Mnożnik handlu zagranicznego

Abstract

The history of the capitalistic international relations proves that no country can prosper without foreign trade, because it is indispensable to its development. Therefore, the problems connected with the foreign trade took an important place in the works of the economists in capitalistic countries. The twentieth century has brought an abundant discussion concerning the problems of the interdependence between the foreign trade and the rate of the economic growth. One of the conceptions of this interdependence is represented in the theory of the multiplier adapted to open economy. The article begins the introduction into the above problems based on the works of R. F, Harrod and of G. Johnson. The characteristic of the multiplier is given. The description of the foreign trade multiplier theory has been based, after giving the opinions of its most important adherents, on the Kenneth Kurihara's works, because his views are specially interesting, owing to his extending, static in fact, Keynes's opinions on the dynamic problems. Further, the critical evaluation of this theory is given with the emphasis of the onesided interpretation of the influence of the foreign trade on the national income, incorrect representation of the structure of this income and the tendency to detach exports from imports. All this makes the foreign trade multiplier theory useless to solve the problems discussed in it. At the end, there are given some considerations, for the purpose of comparison, concerning the approach of the economists of the socialist countries to the relations between the foreign trade and national income.