The evolution of free trade networks

This paper considers the evolutionary dynamics of a free trade agreement (FTA) network formation game among N countries. We first explore the static model introduced by Goyal and Joshi (2006) and precisely characterize the set of pairwise stable FTA networks. Then, we develop a dynamic model under random perturbations and identify long-run outcomes to remove prediction uncertainty inherited from static analysis. The results show that both partial free trade and global free trade will result when there are only three countries. However, when more countries are involved, only the complete FTA network emerges.     

Local trade networks and spatially persistent unemployment

This paper studies the effects of local trade networks on the spatial distribution of employment in a model that allows for effective demand externalities as well as home bias. It is shown that, if labor can be hired in continuous quantities, then the long run spatial distribution of employment is uniform, and independent of any trade network topology. When labor has binary support, however, local trade networks are found to generate spatial unemployment clusters which can persist indefinitely.     

Economic importance and structural robustness of the international pesticide trade networks

Pesticides are agricultural inputs that can significantly reduce yield losses, regulate plant growth, effectively liberate agricultural productivity, and improve food security. The availability of pesticides in economies worldwide is ensured by redistribution through international trade, with different economies playing different roles in this process. In this study, we measured and ranked the importance of economies using nine node metrics. We found that the clustering coefficient was negatively correlated with the other eight node metrics, whereas the other eight node metrics were positively correlated with each other and could be grouped into three communities (betweenness; in-degree, PageRank, authority, and in-closeness; out-degree, hub, and out-closeness). We further investigated the structural robustness of international pesticide trade networks proxied by large component size under three types of shocks to economies (node removal in descending, random, and ascending orders). The results showed that, except for the clustering coefficient, international pesticide trade networks are relatively robust under shocks to economies in ascending order but fragile under shocks to economies in descending order. By contrast, removing nodes with a clustering coefficient in ascending and descending order yielded similar robustness curves. Moreover, the structural robustness related to large component size evolved over time and exhibited an inverse U-shaped pattern.     

Production networks and international trade: China,Brazil and Mexico

In this paper, we examine and contrast the production networks in China, Brazil and Mexico. We highlight three results. First, over the last two decades, China's intensity of trade in parts and components has shifted from other members of Greater China to South Korea and ASEAN countries. Second, even though China's production network is mainly Asian, its parts and components trading partners are increasingly global. Brazil also increasingly trades its parts with China and East Asia, while Mexico is still focused on its trade with the United States. Third, Greater China has become a major source of parts and components to Mexican and Brazilian imports. We highlight the importance of such a pan-Pacific link and anticipate that the joint China–Brazil–Mexico production network will continue to grow.     

Global operations networks in motion: Managing configurations and capabilities

In the past, the ‘Made in the World’ label, although capturing what may lie ahead, seemed awkward and futuristic. Today, it has become a reality. An ample array of global products are built up of numerous components and modules manufactured by global networks of differentiated partners rather than within the boundaries of one national entity. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging the empirical gap in the area of global operations networks and provide insights into how they change over time. The paper is based on the cases of three Danish companies and their global operations networks. It finds a number of common patterns highlighting organizational effects and managerial challenges faced by the companies regarding rapid changes in their networks configurations and capabilities. The paper details the variables determining these changes and suggests how the on-going interplay between the focal organization, its network partners, and their varying contextual conditions can be dealt with.     

Null models of economic networks: the case of the world trade web

In all empirical-network studies, the observed properties of economic networks are informative only if compared with a well-defined null model that can quantitatively predict the behavior of such properties in constrained graphs. However, predictions of the available null-model methods can be derived analytically only under assumptions (e.g., sparseness of the network) that are unrealistic for most economic networks like the world trade web (WTW). In this paper we study the evolution of the WTW using a recently-proposed family of null network models. The method allows to analytically obtain the expected value of any network statistic across the ensemble of networks that preserve on average some local properties, and are otherwise fully random. We compare expected and observed properties of the WTW in the period 1950–2000, when either the expected number of trade partners or total country trade is kept fixed and equal to observed quantities. We show that, in the binary WTW, node-degree sequences are sufficient to explain higher-order network properties such as disassortativity and clustering-degree correlation, especially in the last part of the sample. Conversely, in the weighted WTW, the observed sequence of total country imports and exports are not sufficient to predict higher-order patterns of the WTW. We discuss some important implications of these findings for international-trade models.     

运用普通钻头与自形成同心径向环齿金刚石钻头的经济比较分析

文章采用效益指数法对普通钻头与自形成同心径向环齿金刚石钻头进行了比较分析,通过讨论主要得到了影响普通钻头与自形成同心径向环齿金刚石钻头钻探成本的机械钻速、钻头总进尺、钻头费用等主要因素及规律,并强调了钻头选型中重视技术经济性的重要性。     

产业内贸易与服务贸易竞争力关系理论综述

随着经济的发展,产业内贸易、服务贸易在今天的社会生活中变得日益重要,产业内贸易的发展对推动服务贸易的发展,提高服务贸易国际竞争力的作用也越来越得到人们的关注。文章分别对产业内贸易、服务贸易竞争力及涉及其两者间关系的理论进行梳理总结。     

Seller experimentation and trade

Review of Economic Design - This paper studies the effect of trade opportunities on a seller’s incentive to acquire information through experimentation. I characterize the unique equilibrium...     

