Transferability
Topic: International Trade: Patterns, Ports and the WTO · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 8 "International Trade"
Meaning
Transferability means goods can be moved between two places at a cost and in a time people can bear. Even if one place has what another wants, there will be no trade if moving the goods is too slow, too costly or too hard. It depends on distance and on transport. Railways, refrigeration and containers raised transferability, so trade spread over much larger distances. It works alongside complementarity, where one place's surplus meets another place's need.
Example
Australia mines huge amounts of iron ore. Large bulk ships carry it cheaply across the sea to China's steel mills, so this long-distance trade pays.
Don't confuse with
- Intervening opportunity: Ullman (1956) used this term for a nearer source that offers the same good. It reduces trade with a farther one. Transferability is about whether the goods can be moved at all at a bearable cost.