|
on International Trade |
| By: | Schmitz, Andrew; Zilberman, David; Zhu, Manhong |
| Abstract: | Japan’s resistance to open its agricultural market access, especially for the five politically sensitive (sensitive) agricultural categories consisting of rice, wheat and barley, beef and pork, sugar, and dairy products, has largely contributed to the lengthy negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which was finally concluded on October 5, 2015. All commodities in these five categories are not genetically modified (GM) varieties, and we found the TPP agreement between the United States and Japan was not impeded by genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Special interest groups of the five categories have pressured the Japanese government to create trade distortions concerning domestic support programs and border measures. To better understand the difficulties in liberalizing Japan’s five sensitive agricultural categories, we empirically estimate Japanese welfare gains and losses from trade liberalization over seven commodities within these categories: rice, wheat, barley, beef, pork, raw sugar, and butter. Consumers of these commodities would gain from free trade. The first and second largest gains would be obtained by rice consumers ($15.8 billion to $42.4 billion) and raw sugar consumers ($6.02 billion to 16.0 billion), respectively. For all these commodities, except butter, the welfare changes of the Japanese government would all be negative due to tariff revenue losses and resale revenue losses. Even though the net welfare gains would be positive for all commodity sectors, with the largest net gain being in the rice sector, all producers would lose, especially with rice producers being confronted with the largest annual loss ranging from $6.37 billion to $7.69 billion. Detailed provisions of the TPP regarding Japan’s agricultural trade policy show that Japan made certain concessions regarding its agricultural market access. However, Japan’s ratification of the TPP would very likely be contingent upon its compensation countermeasures to the losers from free trade. |
| Keywords: | Trans-Pacific Partnership, Japan, agricultural trade, trade barriers, welfare impact, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229242&r=int |
| By: | Luckstead, Jeff; Devadoss, Stephen |
| Abstract: | Food processing firms vary in size, exhibit productivity differences, engage in monopolistic competition, and produce highly differentiated products. As the TTIP negotiation is gaining momentum and trade in processed food is becoming more important, it is worth analyzing the impact of this potential trade liberalization on the US and EU processed food markets. This study develops a three-region (United Staates, European Union, and ROW) monopolistic competition trade model with heterogeneous firms to analyze the effects of US-EU bilateral tariff elimination and non-tariff barrier harmonization on prices, domestic production, consumption, bi-lateral trade, cutoff productivity levels, and aggregate productivity in the processed food sector. The empirical results show that this trade liberalization expands cross hauling, with US exports to the European Union increasing b 113.58% and EU exports to the United States rising by 96.19%. This increased cross hauling displaces exports from ROW to the United States and European Union by 47.26% and 16.10%, respectively. US and EU processed food production increases by 4.89% and 3.91%, respectively. Consequently, aggregate utility expands in all three regions. |
| Keywords: | Cross hauling, heterogeneous firms, Imperfect competition, Non-tariff barriers, Processed food trade, Tariffs, TTIP, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, F12, F13, F15, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa16:212817&r=int |
| By: | Gianluca Orefice |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of the recent proliferation of Specific Trade Concerns raised at the WTO on Non-tariff Trade Measures (NTMs), with a focus on Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Even thought NTMs are de jure imposed to protect consumers from unhealthy products, they de facto increase trade costs. So, when tariff protection lowers, NTMs become effective barriers to trade and the exporting countries can complain at the dedicated committee at the WTO (STCs). Therefore we study whether STCs are raised by exporting countries as a consequence of tariff reductions in importing countries, i.e. when non-tariff measures become barriers to trade. Using a recent database on STCs over the period 1996-2010, we find empirical evidence that SPS and TBT concerns are raised by exporting country as a consequence of importer’s tariff cut. |
| Keywords: | International Trade;Tariffs;Non-tariff Measures;Specific Trade Concerns |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F53 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2015-30&r=int |
| By: | Rotunno, Lorenzo; Vezina, Pierre-Louis; Ito, Tadashi |
| Abstract: | The fragmentation of production chains across borders is one of the most distinctive feature of the last 30 years of globalization. Nonetheless, our understanding of its implications for trade theory and policy is only in its infancy. We suggest that trade in value added should follow theories of comparative advantage more closely than gross trade, as value-added flows capture where factors of production, e.g. skilled and unskilled labor, are used along the global value chain. We find empirical evidence that Heckscher-Ohlin theory does predict manufacturing trade in value-added, and it does so better than for gross shipment flows. While countries exports across a broad range of sectors, they contribute more value-added in techniques using their abundant factor intensively. |
