Views of Ivan Vernadsky on the role of foreign trade policy in economic development

Abstract

Nowadays, the process of making effective economic decisions requires reference to the history of Ukrainian economic thought. The study of intellectual heritage and innovative ideas of prominent Ukrainian economists, among whom Ivan Vernadsky occupies an important place, will enrich the understanding of the mechanisms and ways of modern economic transformation. The purpose of the article is to analyze and generalize Ivan Vernadsky’s conceptual views on the role of foreign trade policy in economic development. The theoretical basis of this study is conceptual approaches to understanding the nature of foreign trade policy, in particular, protectionism and free trade. Systematic, comparative-historical, institutional-evolutionary, and historical-genetic analyses were used as the research methodology. The author considers Ivan Vernadsky’s conceptual approach to foreign trade as a basis for providing the country's economic leadership in the international area. The economist’s ideas on the advantages of liberal foreign trade policy, free trade, and its mutual benefits for countries are revealed. Ivan Vernadsky was a staunch opponent of restrictive foreign trade policy, which creates obstacles to the country's competitive advantages and economic progress. Attention was paid to Ivan Vernadsky's criticism of customs protectionism. According to the scientist's point of view, protectionism leads to monopolization, price rises, technical and technological backwardness of production, destabilization of foreign trade relations, etc. At the same time, one of the scientist’s merits is the formation of an innovative approach to the interpretation of protectionism as a general economic doctrine and a realistic economic policy. Ivan Vernadsky’s vision of the basics of efficient management is generalized. He creates an original theory of economic development, which can be used for selection of effective mechanisms of modern economic policy.