Acknowledging that individuals dislike having low relative income renders trade less attractive when seen as a technology that integrates two economies by merging separate social spheres into one. We define a “trembling trade” as a situation in which gains from trade are less than losses in relative income, with the result that global social welfare is reduced. We show that a “trembling trade” can arise even when trade is more gainful in four ways: through trade the absolute income of everyone increases, the income gap in both economies is reduced, as is the income gap between the trading economies. However, trade brings populations, economies, or markets that were not previously connected closer together in social space. As a consequence, separate social spheres merge, and people’s social space and their comparators are altered. Assuming that people like high (absolute) income and dislike low relative income, the aggregate increase in unhappiness caused by the trade-induced escalation in relative deprivation can result in a negative overall impact of trade on (utilitarian-measured) social welfare, if the absolute income gains are not large enough to mitigate the relative income losses.

中文翻译：

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四倍收益贸易对社会福利的不利影响

承认个人不喜欢相对收入较低的个人，将其视为一种通过将不同的社会领域合并为一个经济体而将两个经济体融合在一起的技术，会使贸易吸引力降低。我们将“颤抖的贸易”定义为一种情况，其中贸易收益小于相对收入损失，从而导致全球社会福利减少。我们表明，即使贸易通过以下四种方式更加有利可图，“颤抖的贸易”也可能出现：通过贸易，每个人的绝对收入增加，两个经济体的收入差距缩小，贸易经济体之间的收入差距也缩小。但是，贸易使以前在社会空间中没有联系在一起的人口，经济或市场更加紧密地联系在一起。结果，不同的社会领域融合在一起，人们的社会空间及其比较者也发生了变化。