| Keywords: | International trade, International economic relations, Econometric model, International division of labor, Heckscher-Ohlin, Value added, Trade theory, Global value chains |
| JEL: | F13 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper549&r=int |
| By: | Bouët, Antoine; Emlinger, Charlotte; Lamani, Viola |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of Cognac brandy exports. After describing the building of a unique database concerning Cognac shipments in volume and value terms to almost 120 destinations between 1967 and 2013, we use this database to construct descriptive statistics concerning the evolution of Cognac exports during nearly half a century. This database points out a decrease in the extensive margin of trade while the intensive margin has more than doubled in 46 years in volume. We also construct a database on protectionism affecting the worldwide exports of Cognac: it reveals the proliferation of prohibitions and of high specific tariffs, resulting in a highly taxed product throughout the world. We analyze the determinants of Cognac exports and base our empirical strategy on a two-step procedure with first a linear probability model to estimate the extensive margin, second Ordinary Least Squares to estimate the intensive margin of trade. Beyond results in line with the gravity literature, our most interesting conclusions are: (i) in many estimations, the extensive (respectively intensive) margin of trade is positively (respectively negatively) correlated with an appreciation of the Euro; (ii) like other luxury products, the elasticity of exports of Cognac to distance is negative, significant and relatively small while the elasticity to GDP is positive, significant and relatively large; (iii) all covariates have the expected impact on exports of Cognac except average custom duty on the intensive margin of trade. We discuss this last result and offer two potential explanations, a Veblen effect and an endogeneity of custom duty. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229248&r=int |
| By: | Akgul, Zeynep |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229329&r=int |
| By: | Noelan Arbis (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)); Adam Heal (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)) |
| Abstract: | Services exports from Asia-Pacific least developed countries (LDCs) are growing in volume and should be further encouraged as they can contribute towards export diversification and development. Unlike in the case of merchandise trade, however, until recently LDCs did not receive any preferential market access in services trade. Progress is finally being made towards implementation of a 2011 WTO mechanism (the ‘Services Waiver’) that provides a route for countries to voluntarily offer LDCs preferences in services. This note reviews headway made so far in implementing the ‘Services Waiver’ and considers the potential impacts for Asia-Pacific LDCs. |
| Keywords: | service, service export, preferential market access |
| JEL: | F1 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:esctis:tis13&r=int |
| By: | Laike Yang |
| Abstract: | International production sharing and trade fragmentation has become a key feature of East Asian economic development in recent decades. China has taken advantage of this process and has transformed into a global manufacture center within a thirty-year period. The emergence of China has led to the restructuring of the Asian production network and changed the trade pattern in the region. Firms in advanced Asian economies have relocated their production to China, using it as an assembly base and exporting their final products to the US and Europe. This paper analyzes these trends and changes in the region, studying China’s position in East Asia’s production sharing and trade fragmentation, as well as ascertaining how it influences China’s industrial and technological upgrading. We find that China has moved to the Center of East Asia’s production network and become the key partner of its neighboring countries. China’s manufacturing technology has significant upgraded. There is a technology convergence between China and ASEAN-4, although the gap between China and Japan and South Korea remains fairly large and noticeable. |
| Keywords: | Production Sharing; Intra Industry Trade, East Asia, China |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F19 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtf:wpaper:1407&r=int |
| By: | Julien Gooris; Cristina Mitaritonna |
| Abstract: | This study exploits rich databases of services trade and import restrictions to estimate the effects of discrete restrictiveness levels on bilateral services flows using a gravity model, and to derive tariff equivalents in three service sectors (Other Business Services, Banking and Insurance). We preserve the discrete nature of the restrictions to import, which are provided by the World Bank - WB (see Borchert et al., 2014). For each sector-country combination, we evaluate restrictiveness using four discrete levels of restrictiveness, from totally open to closed. This approach allows us track the effect of the specific import restrictions in place. We highlight their non-linear impact on services flows showing threshold effects and the trade stimulating effect of minor import restrictions on a restriction-free environment. Finally we derive tariff equivalents directly from the impact of applied restrictions. |
