Termes de l'échange des pays développés et des pays en voie de développement

摘要

The terms of trade problem is one of the leading questions in the discussion on relations between, developing and developed countries. The terms of trade in fact contribute to the evaluation of the « purchasing power » of the different countries on the international markets : they are more or less defined as the export import price indices ratio. Examining terms of trade of one country or of a group of countries over a long period meets with several difficulties. Statistical information, whenever it exists, proves to be uneven. Moreover, it becomes difficult appreciating the fluctuation of the terms of trade on account of distorsion of international trade structure by products. Finally, let us add that the statistics collected by international organizations which carry out studies, proceed from countries whose methods, in the matter of collection and processing, are often different. Keeping to statistics from international issues, without committing oneself, the present article points out that the terms of trade of developing and developed countries have come to know since 1938 contrasted fluctuations according to periods of time. On the whole, it nevertheles appears that the terms of trade of developing and developed countries might have suffered no damage in the course of the last years or so. However this statement must not conceal the importance of disparities existing within « economic class II » as defined by U.N.O. : and even apart from the particular case of Third World countries, exporters of oil, the remaining developing countries are themselves most heterogeneous.