Democracy and trade unions*

In the context of the current debate over the Government's proposals to regulate by statute the internal democratic arrangements of trade unions, this article examines the origins of the debate, the case for legislative intervention, the actual proposals and their wider implications.     

Corruption, institutions and trade

The economics literature describes various factors that affect trade between countries, which, in addition to the standard economic and geographic factors, also include cultural, ethnic and historical factors. The present study is apparently one of only a few attempts in the literature to examine directly the effects of corruption on trade and the first attempt to examine trade over time in a specific country whose level of corruption changed significantly. Israel was chosen as the subject of the study mainly because of the fact that, according to international indexes, the country’s status as a civil society has declined significantly over the past decade. According to the corruption index of Transparency International, Israel was ranked 33rd in the world, at the end of the sample period in 2008, having fallen from 14th in 1995. The results of the research can serve as the basis for comparison to similar studies of other Western countries. The study’s conclusions support the hypothesis that the effect of corruption on trade of any given country is significant, stable and negative.     

Monitoring costs and trade credit

This paper addresses the question of why nonfinancial firms engage in lending to their business partners. Such lending or trade credit is modeled as a second layer of financial intermediation. It is shown that when it is costly for a bank to inspect the borrower’s revenue but not for the borrower’s business partner, then saving in monitoring costs due to the business partner’s informational advantage may lead to trade credit. The trade off is between monitoring fewer firms and monitoring larger firms that may entail an adverse scale effect. The results are consistent with the existing empirical evidence on bankruptcy costs and on the incidence of trade credit. Welfare analysis in terms of total surplus shows that the equilibrium lending arrangement is not necessarily optimal.     

化解物价上涨应强化内外贸一体化政策

当前,我国出现的结构性通货膨胀,其根本原因之一就是流动性过剩.因此,解决了流动性过剩问题,物价上涨问题也会迎刃而解.目前,一种比较流行的观点倾向于把流动性过剩作为一个货币供给量问题,以为只要采取紧缩的货币政策,就可以解决我国的流动性过剩问题.事实上,并非如此简单.     

论环境与国际贸易问题及我国贸易政策的调整

环境与国际贸易是经济发展中一对相互矛盾相互促进的两个方面,而近几年来由环境带来的环境壁垒却对国际贸易产生了很大影响。为使两者协调发展,各国的贸易政策必须及时进行调整。文中分析了环境与贸易的关系和环境对贸易的影响,以及国际贸易中所产生的环境壁垒的深层根源。在此基础上,对我国的对外贸易政策提出切实的建议。     

Business,trade and the environment: An agenda for stability in world trade

Conflicts between trade liberalization, as promoted by the World Trade Organisation, and demands for environmental protection have the potential seriously to disrupt the world's trading system to the point of detriment of, among others, the business community. The paper sets out the essential issues raised in the trade/environment debate, with some case study analysis as to how and why the problems have arisen. One of the principal constraints of freer trade on environmental policy making is fears of impacts on business competitiveness. The paper concludes that, while these fears are often exaggerated, they are justified for some environmentally intensive sectors, and they certainly constrain the introduction of environment policies. The paper makes proposals as to how the rules governing world trade, and their interpretation, could be modified to make domestic environmental policy making easier, and suggests that it is strongly in the interests of international business to see these modifications implemented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Growth and the dynamics of trade liberalization

This paper develops a model of ongoing trade liberalization as a self-enforcing equilibrium in a game between governments. Economic growth is a critical ingredient in successful trade liberalization. But differences in national growth rates have profound differences on the sustainable tariff equilibria of the game. If international technology spillovers are not concentrated in high-growth sectors, faster growing countries will be more protectionist, setting higher tariffs and liberalizing trade at a later date. But with spillovers more concentrated in high-growth sectors, faster-growing countries may be less protectionist. Differences in growth rates lead the process of trade liberalization to be far from reciprocal. A sustainable trade liberalization may actually involve one country pursuing a unilateral policy of free trade, even though its trading partner imposes tariffs against it.     

Horizontal mergers and the balance of trade

This paper explores the relationship between market structure and the balance of trade in a dominant firm/competitive fringe model. It is shown that, absent efficiency effects, a horizontal merger between the dominant producer and a domestic fringe firm leads to a deterioration in the balance of trade, but, where efficiencies arise, this effect may be reversed. A sufficient condition for such reversal to occur is derived.     

Vertical mergers and the balance of trade

This paper examines the relationship between the vertical merger and the balance of trade. Our results show that the effects of the vertical merger on the trade balance and consumers' welfare depend on the production technology adopted by the final good manufacturers. The vertical merger will improve both the trade balance and consumers' welfare when fixed-coefficient technology is adopted. However, these positive effects could not be held when variable-coefficient technology is used to produce the final good.