| Keywords: | services trade;regulatory protection;gravity model;ad-valorem tariff equivalents |
| JEL: | F13 L80 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2015-33&r=int |
| By: | Yann Duval (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)); Tengfei Wang (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)); Dimitra Malakoudi (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)); Pamela Bayona (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)) |
| Abstract: | This issue of the Trade Insights series provides analysis of the recently released United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRC) Global Trade Facilitation (TF) and Paperless Trade Implementation Survey 2015 for 44 economies and 5 sub-regions across the Asia-Pacific. The survey provides data on the implementation of 38 TF measures, including but not limited to those featured in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA). The analysis of the implementation data collected reveals that the level of implementation of the ambitious set of TF measures considered in the UNRC Survey reaches almost 50%, indicating that the region has been actively engaged in implementing TF initiatives. However, implementation of TF remains very heterogeneous across the Asia-Pacific region, with Australia, Republic of Korea and Singapore achieving scores in excess of 85%, while other economies barely achieve 15% implementation. Whilst more than half of all 44 Asia-Pacific economies have at least partially implemented 80% of TFA-related measures included in the Survey, there is significant room for progress to further facilitate trade and reduce trade costs. |
| Keywords: | trade, trade facilitation, paperless trade |
| JEL: | F1 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:esctis:tis12&r=int |
| By: | Grant, Jason; Arita, Shawn |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229254&r=int |
| By: | Grietjie Verhoef |
| Abstract: | Multinational corporations have commenced foreign direct investment (FDI) activities since the 1960s by moving operations to resource-rich, low-cost labour and capital markets (Wilkins, 1970; 1974; 1988; Jones, 1994; 2005). The first wave of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) during the 1960s and 1970s was motivated by efficiency and market-seeking factors. This wave was dominated by firms from Asia and Latin America. A second wave of OFDI followed in the 1980s, led by strategic asset-seeking enterprises from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea (Dunning et al., 1996; UNCTAD, 2005b: 3s). Since the 1990s China, Brazil, India, Russia (the so-called BRIC countries) Malaysia, Turkey and South Africa are among the countries expected to add significantly to OFDI growth (UNCTAD, 2005c: 4). The emergence of EMTNCs (Emerging Market Transnational Corporations) makes up a growing proportion of outward FDI and they acquire an increasing share in foreign affiliates from developed markets conducting business in their regions. This paper reflects on the transformation of businesses and business practice in Africa, from isolated peripheral actors to global players. A growing number of African multinational corporations extended business operations from behind marginalized peripheral operations to global markets. This paper investigates the history of leading emerging market multinational corporations from Africa since the 1980s. |
| Keywords: | Globalization, strategy, market seeking, state, change management |
| JEL: | N17 O55 M16 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:570&r=int |
| By: | Costas Arkolakis (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); Sharat Ganapati (Dept. of Economics, Yale University); Marc-Andreas Muendler (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | We examine multi-product exporters and use firm-product-destination data to quantify export entry barriers. Our general-equilibrium model of multi-product firms generalizes earlier models. To match main facts about multi-product exporters, we estimate our model with rich demand and access cost shocks for Brazilian firms. The estimates document that additional products farther from a firm’s core competency incur higher unit costs, but face lower market access costs. We find that these market access costs differ across destinations and evaluate a scenario that standardizes market access between countries. The resulting welfare gains are similar to eliminating all current tariffs. |
| Keywords: | International trade; Heterogeneous firms; Multi-product firms; Firm and product panel data; Brazil |
| JEL: | F12 L11 F14 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2028&r=int |
| By: | Lirong Liu (Department of Economics and Finance, Texas A&M University - Commerce); Hiranya Nath (Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University) |
