A Further Discussion on "Full Cost of International Trade"
From the connotation perspective,"full cost of international trade" is the whole costs of using all resources during the course of international trade,involving in production and consumption,economy and ecology,current and future generations when the property right of certain goods is in the process of transnational transfer.From the extension perspective,"full cost of international trade" is a dynamic and open system which includes sub system such as production costs,transaction costs,environmental costs and inter generational costs.The opportunity costs of using labor,capital,land and other traditional factors is production costs,the opportunity costs of using institutional factor is transaction costs,the opportunity costs of using ecological environment factor is environmental costs,and the opportunity costs of consuming "sustainability" factor is inter generational costs.The development of trade theory and practice indicates that the motivation of international trade is comparative advantage.The essence of comparative advantage is the comparative cost advantage,which reflects the difference of opportunity costs among different countries for the same product.The "hardcore" of comparative advantage theory is the "comparison of comparison",and its "peripheral protective belt" is the extension of resource factors and costs.In order to resolve various conflicts and dilemmas of comparative advantage theory,it is necessary to extend its cost view and promote it to be a progressive rather than a retrogressive research program.So full cost based on the use and consumption of generalized factors is the foundation of comparative advantage of a country which participates in international division of labor and international trade.