Some Reflections on Two Significant Contributions of Ron Jones: Specificity of Factors and Non-traded Goods

Abstract

This article pays tribute to Professor Ronald W. Jones by reflecting upon how two significant, yet simple and elegant, analytical structures developed by him have been used by researchers to address a wide set of issues relevant for developed and developing countries alike and hold the potential to analyse some unexplored issues of relevance in the future. One is the specific-factor model, and the other is the composite-traded and non-traded model that came out of his Frank Graham Lecture in 1976. These two important competitive general equilibrium structures provide significant and relevant departures from the Ricardian and Heckscher–Ohlin–Samuelson models, highlighting the role of both factor scarcity and local demand. JEL Codes: F11, F13, F21