理嘉图的黄金分配学说

(5)理嘉图的黄金分配学说

一国现金所以向外流出(drain of gold out of country)多半是由于国际贸易差的不利，故贸易逆差(unfavourable balance of trade)足以引起黄金的外流。贸易逆差是因，黄金外流是果。同时，黄金在国际间，是货物的一种，依据理嘉图的比较成本学说(Theory of Comparative Costs)，^[25]是黄金在国内比其他货物价值较低，所以别的货物不能大量出口，而黄金反得输出的机会。因为黄金占去出口贸易的重要地位，遂使国际贸易转为逆差。由此言之，黄金外流是因，贸易逆差是果。此两种说法，都有充分理由，不能偏废。这叫做双方的学说(Bilateral Doctrine)，人人相传是理嘉图首倡的。其实，这是一种误会，理嘉图所主张的，不过是第二种因果，就是黄金外流为因，贸易逆差为果，是一种单方的学说(Unilateral Doctrine)。^[26]兹先将其学说摘要叙述，再附原文于后以资参考。

①各国所能保有的金属通货由于其所需要。

“The preciousmetals employed for circulating the commodities of the world...have been supposed...to have been divided into certain proportions among the different civilized nations of the earth，according to the state of their commerce and wealth，and according to the number and frequency of the payments which they had to perform.”^[27]

②一国通货之过多，仅为相对的名称。

“...that excess of currency is but a relative term，that if the circulation of England were 10 millions，thatof France 5 millions，that of Holland 4 millions，etc.，whilst they kept their proportions，though the currency were doubled or trebled，neither country would be conscious of any excess of currency.The prices of commodities would everywhere rise，on account of the increase of currency，but there would be no exportation of money fromeither.But if these proportions be destroyed by England alone doubling their currency，while that of France，Holland，etc.，continued as before，we should then be conscious of our excess of currency...and part of our excess would be exported，till the proportion of ten，five，four，etc.，were again established.”^[28]

③货币的输出由于其价值的低落。此非贸易逆差的结果，而是其原因。

“The exportation of the coin is caused by the cheapness，and is not the effect，but the cause of an unfavorable balance;we should not export it，if we did not send it to a better market，or if we had any commodity which we could exportmore profitably.”^[29]