On the Magic Behind David Ricardo's Four Mystical Numbers

Daniel Bernhofen ()

Discussion Papers from University of Nottingham, GEP

Abstract: Building on Ruffin's recent interpretation of Ricardo's four numbers as labour embodied in trade rather than domestic labour coefficients, I identify the magic behind these four mystical numbers. I show that the magic lies in Ricardo's underlying logic in predicting the pattern of international trade. Using a single graphical framework, I show that Ricardo's logic provides a device for a unified treatment of the commodity and the factor content predictions of international trade with an arbitrary number of goods, factors and countries.

Keywords: Ricardo’s magic numbers; pattern of trade predictions; higher dimensional issues in trade theory. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:not:notgep:07/02

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