| Abstract: | Using panel data for 49 countries from 2000 to 2013, this paper empirically examines the impacts of ICT on exports and imports of ten service categories. Unlike most previous studies, seven different ICT variables are used to construct a comprehensive ICT development index (IDI) that captures the access, use, and skill aspects of the technology. The results indicate that overall ICT development has significant positive impacts on the exports of 'other business services' and 'transportation services' and the imports of 'insurance services', 'telecommunication services', and 'travel services'. This result is robust under different estimation methods. Among the three ICT components, ICT use is found to be more important than access and skills for trade in a number of services. Furthermore, when the models are estimated separately for advanced economics (AEs) and emerging market economies (EMEs), ICT development appears to be more important for exports from AEs and for imports by EMEs. Finally, ICT use is more important in EMEs than in AEs, particularly for imports. These results provide important policy insights for ICT development and growth of services trade. |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Advanced Economy (AE), Emerging Market Economy (EME), Services Exports, Services Imports, ICT Development Index (IDI), ICT Access, ICT Use, ICT Skills |
| JEL: | F12 F14 F15 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shs:wpaper:1601&r=int |
| By: | Cipollina, M.; Demaria, F.; Pietrovito, F. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role that quality standards and innovation play on trade volume, by using a gravity model. The role of innovative activity and quality standards in enhancing trade performance is widely accepted in the literature. However, in this paper, we argue that the net effect of quality standards on trade depends on the producers’ ability to innovate and comply with these requirements. In particular, by using a sample of 60 exporting countries and 57 importing countries, for a wide range of 26 manufacturing industries over the period 1995-2000, we show that the most innovative sectors are more likely to enhance the overall quality of exports, and then gain a competitive advantage. We also find that this effect depends on the level of technology intensity at sector-level and on the level of economic development of exporting country. ....French Abstract : Cet article analyse le rôle que jouent les normes de qualité et d'innovation sur le volume des échanges, en utilisant un modèle de gravité. Le rôle des normes de qualité et des activités innovantes dans l'amélioration de la performance commerciale sont largement reconnues dans la littérature. Toutefois, dans ce document, nous soutenons que l'effet net des normes de qualité sur le commerce dépend de la capacité des producteurs à innover et à se conformer à ces exigences. En particulier, en utilisant un échantillon de 60 pays exportateurs et 57 pays importateurs, pour une large gamme de 26 industries pour la période 1995-2000, nous montrons que les secteurs les plus innovants sont susceptibles d'améliorer la qualité globale des exportations, et ainsi obtenir un avantage concurrentiel. Nous constatons également que cet effet dépend du niveau d'intensité de la technologie au niveau sectoriel et du niveau de développement économique du pays exportateur. |
| Keywords: | NON-TARIFF MEASURES; INNOVATION; GRAVITY MODEL; TRADE POLICIES; TRADE FLOWS; MESURES NON TARIFAIRES; INNOVATION; MODELE DE GRAVITE; POLITIQUES COMMERCIALES; FLUX COMMERCIAUX |
| JEL: | F12 F13 F14 O24 O30 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umr:wpaper:201506&r=int |
| By: | Keith Head; Thierry Mayer |
| Abstract: | We use disaggregated data on car assembly and trade to estimate a model of multinational production. Our framework delineates four theory-based specifications under which all frictions relevant to multinational production can be structurally estimated. In addition to the trade costs and multinational production frictions emphasized in past work, we incorporate a third friction: regardless of production origin, it is more difficult to make sales in markets that are geographically separated from the brand's headquarters. The estimation transparently recovers internally consistent estimates of each type of friction cost. With structural parameters in hand, we investigate the consequences of three trade integration experiments: TPP, TTIP, and Brexit. We show that each type of friction makes a qualitative and quantitative difference in the reallocation of production caused by economic integration. |
| Keywords: | Multinational Production;Gravity;Structural Estimation |
| JEL: | F1 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2015-26&r=int |
| By: | Philippe Martin (Département d'économie); Thierry Mayer (Département d'économie); Florian Mayneris (Institut de recherches économiques et sociales) |
| Abstract: | Clusters have already been extensively shown to favor firm-level economic performance (productivity, exports, innovation etc.). However, little is known about the capacity of firms in clusters to resist economic shocks. In this paper, we analyze whether firms that agglomerate in clusters and firms that have been selected to benefit from the « competitiveness cluster » industrial policy, implemented in France in 2005, have performed better on export markets during the recent economic turmoil. We show that, on average, both agglomeration and the cluster policy are associated with a higher survival probability of firms on export markets, and conditioning on survival, a higher growth rate of their exports. However, these effects are not stronger during the 2008-2009 crisis; if anything, the opposite is true. We then show that this weaker resilience of competitiveness cluster firms is probably due to the fact that firms in clusters are more dependent on the fate of the « leader », i.e. the largest exporter in the cluster. |
