A Latin American Perspective on Trade Policies

This article looks at the trade policy guidelines that the region should follow in order to achieve dynamic international economic linkages, in the light of the international context, the theoretical debates on this subject, and some lessons that may be learned from the study of successful cases. It is posited that in the countries of the region, trade policy can be an instrument for macroeconomic management, fiscal management, and, at the microeconomic level, resource allocation. Its use as a second-best instrument is justified when there are constraints on the use of the best possible solutions. It is also held that there must be close coordination of the policies applied in the fields of trade, industry, and technology to ensure high levels of investment in the tradeable sectors of the economy, a form of competitiveness based on constant increases in productivity, and an improvement in the region's specialization profile. Finally, emphasis is placed on the need to strengthen the institutions of Latin American states in order to ensure that their interventions in the economy have a suitable level of effectiveness.     

Using complex networks analysis to assess the evolution of international economic integration: The cases of East Asia and Latin America

This paper exploits recently-developed indicators based on network analysis to investigate the pattern of international integration followed by East Asian countries and compares it with the Latin American performance. Standard trade openness indicators fall short of portraying the peculiarity of the Asian experience, and of explaining why other emerging markets with similar characteristics have been less successful over the last 25 years. The analysis offers an alternative perspective on the issue regarding international economic integration by taking into account the whole structure of international trade relationships and by determining both the position of countries in the world trade network, and its evolution over time. We find that East Asian countries are more integrated into the world economy, as they have moved from the periphery of the network towards its core. Our results support the idea that the degree of openness matters but it is not enough to characterize economic integration. The number and identity of trade partners, and the specific individual structure of trade for each country, need to be incorporated in order to fully characterize international economic integration. By doing so, it is possible to argue that the integration process of the East Asian countries mirrors their high economic performance, while the lower degree of integration of Latin America can be related to the lack of economic development of the region, even though their degree of openness has increased.     

Regional Productive Complementarity and Competitiveness

A positive international environment favors growth of the several economies in a given region, but it does not assure that the differences in the economic potential of the several countries are reduced in this process. Alternatively, the presence of productive complementarities might foster competitiveness and contribute to increasing the degree of homogeneity, even in situations of adverse terms of trade. This article reviews the experience of six sub-regional groups in Asia and Latin America in the last two decades. Latin America has recently benefitted from significant improvement in terms of trade and yet the economies in that region remain as different in their relative economic potential as they were in the beginning of the 1990s. In Asia, however, the negative impact of terms of trade has not blocked a quite fast pace of GDP growth; furthermore, productive complementarity has led to an increasing convergence of the several economies, with a sharp increase in their share of the international market. There are clear lessons from the Asian experience.     

国际技术扩散的理论与实证:一个文献综述

在日益开放的全球经济体系下,国际技术扩散已成为发展中国家和地区获取技术进步和经济增长的主要途径,国际技术扩散正逐渐成为影响区域经济竞争力的关键因素。本文试图对有关外贸经济与技术扩散的众多理论和实证文献进行系统梳理和评述,以期进一步认识外贸经济对技术扩散的作用以及为如何促进其发展提供一些帮助。     

对外开放与发展中国家的收入不平等:基于亚洲和拉美国家的比较研究

本文基于要素禀赋理论,在将劳动力划分为低、中、高技能三类的基础上,选取亚洲和拉丁美洲部分发展中国家1960-2005年的数据,建立非平衡面板模型,分析两地区的开放对国内收入分配的影响。实证结果表明,亚洲和拉丁美洲发展中国家的对外开放确实对国内收入不平等起到推动作用。目前的开放有利于中等技能劳动力相对丰裕的发展中国家,而不利于低技能劳动力相对丰裕的国家。总体的贸易依存度对拉美不平等的推动作用更大,但外资对亚洲不平等的推动作用更大;制造业出口倾向于扩大拉美国家的收入差距而缩小亚洲国家的收入差距。     

Who Supports Free Trade in Latin America?

This paper examines individual trade policy preferences across 17 countries in Latin America. The focus is on whether skilled or unskilled workers are more likely to support liberalised trade and on whether country characteristics, such as factor endowments, alter the preferences of skilled and unskilled workers. Based on the standard Heckscher‐Ohlin model and the Stolper‐Samuelson theorem, wage inequality in developing countries will decrease under free trade and unskilled workers will benefit. We find that on average skilled workers are more likely than unskilled workers to support free trade in Latin American countries. Separate country regressions reveal that this pattern is only statistically significant in 8 out of 17 Latin American countries. However, there are no countries in our sample in which unskilled workers are statistically more likely to support free trade than skilled workers, not even in the lowest skill‐endowed country in the sample. We also find that people from Latin American countries with higher GDP, faster growth, more cropland and a longer period of time since reform were more likely on average to support free trade.     

