Re: Russo-Finnish relations

David Friedman kirjoitti:
> (This isn't really a response to the previous post, but it is relevant 
> to the thread)
> 
> I raised the question of what the real terms of Russo-Finnish trade were

> on my blog recently. One response, from a Finn, was interesting and 
> relevant in two respects. First, he wrote:

> The myth that Finland got oil from USSR at significantly lower prices 
> than market price has been falsified: Neste Oil Oy (company that 
> formerly managed the oil im****ting from USSR) has released data which 
> shows that in general the oil was delivered at at the world market price

> and sometimes below the market price 
>
(http://www.taloussanomat.fi/energia/2008/01/09/neukkuoljy-ei-pelastanutk
> aan-suomea/2008730/12)

In that text they claim that there was a cost advantage in favor for
Russian oil in reduced trans****t costs compared to Persian Gulf oil.

> That sup****ts my general suspicion of "everybody knows" facts about the 
> terms of trade. 

I don't see how that sup****ts your suspicion more than perhaps
partially. Eugene and several others have exhaustively brought up
several advantages. Even if there had been no significant unit price
advantage in favor to the Finns the mere fact that there was a big
ex****t market where Finns had no competitors was an advantage. There
were products, such as icebreakers, that there was no demand in other
places, so the USSR market opened a lot of business op****tunities that
otherwise would not have been available at all.

-- 
Anton