贸易、增长与国家规模

Trade,Growth and the Size of Countries

经济学家通常把国家规模作为一个外生变量,但国家的边界和规模是根据国际贸易格局等经济因素变化的,相反,一个国家的规模也会影响其经济表现及其对国际经济政策的偏好——如更小的国家更坚持自由贸易。关于市场规模对增长影响及国家规模内生决定因素的文献日益增多,本文回顾了这方面的理论和实证研究,认为将国家规模置于增长分析的最前沿能够大大提高对经济表现和国际经济一体化历史的理解。

Normally, economists take the size of countries as an exogenous variable. Nevertheless, the borders of countries and their size change, partially in response to economic factors such as the pattern of international trade. Conversely, the size of countries influences their economic performance and their preferences for international economic policies –for instance smaller countries have a greater stake in maintaining free trade. In this paper, we review the theory and evidence concerning a growing body of research that considers both the impact of market size on growth and the endogenous determination of country size. We argue that our understanding of economic performance and of the history of international economic integration can be greatly improved by bringing the issue of country size at the forefront of the analysis of growth.