| Keywords: | Clusters; Competitiveness clusters; Exports; Crisis; Resilience |
| JEL: | F1 R10 R11 R12 R15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/55oar0vhn18ot8rb6sekvvcvt7&r=int |
| By: | Tseng, Eric; Sheldon, Ian |
| Abstract: | In this paper the heterogeneous firms and trade literature is extended by integrating quality of inputs and outputs in a food and agricultural setting, along with an analysis of how the ability to translate capability into higher product quality is critical in evaluating the cut-offs for food processing firms to enter domestic and export markets. Specifically, it is found that the direction of change in the domestic market cut-off, due to an increased ability to raise quality, is sensitive to key parameters of the capability distribution; while for the export market cut-off the direction of change depends on the fixed costs of entry into and rents from exporting. These hypotheses are then tested for using panel data for Chilean food processors. |
| Keywords: | heterogeneous firms, input quality, food processing, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F12, F61, L66, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229237&r=int |
| By: | Johannes Van Biesebroeck (KU Leuven and CEPR); Jozef Konings (KU Leuven and CEPR, NBB); Christian Volpe Martincus (InterAmerican Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | In the global recession of 2009, exports declined precipitously in many countries. We illustrate with firm-level data for Belgium and Peru that the decline was very sudden and almost entirely due to lower export sales by existing exporters. After the recession, exports rebounded almost equally quickly and we evaluate whether export promotion programs were an effective tool aiding this recovery. We show that firms taking advantage of this type of support did better during the crisis, controlling flexibly for systematic differences between supported and control firms. The primary mechanism we identify is that supported firms are generally more likely to survive on the export market and, in particular, are more likely to continue exporting to countries hit by the financial crisis. |
| Keywords: | trade promotion, trade policy, Great Recession, business cycles |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F44 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201601-291&r=int |
| By: | Beard, Rodney |
| Abstract: | A structural gravity model of UK livestock trade is developed and employed to assess the risk of possible disease incursions into the UK. Gravity models have been employed for a number of years in the econometric literature on international trade with considerable success. They involve modeling international trade by incorporating spatially explicit information into a model of the flow of traded goods between nations. Structural gravity models differ slightly from the naïve gravity model by developing a structural econometric model from an explicit theoretical model of consumer decision-‐making and this then results in the incorporation of multilateral trade resistance terms into the gravity equation. Such models have made considerable methodological advances in recent years. Gravity models have also been developed by epidemiologists to model the spatial spread of diseases between different populations. In this paper I develop a model that combines these two different approaches by using a combined panel dataset of livestock trade and disease incidence for the UK. Epidemiological variables are built into a theoretical model of individual consumer and producer decision-‐making and the corresponding structural gravity equation is derived. This is then estimated econometrically. |
| Keywords: | structural econometrics, structural gravity model, spatial econometrics, livestock disease, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa150:212668&r=int |
| By: | Alessandra Bonfiglioli; Rosario Crinò; Gino Gancia |
| Abstract: | We study how financial frictions affect firm-level heterogeneity and trade in a model where productivity differences across monopolistically competitive firms are endogenous and depend on investment decisions at the entry stage. By increasing entry costs, financial frictions soften competition and lower the value of investing in bigger projects with more dispersed outcomes. Hence, credit frictions make firms more homogeneous and hinder the volume of exports both along the intensive and the extensive margin. Export opportunities, instead, shift expected profits to the tail and increase the value of technological heterogeneity. We test these predictions using comparable measures of sale dispersion within 365 manufacturing industries in 119 countries, built from highly disaggregated US import data. Consistent with the model, financial development increases sale dispersion, especially in more financially vulnerable industries; sale dispersion is also increasing in measures of comparative advantage. These results are quantitatively important for explaining the effect of financial development and factor endowments on export sales. |
| Keywords: | Financial Development, Firm Heterogeneity, International Trade |