人工智能技术变革对国际贸易的影响

人工智能技术的快速发展正催生第四次工业革命,可能引发全球价值链深度重构和世界经贸格局重大变革。世界主要经济强国将发展人工智能技术作为争夺新一轮产业竞争优势的重要战略抓手。本文基于全球价值链视角研究人工智能技术变革对国际贸易的影响,我们发现人工智能技术变革可能推动国际贸易规模扩大,提升服务贸易份额,并促进国际贸易交易模式平台化、小宗化,可为中小企业创造更多参与国际贸易的机会。然而,人工智能技术变革也可能通过降低企业劳动力需求从而对我国等发展中国家的出口拉动型增长模式造成严重的潜在威胁。为应对人工智能技术变革,我国应部署并强化对人工智能产业发展的政策支持,加快培育制造业国际竞争新优势,大力推动先进制造业与现代生产性服务业深度融合发展,全面促进"中国制造"攀升全球价值链中高端。     

EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Beginning in the mid-1980s the primary development paradigm pursued by Latin American and Caribbean countries undertook a major shift from the concept of import-substitution-industrialization (ISI) to that of export-led growth and openness to international markets. Despite these efforts, virtually no research has been undertaken to assess the degree to which the export structures of Latin American and Caribbean countries have in fact diversified. This is unfortunate as the trade policy environment facing these countries is poised to undergo significant changes. The purpose of this article is to examine the structure of exports to the United States from 19 selected Latin American and Caribbean countries over the 1989 to 2000 period to assess the degree to which export diversification has occurred. The analysis is conducted at a reasonably disaggregate level using 2-digit HTS data. The countries included in the analysis provide a very interesting mix of commonalities and differences. The results suggest wide differences in the degree of diversification exhibited and suggest that these differences are related to economic size and social capability.     

Book review

The paper develops a general equilibrium model of international production and trade. Technology is carried across borders by multinational producers and the set of technologies being used in a particular country is endogenous. Production locations are chosen based on the costs of production and getting the product to market. A producer may manufacture its product in its home country, target market country, or a third country. Estimated model parameters describe the states of technology in different countries, barriers to international investment, and trade costs. It is found that the barriers to international trade and investment are highly correlated. The model is used to measure the extent of technology diffusion across countries, study the relationship between international production and trade, investigate the effects of free-trade agreements (FTAs) on offshoring, and to quantify the welfare effects of international production and trade.     

解析美国巨额贸易逆差形成的原因

随着近年来经济全球化进程的加快,美国出现了全球所独有的巨额贸易逆差,并呈现出不断扩大的趋势,分析其贸易逆差形成的原因具有十分重要的现实意义。本文结合当今全球贸易的新特点,重点分析了美国制造业商品贸易的变化,指出美国信息产业等诸多产业已经转移到新兴工业化国家,尤其是亚洲国家。这种全球性的产业转移和技术扩散引致美国制造业国际竞争力下降是其巨额贸易逆差形成和扩大的主要原因。     

中澳产业国际竞争力与贸易互补性分析

运用以进出口数据为基础的产业国际竞争力评价指标体系对中澳产业国际竞争力进行了评价,结合评价结果,利用修正后的贸易互补指数计算公式计测了中澳两国之间各产业以及综合贸易互补程度.结果表明:中澳两国各自具有极强和较强国际竞争力的产业互不重合,大部分产业具有较强的贸易互补性,综合贸易互补性近年来呈逐年增强之势.中澳双边贸易发展潜力很大,建立中澳自由贸易区前景广阔.     

策略性信息传递与技术贸易的无效率

技术进步是经济增长的引擎,然而,发展中国家未能有效地利用国际技术贸易从发达国家获得自己想要的技术。原因在于,在贸易谈判开始前的了解信息阶段,由于要素禀赋的不一致,发达国家企业具有策略性传递技术质量信息以获取卖者剩余的倾向。预期到这种倾向,发展中国家的企业对发达国家企业传递的信息持不信任态度。通过寻找更多的技术供给方、减少信息质量的可能状态和参照价格标尺,策略性信息传递引起的技术交易无效率可以得到改善。     

PHEIC对中国的经济影响及对策

2020年1月31日,世界卫生组织宣布将中国新冠病毒疫情列为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件(PHEIC)。尽管在之前的PHEIC中,世界卫生组织均强调不应限制国际旅行和贸易,但各国仍对目标国采取了一系列限制措施,对其经济造成负面影响。此次PHEIC后,越来越多的国家对我国采取了广泛的限制措施。对中国造成的短期影响是国内经济、国际贸易、双向投资、全球价值链均受到冲击;中期影响是外商撤资、产业链转移的可能性大幅增加;长期影响是面临与全球经济脱钩的风险。对此,我国应借鉴之前目标国采取应对措施的经验教训,尽快结束疫情、缓解对国内经济的冲击、推动国际贸易和双向投资、加快产业链布局调整、加强国际经济合作,以缓解PHEIC的短期冲击并避免中长期影响。     

贸易政策、出口和经济增长——基于拉美国家实证数据的研究

20世纪40年代起,拉美国家采取的是以贸易保护思想为基础的进口替代政策,70年代中期开始,大部分拉美国家开始了以贸易开放、资本开放为核心的“新自由主义改革”。本文首先对拉美对外贸易政策的沿革进行回顾,就拉美的“新自由主义”改革的实效进行了一个基本考察,在此基础上,通过计量模型详细探讨了拉美国家的出口和经济增长的关系。     

