Gravity, trade integration, and heterogeneity across industries

We derive a micro-founded measure of bilateral trade integration that is consistent with a broad range of leading gravity models. This measure accounts for cross-industry heterogeneity by incorporating substitution elasticities estimated at the industry level. We then use it to provide a theory-based ranking of trade integration across manufacturing industries in European Union countries. In addition, we explore the determinants of trade integration, finding that substantial Technical Barriers to Trade in certain industries as well as high transportation costs associated with heavy-weight goods are the most notable trade barriers.     

Market integration and strike activity

We consider a two-country model of wage determination with private information in unionized, imperfectly competitive, industries. We investigate the effects of opening up markets to trade as well as of further market integration on the negotiated wage and the maximum delay in reaching an agreement. From an initial situation of two-way intra-industry trade, an increase in product market integration decreases the maximum delay in reaching an agreement. However, opening up markets to trade has an ambiguous effect on both the wage outcome and the maximum real delay time.     

Trade, turnover, and tithing

This paper examines the hypothesis that turnover affects trade preferences. High turnover industries are similar to the Stolper-Samuelson assumption of perfect factor mobility, so factor of production drives trade preferences. Among low turnover industries, as in the specific factors model, net export position determines trade preferences. We show that PAC contribution patterns are consistent with this hypothesis. In high turnover industries, capital groups give significantly larger shares of their campaign contributions to free trade supporters than labor groups do. Among low turnover industries, on the other hand, exporting and import-competing groups differ significantly in their financial support for free traders.     

Survival of the best fit: Exposure to low-wage countries and the (uneven) growth of U.S. manufacturing plants

This paper examines the role of international trade in the reallocation of U.S. manufacturing within and across industries from 1977 to 1997. Motivated by the factor proportions framework, we introduce a new measure of industry exposure to international trade that focuses on where imports originate rather than on their overall level. We find that plant survival and growth are negatively associated with industry exposure to low-wage country imports. Within industries, we show that manufacturing activity is disproportionately reallocated towards capital-intensive plants. Finally, we provide the first evidence that firms adjust their product mix in response to trade pressures. Plants are more likely to switch industries when exposure to low-wage countries is high.     

Exchange rate volatility and Japan–U.S. commodity trade: An asymmetry analysis

Exchange rate volatility is said to affect trade flows in either direction. When increased volatility is separated from decreased volatility, asymmetric analysis reveals even more support for the fact that both increased volatility and decreased volatility affect trade flows in either direction. We add to this new literature by considering 57 industries that trade between Japan and the US. In addition to providing evidence of asymmetric response of their trade flows to a measure of exchange rate volatility, our approach identifies industries that could benefit from increased exchange rate volatility and those that could be hurt. Similarly, we identify industries that could benefit from decreased volatility and those that could be hurt. The overall conclusion is the adverse effects of dollar–yen volatility on the trade between the two countries.     

Jobs and Exposure to International Trade within the Service Sector in Sweden

To establish in which service industries there is international trade (or it may potentially exist), we calculate locational Ginis for different industries. The basic idea is that from this measure of regional concentration of different activities within a country we can identify industries where there appears to be regional trade, and hence also a potential for international trade. Based on our method, we find that: (i) the number of employed in tradable service appears to be at least as large as in the manufacturing sector, (ii) tradable service is much more skill intensive than manufacturing, and (iii) lately, the employment in tradable service has increased substantially. We argue that the last mentioned result is consistent with the substantial growth of skilled labour in Sweden since the mid‐1990s (Rybczynski effect) and factors leading to increased relative demand for skilled labour. Particularly, increased competition from and offshoring to low‐wage countries seem recently to have had a considerable impact on the creation of skilled jobs and the displacement of less skilled jobs in the tradable sector in Sweden. Furthermore, we apply a similar method as for industries to identify tradable occupations. Using our classification of tradable industries and tradable occupations in a Mincer type wage equation, we find that workers in such industries and occupations receive a wage premia of 12–13 per cent.     

On the conservation of distance in international trade

Using disaggregated bilateral trade data, we find that the elasticity of trade to distance increased (in absolute value) by about 10% since 1985. To explore the reasons for this shift, we decompose the change in the distance elasticity of trade into the part due to a shift in the composition of trade among industries and the part due to a change in the distance sensitivity within industries. We find that adjustment in the composition of trade had little effect, but for 40% of industries distance became more important, with nearly all of the remaining industries showing no significant change. We explore alternative hypotheses as to why the elasticity of trade to distance increased in some industries. We find that homogeneous goods, bulky goods, and high tariff goods became significantly more distance sensitive. In contrast, the evidence implies that changes in tariffs and freight costs have reduced the importance of distance on trade. We conclude that the increase in the importance of distance over time is related to the substitutability of goods and the level of trade costs, but not to changes in tariffs or freight costs.     