| JEL: | F12 F16 E24 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1502&r=int |
| By: | NU. CEPAL. Oficina de Washington (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | United States Trade Developments, 2014-2015, provides an overview of the most relevant trade developments in the United States trade relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and the measures that inhibit the free flow of goods among countries in the Western Hemisphere.The report presents trade figures and trends over the last few years to illustrate the nature of the U.S. engagement through trade with the world and with the Latin America and Caribbean region. |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col896:39716&r=int |
| By: | L Alan Winters |
| Abstract: | The number of operative regional trading agreements (RTAs) has been rising steadily. This paper reviews the history of regionalism, and argues that the increasing focus of RTAs on nontariff measures and non-trade issues make the creation of coalitions of countries to pursue specific rather than global objectives easier. In the process important aspects of multilateralism threaten to be eroded. While the effects of RTAs to date in terms of trade discrimination appear to have been relatively benign, the process has been systemically harmful. This is illustrated most prominently by the post 2008 mega-regionals, which aim not just to manage trade relations between their members, but to control or circumvent the multilateral discussion of trade policy by creating coalitions of countries that can, more or less, dictate terms to other players. |
| Keywords: | Regionalism, trade agreements, WTO, multilateral cooperation, China |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/94&r=int |
| By: | Nogueira, Lia; Brooks, Kathleen; Bullock, David |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229232&r=int |
| By: | Heerman, Kari; Sheldon, Ian |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229236&r=int |
| By: | Johansson, Rob |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229249&r=int |
| By: | Gabriel J. Felbermayr; Alexander Tarasov |
| Abstract: | The distribution of transport infrastructure across space is the outcome of deliberate government planning that reflects a desire to unlock the welfare gains from regional economic integration. Yet, despite being one of the oldest government activities, the economic forces shaping the endogenous emergence of infrastructure have not been rigorously studied. This paper provides a stylized analytical framework of open economies in which planners decide non-cooperatively on transport infrastructure investments across continuous space. Allowing for intra- and international trade, the resulting equilibrium investment schedule features underinvestment that turns out particularly severe in border regions and that is amplified by the presence of discrete border costs. In European data, the mechanism explains about a fifth of the border effect identified in a conventionally specified gravity regression. The framework sheds light on the welfare costs of second best investment schedules, on the effects of intercontinental trade or of privatized infrastructure provision. |
| Keywords: | Economic Geography;International Trade;Infrastructure Investment;Border Effect Puzzle |
| JEL: | F11 R42 R13 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2015-29&r=int |
| By: | L Alan Winters |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the integration of China into the world trading system, focusing on the size and nature of the shocks that this implied for the world economy and the reactions to those shocks proposed by policy makers and academics. While the WTO has acted as a forum in which many of the adjustment pressures created by China’s rapid growth were dealt with fairly constructively, the recent shift by the United States and the EU to mega-regional trade deals, notably the Tran-Pacific Partnership, and that exclude China, marks a dangerous shift away from engaging the world’s second largest economy as an equal in a cooperative fashion. |
| Keywords: | China, WTO, TPP, imbalances, trade agreements |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/82&r=int |
| By: | Biswas, Trina |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats15:229238&r=int |
| By: | Sattarov, Doniyor; Mal, Puran |
| Abstract: | Agriculture sector plays crucial role in the economy of Uzbekistan. However, the reduction of the share of agriculture sector in national GDP can be explained by increasing the share of other sectors in national economy. There is growth in gross production of agriculture but, agricultural sector is still characterized by unsustainable production patterns and agricultural institutions of the country are controlled to a large extent through government intervention. Two crops have strategic significance for Uzbekistan: wheat for domestic consumption and cotton for export. The Government decides to grow cotton and wheat as well as fix the output prices. Uzbekistan Farmers receive lower prices for the main crops than world prices, but they also receive inputs such as fertilizers or fuel at cheaper prices. The partial implementation of reforms such as privatization and liberalization of agricultural markets affect the development of agriculture and agricultural trade in Uzbekistan (UZB). This paper highlights the major effects of market and price liberalization (50% and 100%) on agricultural trade using the partial equilibrium model AGRISIM which is based on the "Static World Policy Simulation Model" (SWOPSIM) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). With the help of this model, changes in general economic conditions, policy intervention in agricultural markets and foreign trade are simulated. This study suggests that the issues of sustainable agriculture development and food security in Uzbekistan can be achieved through, liberalization of agricultural markets and trade specially wheat and cotton. |