Putting industries into the Eaton–Kortum model

The article introduces the industry dimension into the Eaton-Kortum model of trade. Industries are linked with each other by domestic and international trade in intermediate goods. The model is parametrized using data for eight industries in 1989. It is used to perform several counterfactual simulations that are relevant to today's policy debates. First, the model is used to study the effects of the US–EU trade wars. It is found that trade wars have a greater negative effect on countries with large initial net export positions. It is also found that some trade war scenarios are more beneficial to the US while others to the EU. Second, the model is used to study the effects of trade barrier reductions between the high-income and middle-income countries. The results show that this trade liberalization tends to reinforce the pattern of trade according to technological comparative advantages. The results also show which industries should be targeted for barrier reductions depending on policy goals. The third set of simulations investigates spillovers from the technological growth in the US machinery industry. The results show how geography, technology, and industry links affect the propagation of this growth across countries and industries.     

The Effect of Corruption on Exports and Imports in Latin America and the Caribbean

International trade, in particular exports and imports, are regarded as important factors that can increase the economic development of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. However, little is known whether the ability of these countries to strengthen their global positions in trade can be affected by the pervasiveness of local corruption. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of corruption on exports and imports in LAC countries. Our empirical results from the gravity model indicate that local corruption strongly reduces exports in the region. Thus, we conclude that LAC would be able to achieve more export growth if corruption in the region was effectively reduced.     

Real exchange rates,dollarization and industrial employment in Latin America

We use a panel dataset on industrial employment and trade for 9 Latin American countries for which liability dollarization data at the industrial level is available. We test whether real exchange rate fluctuations have a significant impact on employment, and analyse whether the impact varies with the degree of trade openness and liability dollarization. Econometric evidence supports the view that real exchange rate depreciations can impact employment growth positively, but this effect is reversed as liability dollarization increases. In industries with high liability dollarization, the overall impact of a real exchange rate depreciation can be negative.     

国际分工对产业结构演进的影响及其对我国的启示——基于新兴工业化国家跨国面板数据的经验分析

从需求角度探讨了国际分工与产业结构演变的关系,提出国际分工主要通过直接效应和间接效应,以及由此衍生的收入效应、关联效应和替代效应来影响一国产业结构变化的理论假说。采用20世纪80年代陆续进入工业化成熟期的15个新兴工业化国家的跨国面板数据进行了实证检验,发现这些新兴工业化国家在产业结构向服务经济转型的同时,制造业的比较优势和外贸依存度却出现了下降趋势,国内最终消费占比呈现上升趋势。其经济含义表明:新兴工业化国家如果过度强化在国际分工中的制造国地位,长期依靠商品贸易来拉动经济增长,可能阻碍产业结构由工业经济向服务经济的转型;而随着制造业比较优势的下降,如果减少对商品贸易的依赖,更多地依靠国内需求来发展经济,对于产业结构的转型将有正面的促进作用。以上结论对于我国经济结构的调整具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Movements of People for Movements of Goods?

Whilst it is well established to think of international tourism as a type of exports, namely ‘home’ exports, the potential of tourism flows as an engine for fostering trade among countries is a poorly studied topic. In this paper, we show that this relationship can be studied at a very detailed level by exploiting the disaggregation of existing information on international trade and inbound tourism. We consider a sample of 25 countries belonging to the European Union, a region that has been interested by common shocks such as the establishment of the euro as the new currency for many countries and the liberalisation in the air transport market. We carry out a panel data analysis by means of which we assess whether international tourist arrivals by a given country activate additional exports towards the same country. We find not only that tourism can promote exports, but also that this effect displays important differences depending on whether or not consumption goods are considered. This finding is consistent with the idea that the experience of tourists in a given destination reduces the fixed costs of trade, thus facilitating access to the advantages of international trade for more peripheral economies.     

International R&D spillovers in emerging markets: The impact of trade and foreign direct investment

While economic theory predicts that growth in developing countries will gain significantly from technology spillovers, the empirical evidence on this issue remains relatively scarce. The present study focuses on a panel of 27 transition and 20 developed countries between 1990 and 2006 and uses the latest developments in panel unit root and cointegration techniques to disentangle the effects of international spillovers via inflows of trade and FDI on total factor productivity (TFP). The findings show that imports remain the main channel of diffusion for both sets of countries, while FDI, although statistically significant, has a lower impact on productivity of the recipients. The domestic R&D capital stock plays an active role in Western Europe while in the Eastern part it is less significant owing to lower levels, transitional disinvestment and relative obsolescence. Human capital affects TFP directly as a factor of production as well as indirectly by enhancing a country's absorptive capacity. In aggregate, the results show that transition countries from Eastern Europe and Central Asia seem to enjoy bigger productivity gains from the international diffusion process than their Western counterparts.