Markets for risk and openness to trade: how are they related?

If protectionist trade policies aim to insure domestic industries against swings in world market prices, the development of financial markets could lead to trade liberalization. Likewise, trade liberalization could lead to the development of financial markets that help agents diversify the added risks. In this paper, we empirically address the hypothesis that there is a positive interdependence between financial development and liberal trade policies. We find a positive and economically significant relationship between the two, with causation running in both directions. The results are, however, somewhat dependent on the measure of trade policy being used.     

我国各行业国际产品内贸易发展水平——基于垂直专业化指数法的测算

当前国际产品内贸易发展水平的测度主要包括联合国广义分类法(BEC)、加工贸易替代法以及垂直专业化指数法(VSS)。以VSS方法计算的结果表明,近年来,我国初级产品部门和资源密集型行业国际产品内贸易水平都呈下降趋势;高技术部门和劳动密集型行业的产品内贸易水平提升较快;服务贸易内各行业的国际垂直分工也有大幅度提升。     

两岸贸易成本的测度及其影响因素——基于行业面板数据的经验研究

采用Novy模型测度1997—2010年间中国大陆与台湾按照HS编码划分的各行业的贸易成本,在此基础上建构动态面板数据模型并采用GMM估计法对其影响因素进行经验分析,结果表明:两岸各行业贸易成本总体呈下降趋势,并且各行业的下降幅度存在较大的异质性;两岸各行业的平均关税水平、各行业的贸易开放度、两岸人均收入水平差异以及台湾当局对大陆的经贸政策,对于两岸贸易成本的影响都是显著的。主要政策含义在于,两岸可以搁置政治上的争议,继续挖掘贸易成本下降的渠道,加强彼此之间更加深入的交流与合作以实现共同繁荣。     

中国出口制造业投入服务化水平测度——基于贸易增加值视角

本文根据2018版OECD-ICIO数据,采用贸易增加值测算法测度了2005-2015年中国出口制造业投入服务化水平,我们发现:在考虑出口二元结构的条件下,2005-2015年中国制造业整体投入服务化水平平均值为26.89%,呈上升趋势;国内投入服务化水平高于国外且呈现出不断"以国内服务替代国外服务"的变动趋势;相比于一般贸易,加工贸易出口制造业投入服务化水平更高但增速较缓,加工贸易国内服务投入比重较低但服务化增速较快;相比于资本和知识密集型制造业,劳动密集型制造业的高端生产性服务尤其是国内高端服务投入比重较低。     

专业化分工、区域经济一体化与我国地方优势产业形成的实证分析

地方优势产业的形成是专业化劳动分工本身的产物,同时,区域经济一体化进程的加快,有利于促进地区分工水平的演进,从而进一步增强产业的地理集中程度,促进地方优势产业的进一步发展壮大。文章由此对我国的地区分工水平、区域间贸易成本的变化以及地方优势的形成作了详尽的实证分析,认为随着市场经济的发展,我国区域经济一体化进程趋于加快,从而各地区的专业化分工水平有所上升,地方优势产业已初步形成。     

Trade Liberalisation,Exit, and Output and Employment Adjustments of Australian Manufacturing Establishments

This paper investigates three potential sources of Australia’s manufacturing productivity gains from trade liberalisation in the mid‐1990s: the exit of inefficient establishments, economies of scale, and the reduction in x‐inefficiency via employment reduction. We use manufacturing establishment level data and exploit the intersectoral variation in the effective rates of assistance (ERA) to see how businesses adjusted to trade liberalisation during the period. We find the documented productivity gains to be mostly accounted for by the reduction in x‐inefficiency through employment shedding in industries experiencing a high degree of trade liberalisation. We find little evidence that the exit of inefficient establishments in highly liberalised industries contributes to productivity gains. In fact, we find that the more productive establishments are more likely to exit, perhaps reflecting product switching by these businesses to make more profitable use of inputs. Similarly, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between the extent of trade liberalisation and output adjustments. However, we do find indicative evidence of an overall productivity‐enhancing effect through economies of scale. These findings suggest that, at least for the case of Australia, the ease of making employment adjustments can be crucial for policies such as trade liberalisation to have the desired effect. In addition, trade liberalisation may provide incentives for domestic producers to seek more profitable use of their inputs and to move further downward along their cost curves. We think further studies assessing the productivity gains from product switching and economies of scale effects in both liberalised and non‐liberalised industries and focusing on the interplay between labour market policy and firm adjustments would be valuable.     

