohibited. Riga, Revel, Pernov, Vyborg and other ports on
The Baltic Sea could trade in Russian goods of local production or brought from the Pskov and Smolensk provinces. Cargo going through St. Petersburg was subject to lower duties than cargo going through Arkhangelsk, the main foreign trade port linking Russia with European countries in the 17th century. Thus, the port of St. Petersburg received a monopoly on the trade in Russian goods.
with European countries. Until the end of the eighteenth century. more than 50% of Russia's foreign trade turnover belonged to the port of St. Petersburg, the main trading
whose partner was England, which became in the eighteenth century. world trade center. In total, ships from 20 states came to Russian ports in 1794, most of them sailing under European flags. The exception was Turkish (293) and American (49) merchant ships. The main part of Russian goods went exactly to England, whose huge fleet required a large amount of canvas, ropes, timber, resin, and industry - iron. In particular, the industrial revolution that began in England at the end of the 18th century was largely supported by Russian iron. Russia's dependence on the influx of precious metals into the country forced to intensify in the first half of the XVIII century. European
trade. But already in the 30-50s. begins to intensify and trade with the countries of the East. It was conducted in three directions: across the Siberian border with China, through Orenburg and the Trinity Fortress with Central Asia and
through Astrakhan with Iran, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. But the main, strategic, direction of Russian trade in the east was Iranian. Having only one port in the Caspian - Astrakhan, Russia, nevertheless, successfully solved the tasks facing it. Trade turnover of Astrakhan trade in the first half of the 18th century. already had significant
growth. Yes, in the late 1930s. they averaged 724 thousand rubles. per year, and in the 40s. increased by 67.7%. But the trade balance was passive, the export of Russian and European goods for 1737-1745. was less than imports from the countries of the East by 108 thousand rubles. Difficult conditions in the Transcaucasus, Iran and other countries, the unstable internal political situation in them, the lack of security, and the arbitrariness of the authorities prevented a more active growth of trade. In the 50s. trade is starting to pick up. Turnovers for all 50s. amounted to 7.2 million rubles, and the balance was in favor of Russia and exceeded imported goods by 100 thousand rubles. on average per year. But in the 60s and 70s. turnover began to fall: in the 60s. they amounted to 5.4 million rubles, and in the 70s. remained at the same level. Imports in the 60s was less than exports and re-exports by 92 thousand rubles, and in the 70s - by 15 thousand rubles. on average per year. In the 80–90s. average annual turnover reached 830-880 thousand rubles. Moreover, in 1787-1789, 1799 and 1801. the annual turnover of Astrakhan trade exceeded 1 million rubles. The trade balance of Russia in this direction as a whole in the second half of the eighteenth century. was active (export from Astrakhan amounted to an average of 383,746 rubles for the year, and imports - 303,544 rubles), the total amount of exports and re-exports of European goods amounted to 16.1 million rubles, and imports - 12.7 million rubles. In some years, imports exceeded exports, but this happened after a massive intervention of European goods that accumulated in the markets of the East, and the need for them decreased in subsequent years. Another reason was the small capacity of the Eastern markets for European goods. Thus, compared with the first half of the 18th century, the average annual turnover of the Astrakhan trade did not increase and even decreased, but the trade balance was in favor of Russia. The turnover of trade with the countries of the East was carried out at the expense of European goods, which were exported from Russia on average 90% of the value of the entire flow of goods per year. Russian goods accounted for a small part of the value of cargo turnover. The transit of oriental goods was negligible. The sale of European goods, mainly dyes, fabrics and colonial goods, made it possible to acquire raw silk and cotton needed for Russian industry. An important feature of trade in the second half of the 18th century, compared with the first, was the growth specific gravity of European goods in exports and coming out on top in imports of cotton, which was 6-7 times cheaper than silk, but since 1778 it was exported 1.6 times more (almost 20 thousand pounds). Imports of silver and copper have almost ceased since the 1970s. XVIII century The small capacity of the Eastern markets is not
allowed for a wide intervention with European and Russian goods, and the prohibitive policy of the Russian government prevented this. However, the significance of Russian-Iranian trade was different. Trade with Iran was for Russia an additional stimulus for the growth of its economy, an important raw material resource for domestic industry (primarily light industry), which by the 1940s was 19th century makes the first serious progress and, no less important, foreign trade has become a catalyst for regional development. In addition, trade with Iran, even in the presence of strong European competition, made it possible to create conditions for the active penetration of Russian goods into Asian markets already in the 19th century. As noted above, the total turnover of Russia's foreign trade in the XVII-XVIII centuries. were lower than in Western Europe and did not rise above 3.7% of world foreign trade turnover. However, quantitative indicators do not give an objective picture of Russia's foreign trade activity in the 18th century.
