RETROSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORIES

Abstract

The impact of globalization and regionalization on the dynamics and structure of international trade, deepening international specialization and cooperation between countries, diversification of goods and services traded in international markets, has led to the need for deep theoretical understanding to identify features of the current stage of world trade , and patterns and trends of its development, which leads to the generalization of international trade theories for the foreign trade policydevelopment of the state. The aim of the article is to study the development and systematization of international tradetheories, to clarify the theoretical basis for further both analytical and practical work. The main stages of theoretical concepts formation of international trade in XVII-XVIII centuries are considered in the article. The evolution of international trade economic theories in the first half of the twentieth century is traced, the factors that determine the international division of labour and specialization of countries are highlighted. Attention is paid to the further development of the theory of comparative advantage, the theory of foreign trade, based on the «effect of scale», the analysis of international competitiveness factors. The appearance of international trade new theories in the second half of the twentieth century is substantiated. It is emphasized that deeper knowledge in the field of international trade theory together with the methods of economic analysis can help build a more realistic model of international trade. This will make it possible to predict both general trends in international trade and its development between individual countries or groups of countries. As a result, it can be noted that international trade theories are generally developing in several directions. Some theories develop the principles of classical theories, extending them to more goods, countries and factors of production; some of the new theories try to analyze and study in more detail certain aspects of international trade that have not been explained in classical theories. However, despite the different subjects of research, all these theories are undoubtedly an effective tool for analyzing the basic principles of international trade in Central and Eastern Europe.