Asymmetric effects of demand uncertainty on intrafirm trade in durable and non‐durable industries

This paper unveils a new empirical regularity regarding the asymmetric patterns of international sourcing modes in the durable and non‐durable industries under uncertainty, and explains the asymmetry based on the traditional lens of the transaction cost economics. Under demand uncertainty, firms face trade‐offs between outsourcing and vertical integration: while outsourcing requires less initial investment and allows easier market entry and exit, vertical integration offers better management and communication systems. In the durable industries, consistent with the transaction cost economics, the relationship between vertical integration and uncertainty is positive. In the nondurable industries, however, such relationship is weaker because inelastic demand and shorter gaps between production and sales mitigate the effect of uncertainty. I show the asymmetric effects of uncertainty based on a simple general equilibrium model and provide consistent empirical evidence using US intrafirm trade and microeconomic uncertainty data.     

贸易开放度、经济增长与劳动密集型产业结构调整

本文通过构建联立方程模型对贸易开放度、劳动密集型产业结构和经济增长之间的统计关系进行实证,同时利用VAR模型检验三者之间的相互作用。研究结果表明:经济增长不利于劳动密集型产业的发展,同时劳动密集型产业的发展也不利于经济增长;但贸易开放促进经济增长的同时阻碍了劳动密集型产业的发展。本文研究的政策含义是,当前政府应该优化劳动密集型产业结构,促进要素资源的合理配置;政府外贸政策的重心应该放在改变出口产业结构,使之朝着有利于转变经济增长方式的方向转变。     

Internationalisation, industrial policy and clusters

This paper analyses industrial policy in an open economy hosting an agglomeration consisting of vertically linked upstream and downstream firms. We show that optimal policy towards upstream and downstream industries may typically differ radically in this setting as compared to the case of a closed economy. Internationalisation in terms of international mobility of firms as well as reduced trade costs is found to have significant impact on policy design. We find that in addition to technology and demand characteristics, degree of mobility and level of trade cost are key determinants of tax and subsidy levels.     

Trade liberalization,division of labor and welfare under oligopoly

Incorporating explicitly division of labor into a two-country general oligopolistic equilibrium model, we examine the effects of trade liberalization on firm productivity and welfare. We show that a tariff reduction increases the firm productivity of the trading industries but decreases that of the non-trading industries. An expansion of the trading industries, in contrast, decreases the firm productivity of both the trading and non-trading industries. We then find that a tariff reduction necessarily reduces welfare while the welfare effect of expansion of trading industries is ambiguous.     

Trade booms, trade busts, and trade costs

What has driven trade booms and trade busts in the past and present? We employ a micro-founded measure of trade frictions consistent with leading trade theories to gauge the importance of bilateral trade costs in determining international trade flows. We construct a new balanced sample of bilateral trade flows for 130 country pairs across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania for the period from 1870 to 2000 and demonstrate an overriding role for declining trade costs in the pre-World War I trade boom. In contrast, for the post-World War II trade boom we identify changes in output as the dominant force. Finally, the entirety of the interwar trade bust is explained by increases in trade costs.     

Moving up or moving out? A unified theory of R&D, FDI, and trade

This paper introduces industrial heterogeneity in R&D productivity into the quality-ladder model of the North-South trade to study how firms' choices made between R&D and foreign direct investment (FDI) vary across industries, and how such choices consequently determine the evolution of comparative advantage and trade. It shows that trade reveals product-cycle dynamics in medium-tech industries but remains static in others. High-tech industries experience continued innovation in the North with no migration of product lines. Medium- and low-tech industries migrate South via FDI to exploit low production costs with the South then replacing the North as the dominant exporter. However, medium-tech industry production eventually shifts back to the North when superior products are marketed by Northern innovators, making the end of one complete product cycle and the start of the next. Because of marginal R&D productivity, the relocated low-tech industries are not presented with the option of moving up and thus stagnate.     

垂直专业化分工体系下贸易波动的行业差异性研究

本文计算了中国、日本、美国、英国等国各个部门出口波动情况,同时借助垂直专业化比率(VSS)这一指标衡量了各个部门参与垂直专业化分工的程度。测算结果表明:以其他商业服务(OCS)为典型代表的服务贸易相比于货物贸易尤其是高端货物贸易较少地参与了垂直专业化生产,服务贸易尤其是其他商业服务贸易以及传统货物贸易在国际金融危机中表现出较好的稳定性。