Russian goods were sold in the XVIII century. for shipment to Europe, on average, 3.5 times cheaper than they cost in Western European markets. Exported mainly raw materials, semi-finished products and agricultural products. Industrial goods, even if they were competitive, Europeans simply did not buy. However, in quantitative terms, Russian exports to Europe were significant.
In the 18th century, trade developed on the principles of protectionism. High import duties protected the domestic market of the state. In 1802-1810. Trade was in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, since 1810 - the Ministry of Finance. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the volume of trade increased dramatically. The growth of the urban population and the size of the working class led to the expansion of the capacity of the domestic market. In 1885, the turnover of domestic trade was about 5 million rubles, in 1900 - already over 11 billion rubles. Along with Moscow, St. Petersburg also began to occupy a special place in the development of trade. At this time, the first commodity exchange was created in St. Petersburg.
The main problem of Russian foreign trade was its dependence on foreign merchants, primarily English merchants. The import of goods into Europe and export from it were 9/10 in the hands of foreigners and were carried out on foreign ships. But the fact that already 10-15% of exports and imports were controlled by Russian merchants testified to the end of the hegemony of foreigners and the formation of Russian foreign trade business proper. If in 1749 the export of goods from Russia amounted to about 7 million rubles, then 35 years later, in 1781-1785, it reached almost 24 million rubles annually, and the export significantly exceeded the import. In the first place in Russian exports, as in previous times, were raw materials and semi-finished products - flax, hemp and tow, which accounted for 20 to 40% of all exports. They were followed by leather, fabrics, wood, ropes, bristles, potash, lard, furs.
Short description
Foreign economic trade is a process of buying and selling between buyers, sellers and intermediaries in different countries. Foreign economic trade includes the export and import of goods, the ratio between which is called the trade balance.
CHAPTER I. History of Russia's foreign trade in the 18th - 19th centuries ...............
CHAPTER II. The contribution of the Tula merchants to the development of Russia's foreign trade in the 18th - 19th centuries .............................................. ................................................. ..........
Attachment 1. Foreign economic activity CJSC "Tulavneshtorg"............
LIST OF USED LITERATURE ...............................................
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Educational institution of higher professional education.
"Russian University of Economics" G.V.Plekhanov(SPO)
ESSAY
By discipline: "Organization of trade"
On the topic: "Historical stages in the development of trade"
Completed: student of group 2 ct "A"
Sergeeva A.V.
Checked by: Azarova R.V.
Storyoccurrencetrade
The history of trade as an exchange of commodity-material values has been known since the Stone Age. Even then, it existed in the meaning familiar to us: an offer for an exchange with the aim of deriving benefits.
At first, trade was exclusively natural and, according to one version, it originated from the custom of exchanging gifts. Such an exchange had a symbolic meaning and sanctioned peace, union, friendship. Later, people began to exchange items of equal value, for example, a hammer instead of an ax or animal meat instead of vegetables or fruits. The main prerequisites for the further development of trade were the specialization of industry and the coin, the role of which among different peoples was played by jewelry, slaves, furs, cattle, etc.
The history of trade in the ancient East goes back to 3.5 millennia BC. e. The main branches of production then were weapons, ceramics and textiles.
In Egypt in that era, there was mainly land trade: caravans brought luxury items - fragrances, metals, wood, precious stones. Eastern traders pitched huge tents and laid out their goods for sale.
Ancient Eastern trade entered a new phase of development with the Phoenicians - it became maritime. Now the ships took away local goods - timber, metals and fruits, and returned with grain, wine, oil, raw materials, livestock and others. Goods were often sold right in the ports, from the side.
Trade received a huge impetus from the ancient Persians thanks to a developed transport system. Persian fabrics and carpets, furniture made of precious woods, mosaics and enamel had no rivals. These goods were transported by caravans and sold in large cities at fairs. Of course, commercial equipment was then in its infancy: either things were laid out in tents on the ground, or on simple racks, benches and wooden counters on the street.
