International Trade
THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS, by J. B. Condilifie; Allen and Unwin. English price, 36/.-.
(Reviewed by
W. B.
Sutch
HIS is a book on _international commerce meant for the bookshelf of the reader of Fortune. It has 844 pages. The dust-cover to the contrary, it does not trace "the long and fascinating story of the ebb and flow of world trade"; nor does it present "in skilful summary the important contributions to economic thought." The book is a series of chapters with such headings as "The Fight for Free Trade," "The International Gold Standard," "The Case for Freer Trade." It mentions a few of the contributors to economic theory and adds a little of their personal history, but it omits to include the quite important contributions to international trade theory of such writers of J. A. Hobson and V, I. Lenin; while in the field of economic thought the contribution of Veblen. is | scarcely mentioned and the theory of value not even examined. There is no discussion of the role of | slavery in the development of international commerce (though slaves are included as a trade item); no mention of colonies as a function of the expansion of world trade, of feudalism, or of the* economics of the Crusades. To come to the present day, there is no discussion of UNRRA or Marshall Aid in their relation to the maintenance of international trade, or of the real economic problems of Western Europe, or of the sterling area, or of underdeveloped countries; and finally, there is no discussion of one of the fundamental concepts of international com-merce-the terms of trade. One of the more curious omissions is the part played by the United Kingdom in the development of §international trade and of capitalism itself. Great Britain is, of course, mentioned. as is Germany, but the dynamic element in trade development is quite lacking. Where there is any economic analysis, it is not very satisfactory, as, for example, in the treatment of Wakefield’s\ theories, while the references to Keynes are much more biographical than analytic. The book is, of course, meant to be elementary, but because of these and. other omissions (for example, the incomplete bibliographies in The Colonial Reformers and Planning and Freedom) it is not a good introduction for the intending student or the openminded layman.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 659, 22 February 1952, Page 12
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387International Trade New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 659, 22 February 1952, Page 12
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