Trade Creation and Trade Diversion | 贸易创造与贸易转移

📚 Trade Creation and Trade Diversion | 贸易创造与贸易转移

In A-Level Economics, trade creation and trade diversion are central concepts for evaluating the welfare effects of regional trading arrangements such as customs unions and free trade areas. They explain why removing barriers between some countries can raise or lower global efficiency depending on how trade patterns change.

在 A-Level 经济学中，贸易创造与贸易转移是评估关税同盟、自由贸易区等区域贸易安排福利效应的核心概念。它们解释了为何部分国家之间取消壁垒可能提高或降低全球效率，取决于贸易格局如何变化。

1. Definitions and Context | 定义与背景

In international economics, regional integration can take the form of a free trade area or a customs union. A customs union removes tariffs and quotas between member countries and imposes a common external tariff (CET) on imports from non-members. This change can affect the pattern of trade in two ways: trade creation and trade diversion.

在国际经济学中，区域一体化可以采取自由贸易区或关税同盟的形式。关税同盟取消成员国之间的关税和配额，并对来自非成员国的进口实行共同对外关税。这种变化可能以两种方式影响贸易格局：贸易创造和贸易转移。

The distinction was first formalised by Jacob Viner in 1950 and continues to be a key part of Cambridge International A-Level Economics when evaluating customs unions and preferential trading arrangements.

这一区分由雅各布·维纳于 1950 年首次系统提出，至今仍是剑桥国际 A-Level 经济学评价关税同盟和优惠贸易安排的关键内容。

2. Trade Creation: The Concept | 贸易创造：概念

Trade creation occurs when a country joins a customs union and switches from buying a good from a high-cost domestic producer to buying it from a lower-cost partner country. The removal of internal tariffs makes the partner’s output cheaper, while domestic producers lose the protection they previously enjoyed.

当一个国家加入关税同盟后，从购买高成本的国内生产者产品转向购买低成本的伙伴国产品时，就发生了贸易创造。内部关税的取消使伙伴国的产品更便宜，而国内生产者失去了原先享有的保护。

This is an efficiency gain because production shifts towards the cheapest available source within the union. Consumers benefit from lower prices and greater consumption, while scarce resources are reallocated to more productive uses.

这是一种效率收益，因为生产转向同盟内部成本最低的来源。消费者从更低价格和更多消费中获益，稀缺资源被重新配置到生产率更高的用途。

3. Trade Diversion: The Concept | 贸易转移：概念

Trade diversion occurs when a country switches from importing a good from a low-cost non-member country to importing it from a higher-cost member country. This happens because the partner country no longer faces the common external tariff, while imports from the non-member still do.

当一个国家从进口低成本的非成员国商品转向进口高成本的成员国商品时，就发生了贸易转移。这是因为伙伴国不再面临共同对外关税，而来自非成员国的进口仍需缴纳该关税。

Even if consumers may face a lower domestic price than under the previous tariff, the world economy loses because trade is diverted away from the globally most efficient supplier. This misallocation of resources is the central cost of preferential trading areas.

即使消费者面临的价格可能低于原先征税时的国内价格，世界经济也会受损，因为贸易偏离了全球效率最高的供应者。这种资源配置不当是优惠贸易区的主要代价。

4. A Simple Numerical Illustration | 一个简单的数字示例

Suppose a country initially imposes a 10% tariff on all imported cars. It imports cars from Japan at a cost of £10,000 per unit, so the tariff raises the domestic price to £11,000. After joining a customs union with Germany, the country removes tariffs on German cars. Germany can supply cars at £10,500 per unit. With no tariff, German cars enter the domestic market at £10,500, which is below the tariff-inclusive Japanese price of £11,000. Consumers therefore switch from Japanese to German suppliers.

假设某国最初对所有进口汽车征收 10% 的关税。它以每辆 10,000 英镑的成本从日本进口汽车，关税使国内价格升至 11,000 英镑。在与德国组成关税同盟后，该国取消了对德国汽车的关税。德国可以以每辆 10,500 英镑的成本供应汽车。由于无关税，德国汽车以 10,500 英镑进入国内市场，低于日本汽车含税价格 11,000 英镑。因此消费者从日本供应商转向德国供应商。

This is an example of trade diversion, not trade creation, because the world’s cheapest producer, Japan, is replaced by a less efficient partner, Germany. Japan’s cost is £10,000 while Germany’s is £10,500.

这是贸易转移的例子，而不是贸易创造，因为世界成本最低的生产者日本被效率较低的伙伴国德国取代。日本成本为 10,000 英镑，而德国为 10,500 英镑。

5. Welfare Analysis of Trade Creation | 贸易创造的福利分析

Diagrammatically, trade creation is shown by a fall in the domestic price from the tariff-inclusive price to the partner country’s cost. Consumer surplus rises because buyers pay less and consume more. Domestic producer surplus falls because some high-cost domestic firms leave the market. Government tariff revenue on the goods previously imported from outside is lost

Published by TutorHao | A-Level Economics Revision Series | aleveler.com

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