In ancient Greece, the rise of trade began with colonization. Oils, silver, bread, wine, purple and iron were imported from various regions. Trade was concentrated in large markets, where there were open stalls and sheds.
The trade of ancient Rome is characterized by the early appearance of fairs dedicated to the festivities. The most important of them took place at Soracta, an Etruscan mountain near Rome. It was a grandiose event, where many merchants converged. They laid out the goods in tents, sheds and on the counters, and crowds of buyers walked between them. In huge quantities, various varieties of fish, a variety of vegetables and fruits, wine, oils, and salt were sold. For wealthy Romans, they brought precious furniture decorated with silver, marble and elegant statues. Until the end of the third century, the Roman Empire was the greatest area of free trade.
The turning point in European trade occurred during the era of the Crusades. When the knights became aware of the luxury of the East, the demand for oriental goods increased, and Italy began to look for an opportunity to bypass Byzantium, which until now was an intermediary between the West and the East. The Levant ports were opened to the Italians. Merchants penetrated deep into Asia and bought expensive spices and camphor, Persian sulfur and Chinese porcelain, Indian steel and glass in the famous oriental bazaars.
The flourishing of Levant trade immediately reverberated in Europe. The Italians mastered the secrets of Eastern industries, markets and fairs began to develop, merchants organized themselves into guilds, and cities into unions. Numerous trading enterprises were opened - shops, the founders of modern stores. Shelves were installed in them, where the goods were placed, and there was a counter behind which the seller stood.
Of great importance for the development of trade were geographical discoveries, the era of which began in 1475. Then the Portuguese reached the equator. The discovery of America and new sea routes provided access to new markets for raw materials and sales and made trade world wide.
In Russia, which was at the center of many trade routes, trade also developed very actively. It is noteworthy that in the code of laws of the 14th century there is an indication of the cost of domestic animals: "... For a cat, pay 3 hryvnias, for a dog - 3 hryvnias, for a mare - 60 kunas, for an ox - 2 hryvnias." Since the hryvnia was equal to 50 kunas, it turns out that dogs and cats were valued like one ox or three horses.
Associations of trade enterprises - markets and fairs - were transformed into shopping arcades and guest yards. These were impressive buildings, for example, Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg (18th century), Upper Trading Rows in Moscow (19th century). They were akin to modern, equipment for shops, which housed various goods.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first shop windows appeared: the number of stores grew, and buyers needed something to attract. In 1909, Gordon Selfridge opened a department store in London that kept the window open at night so customers could inspect the merchandise even in the dark. This quickly made the store popular. Later, other trade enterprises began to actively use the shop windows: they were painted by popular artists, including Salvador Dali, they were filled with amazing installations. trade commodity material
Shopping centers in their modern sense appeared in the early 40s. 20th century in the USA. Their emergence is due to the rapid development of transport. The lack of parking places has led to the fact that in the territories free from housing construction, large centers were erected, surrounded by huge parking lots. The first such enterprises are considered to be a complex near San Diego and Roosevelt Field near New York.
In Western Europe, such centers began to be built after the Second World War. The first were the complexes in Coventry, UK, and Liil-baan in Holland.
In June 1963, the first hypermarket was opened in the suburbs of Paris by Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforet. It occupied an area of 2.5 thousand square meters and had a parking lot for 500 cars. At first, the trading world reacted to this idea as an eccentricity, but the Carrefour company continued to expand, and soon 5 more hypermarkets opened. The success of this venture became obvious, and others followed the example of Carrefour.
At first, hypermarkets were mainly grocery stores, but gradually acquired multiple specializations, expanding the product range. Today, these are huge shopping malls, where the latest commercial and refrigeration equipment is installed, and all the equipment as a whole is focused on convenience for customers.
The evolution of trade, of course, did not end there: the next step was the transfer of stores to the Internet. This made the buying process as comfortable as possible. The consumer does not have to spend time looking for the necessary things in physical outlets - he can open an online store website, where any goods provided with a detailed description and characteristics are presented on virtual showcases. You can select and order them with a couple of clicks of a computer mouse.
What will be the next step in the development of trade? You can assume different options, but one thing is for sure: the exchange for the purpose of obtaining benefits will exist as long as humanity is alive.
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