 Does international trade lead to uneven development or convergent growth?Hiroaki Sasaki The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 2025, vol. 34, issue 4, 697-725 Abstract: This study presents a model of North–South trade and development and investigates the growth rates of two countries under a trade pattern that the North specializes in investment goods while the South specializes in consumption goods. Many studies on North–South trade conclude that both countries' growth rates are equalized in the long run. Conversely, we show that if the ‘comparative advantage’ is explicitly considered, both countries' growth rates are not equalized in some cases and, hence, the South cannot catch up with the North even in the long run. Unlike many previous studies, we close the model by fixing each country's income distribution and making the price and quantity variables interdependent. Our results show that the growth rates of both countries are equalized in the long run if their trade patterns are fixed, irrespective of their comparative advantages, whereas their growth rates are not equalized in some cases if their trade patterns are determined by the comparative advantage principle. Date: 2025 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jitecd:v:34:y:2025:i:4:p:697-725 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/09638199.2024.2340675 Access Statistics for this article The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development is currently edited by Pasquale Sgro, David E.A. Giles and Charles van Marrewijk More articles in The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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