Springer Virtual Trade and Comparative Advantage: The Fourth Dimension (Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research)

The main purpose of this book is to expose economics graduate students and researchers to the most significant development in international trade that has taken place in the recent past. Service transactions now make up a sizeable portion of global trade. Trade in both final and intermediate inputs is done virtually through information and communication networks, raising afresh the question of the basis of trade and calling for in-depth investigation. This book succinctly comes up with a relatively new explanation for the basis of trade, thus it adds a new dimension to three existing building blocks: technology, endowment, and returns to scale. Against a backdrop of standard Ricardian and Heckscher–Ohlin competitive models of trade, the chapters of this book nicely introduce the issue of communication cost and the difference in time zones between two trading nations. Then follow many intricate phenomena such as informality, skill formation, growth, wage inequality, and decisions regarding foreign direct investment (FDI). However, imperfectly competitive models are not dealt with in great detail as they deserve more space than can be allotted to them here. Given the nonexistence of any research-oriented in-depth analyses of competitive trade models with time-zone differences, this book is a valuable addition to the resources available to researchers and policymakers interested in deciphering recent developments in global trade patterns and the subsequent welfare effect. Review “This excellent book is very timely. … In addition to being an excellent source for role of time in international trade, this book provides a great toolkit that may be used in future research to answer various research questions that deal with the role of time in the trade.” (Reza Oladi, Indian Economic Review, Vol. 55, 2020) From the Back Cover The main purpose of this book is to expose economics graduate students and researchers to the most significant development in international trade that has taken place in the recent past. Service transactions now make up a sizeable portion of global trade. Trade in both final and intermediate inputs is done virtually through information and communication networks, raising afresh the question of the basis of trade and calling for in-depth investigation. This book succinctly comes up with a relatively new explanation for the basis of trade, thus it adds a new dimension to three existing building blocks: technology, endowment, and returns to scale. Against a backdrop of standard Ricardian and Heckscher–Ohlin competitive models of trade, the chapters of this book nicely introduce the issue of communication cost and the difference in time zones between two trading nations. Then follow many intricate phenomena such as informality, skill formation, growth, wage inequality, and decisions regarding foreign direct investment (FDI). However, imperfectly competitive models are not dealt with in great detail as they deserve more space than can be allotted to them here. Given the nonexistence of any research-oriented in-depth analyses of competitive trade models with time-zone differences, this book is a valuable addition to the resources available to researchers and policymakers interested in deciphering recent developments in global trade patterns and the subsequent welfare effect. About the Author Noritsugu NAKANISHI: Noritsugu Nakanishi is a professor of economics and the current dean of the Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, Japan. After receiving his Doctor of Economics degree from Kobe University in 1991, he joined the faculty of Kobe University as a lecturer and was promoted to full professor in 2004. He is a member of the Japan Society of International Economics (JSIE), which is an academic association of experts in international economics and related fields in Japan. He won the Kojima Kiyoshi Prize of the JSIE in 2014. In the JSIE, he has held