a. 對大蕭條前的全球貿易戰研究我們可以知道,關稅提升對貿易量打擊效果遠高過單純貿易商品價格升高。其彈性係數達2倍。
而對貿易量打擊效果大約要法規實施後2年浮現。
b. 所以政客原本聲稱要保護的對象,往往成為慘痛的受害者。
c. 貿易報復是政治上不得不然的舉措,即便經濟學再怎麼指出貿易戰有害無益,民主制度下就是會讓美國這種國家不去檢討自身經濟競爭力衰退的現實(如疊床架屋的管制法規、過高的社會福利墊高的人力成本),而是採取開第一槍貿易壁壘競爭的政治手段。就算現代政客記得1920、30年代大蕭條的教訓,但民主制度的天然弊病就是會逼得他們採取愚蠢且錯誤的策略。
就像那本探討第一次世界大戰的名著「The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914」 點出,當年的侷限條件和政治需求,逼得歐洲政客走向他們自己根本不想打的一次世界大戰。且直到付出3500萬人死傷的代價方才暫時停止(如果我們把二戰看成沒打完的一戰)。
參考文獻: Trade Barriers and the Collapse of World Trade During the Great Depression (Apr 1, 2001) by Jakob B. Madse THE SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF ACT OF 1930 (November 7, 2024 ) by conimby Tariff Act: The Tariff Act of 1930: Unpacking the Smoot Hawley Tariff (12 Jun 2024) by FasterCapital
a. 用更便宜的鏟子也能挖金礦(也可以看成某工人用同樣的鏟子效率高過其他工人,經濟學上屬於一種專屬租值),對於降不了挖礦成本的其他礦工是否會構成競爭壓力?當然會。這是說,從經濟學競爭角度看,DeepSeek立即對OpenAI和Anthropic造成競爭和收入壓力是必然。如WSJ報導,使用DeepSeek的成本比Anthropic Claude降低至少75%!
From the surface level, groups with resources are moving towards learning machines, which is closely related to Mainland China’s gradually improving copyright protection system. Below the surface, based on my observations in Beijing with my child attending local primary school, the most common exit for tutoring teachers is to break down their services into smaller parts, resulting in an inability to scale economically. This leads to a significant increase in the cost of after-school tutoring for parents, just as economics would predict. I originally thought that new education policies would greatly increase the influence of family financial resources on children’s competitive advantage in academic examinations. However, conversely, the aforementioned learning machines on the surface level are reducing the overall cost of after-school tutoring in a more economical way. In other words, due to government intervention, the after-school tutoring market in Mainland China is polarizing. The general public is turning to learning machines and online education, which reduces costs, while wealthy families are paying higher fees for more customized and private educational services. The latter seems to be less related to the policy itself; there is always a supply when there is money. One thing for certain is that over a decade ago, I explained in a column for the Southern Newspaper Group using economics that the pressure and competition level in education stem from the competitive pressure in the terminal labor market. Therefore, those so-called “human-centered education experts" who blindly call for adopting relaxed Western education methods are either foolishly unaware of the real world or intentionally pretending to be ignorant to deceive people for money. Delving deeper, we can discuss the differences in intensity and quality between Western elite education and public education, and how the West relies on many artificially created monopolies to enjoy premium labor costs (e.g., patent and copyright systems). This topic is complicated and troublesome to discuss in detail. However, broadly speaking, the nearly 50-year catch-up by East Asian countries has inevitably led to a situation where the workforce in catching-up countries faces far greater intensity and pressure than those in so-called “advanced Western countries" who enjoy more monopolistic benefits. Thus, for a considerable time, we will see East Asian workers experiencing longer work hours and more pressure, yet seemingly having lower “nominal marginal productivity" compared to Western workers, which is a paradox that actual participants in the production line cannot discern. Therefore, until per capita income levels out, the average work intensity/pressure in catching-up economies, along with the learning intensity/pressure passed down to all age groups, will remain relatively high. This level will be inversely proportional to the aforementioned difference in actual per capita income. Hence, we see that Japan, which became wealthy earlier among the catching-up countries, is relatively early in adopting a laid-back attitude and experiencing phenomena such as the hikikomori (social withdrawal) culture in society.
Adam Smith經典「國富論」為經濟學開山之作,書中清楚解釋市場廣度決定專業分工的程度 (“The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market”)。同時,專業分工的程度決定生產成本優勢。更重要的是,專業分工下的成本優勢又會進一步拓展市場廣度(”the division of labor gives rise to market institutions and expands the extent of the market. “)。
In 1913, the Ford Model T, which introduced assembly line production, had an initial market price of $850. This was significantly cheaper than other brands of cars at the time, which ranged between $2,000 and $4,000, thus offering a strong competitive edge in the market. It quickly expanded its customer base from the affluent to the middle class. The broader market, in turn, fueled the economies of scale in assembly line production, further reducing production costs. By 1927, the price of the Model T had been driven down to $290.
Leveraging cost advantages for competitive strength in the market, Ford’s approach became a modern industrial legend recorded in history. However, in today’s Chinese new energy vehicle sector, the same cost advantage is paradoxically seen by some as indicative of “unsold goods" and “the more you sell, the more you fail."
Adam Smith’s seminal work, “The Wealth of Nations," lays the foundation for economics, clearly explaining that the scope of the market determines the extent of the division of labor (“The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market"). In turn, the degree of specialization determines cost advantages. More importantly, the cost advantages under specialized division further expand the market scope (“the division of labor gives rise to market institutions and expands the extent of the market").
China, with one of the world’s largest markets characterized by a unified language, race, and highly unified regulations, can naturally accommodate specialized divisions of labor that small markets cannot sustain, thereby gaining significant cost advantages to expand into the international market.
The aforementioned is fundamentally the economic phenomenon clearly explained by Adam Smith, the father of economics: applicable to Ford cars in the early 20th century and equally applicable to Chinese new energy vehicles in the early 21st century.
Yet, there are always some who lack even this basic economic sense. In their view, having competitive pricing is somehow equated with national doom.