| Smuggling, one kind of trade, is an economic crime avoiding government supervision and management on goods, which brings great harm to present social economy. We will enjoy unconditional most-favorable-nation clause according to international tradition after China's accession to WTO. Tariff will be lower gradually, which will reduce the difference between China and foreign countries. In the long run, smuggling will be depressed because of the low profit after tariff being abolished. But in the short run, there will be a 10-year's tariff protective period after China's accession to WTO, during which we can take advantage of the agreement of tariff and trade to protect demostic industry and promote export to compete with developed countries and quasi-developed countries. In this period, our duty rate is still higher than other countries and districts, and the profit differential still exists. So there will be still smuggling. Therefore we must take a careful and comprehensive look at smuggling.Through research, we can see that in the Kuomintang-occupied Areas during Anti-Japanese War, smuggling is very active. Although it happened at that time, it is quite representative, reflecting the common feature of global smuggling, such as officials' close relationship with smuggle. By the analysis of the smuggling in the Kuomintang-occupied Areas during Anti-Japanese War, the author hope it could be of certain help to present research on smuggling.Most current researches focus on the effect smuggling have on social welfare and its features, hoping to provide policy suggestions on anti-smuggling behavior. However, these are not enough. We should take on a complete research on every aspect of smuggle.First of all, this thesis explains smuggling theoretically. Considering its own benefit, each country makes its own international trade policy, the performance of which depends on supervision and management on international trade. The price between countries is a direct incentive to smuggling. Smuggling brings great harm to a society. But through the analysis of government's activities and policy-making procedures, we can also conclude that smuggling, to certain extent, can improve social welfare.1. Douglas C.North thinks that a state is an organization that has comparative advantage in power, the government of which is to maximize its welfare and utility. There are three factors that impede government's gain of monopoly rent. 1) The treat of domestic and foreign competitor, i.e. the possibility of the being substituted 2) The tax collectors' opportunistic tendency. 3) Measuring fee, especially for tax base. Under such restriction, the government policy is not always an optimum for the whole social economy. According to Friedrich A. von Hayek's opinion, even if the governors make policy to maximize the whole society's benefit under good will, they would probably made wrong economic policy and lower the efficiency of social economic operation because they can't get all the related information. So, no matter whether the governor's activity is to maximize their own welfare, the policy is always of low efficient. Smuggling, as a trade activity avoiding government supervision and management is a kind of rebellion to international trade policy. Thus smuggling not only bring, as most scholars think, bad effect on society, it is also a correction to government economic policy and can improve social welfare.In democratic society, economic policy is often made under simple majority voting rule. Because of transmission fee, imperfect information and economic units got a tendency of free riding, there will still be possibility that economic policy benefits minority and sacrifices majority2. under the rule of "one person one vote" rule. If an international trade policy is the above mentioned one, smuggling violating such policy will no doubt increase social welfare.After explicating the effect of smuggle on social welfare, the author analyzes rent seeking activities in international trade. There are three... |
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