| Keywords: | Uzbekistan, agricultural sector, agriculture trade, AGRISIM Model, liberalization, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iamc14:212560&r=int |
| By: | - (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | The Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation 2014-2015 is a global effort led by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the other four United Nations Regional Commissions, namely, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The goal of the Global Survey is to gather information from the member states of the respective Regional Commissions on trade facilitation and paperless trade measures and strategies implemented at the national and regional levels. The results of the survey will enable countries and development partners to better understand and monitor progress on trade facilitation, support evidence-based public policies, share best practices and identify capacity building and technical assistance needs. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:38946&r=int |
| By: | Stefano Peluso; Antonietta Mira; Pietro Muliere; Alessandro Lomi |
| Abstract: | We propose a unified modelling framework that theoretically justifies the main empirical regularities characterizing the international trade network. Each country is associated to a Polya urn whose composition controls the propensity of the country to trade with other countries. The urn composition is updated through the walk of the Reinforced Urn Process of Muliere et al. (2000). The model implies a local preferential attachment scheme and a power law right tail behaviour of bilateral trade flows. Different assumptions on the urns' reinforcement parameters account for local clustering, path-shortening and sparsity. Likelihood-based estimation approaches are facilitated by feasible likelihood analytical derivation in various network settings. A simulated example and the empirical results on the international trade network are discussed. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1601.03067&r=int |
| By: | Fitzgerald, Doireann (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis); Haller, Stephanie (University College Dublin); Yedid-Levi, Yaniv (University of British Columbia) |
| Abstract: | We show that after firms enter new export markets, there are striking dynamics of quantities, but no dynamics of prices, controlling for both costs and selection. This points to an important role for demand in the growth of successful exporters, and to a nonprice mechanism through which quantity demanded grows. A model where firms engage in costly investment in customer base through marketing and advertising, and learn about their idiosyncratic demand, can qualitatively match these facts, along with a declining exit hazard. We structurally estimate the model and find that costs of adjusting customer base are key to explaining how exporters grow. |
| Keywords: | Firm dynamics; Exporter dynamics; Customer base |
| JEL: | E20 F10 L10 |
| Date: | 2016–01–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:524&r=int |
| By: | Abigail Cooke; Thomas Kemeny; David L. Rigby |
| Abstract: | Do job characteristics modulate the relationship between import competition and the wages of workers who perform those jobs? This paper tests the claim that workers in occupations featuring highly routine tasks will be more vulnerable to low-wage country import competition. Using data from the US Census Bureau, we construct a pooled cross-section (1990, 2000, and 2007) of more than 1.6 million individuals linked to the establishment in which they work. Occupational measures of vulnerability to trade competition – routineness, analytic complexity, and interpersonal interaction on the job – are constructed using O*NET data. The linked employer-employee data allow us to model the effect of low-wage import competition on the wages of workers with different occupational characteristics. Our results show that low-wage country import competition is associated with lower wages for US workers holding jobs that are highly routine and less complex. For workers holding nonroutine and highly complex jobs, increased import competition is associated with higher wages. Finally, workers in occupations with the highest and lowest levels of interpersonal interaction see higher wages, while workers with medium-low levels of interpersonal interaction suffer lower wages with increased low-wage import competition. These findings demonstrate the importance of accounting for occupational characteristics to more fully understand the relationship between trade and wages, and suggest ways in which task trade vulnerable occupations can disadvantage workers even when their jobs remain onshore. |
| Keywords: | Task trade; import competition; wages; globalization; occupational characteristics; trade |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-03&r=int |