REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND POVERTY: A REVIEW OF THE TRANSMISSION CHANNELS AND THE EVIDENCE

While there is an extensive literature on the impact of regional trading agreements on trade and capital flows, as well as on the relationship between international trade, growth, and poverty there is comparatively little treatment of the possible linkages between regional integration and poverty. We analyze the channels through which regional integration could impact on poverty, and then review the existing evidence on the impact of regional integration on poverty. We focus on two key characteristics that make any regional integration process different from unilateral and multilateral liberalization: first, the asymmetric nature of the liberalization process; second, the scope or ambition of the regional liberalization being undertaken and the nature of the institutional arrangements that are put into place to manage the process of regional integration. We also distinguish between short, medium, and long run effects on poverty of regional integration processes. There is some direct evidence explicitly linking regional integration and poverty, but in good part the shedding of the light depends on an indirect literature on trade, FDI, migration, and inequality.     

Dynamics of Trade Integration and Technological Convergence

The issue of the impact of trade on economic performance and labour markets has been intensively discussed in recent literature on trade liberalization and globalization, where the debate was mainly about identifying the relative impact of trade and technology. The bulk of the existing literature in this area employs, almost without exception, a static Heckscher-Ohlin framework that seems not to be a suitable tool for analysing the ongoing dynamics. This paper presents a dynamic multi-sectoral framework with heterogenous labour to explore the issue of trade liberalization and sectoral catching-up in productivity levels. The model is basically an input-output framework with Schumpeterian features; the latter are modelled as the impact of transitory rents that result from uneven productivity growth and technological catching-up upon the price and quantity systems of the trading economies. Relative productivity and wage rate dynamics across sectors determine the comparative costs and the dynamics of trade specialization. In the Appendix, the equilibrium solutions of the model are derived.     

REGIONAL SHORT-RUN EFFECTS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION IN BRAZIL

We use a single-country multi-regional computable general equilibrium model to evaluate regional short-run impacts of reduction in import tariffs resulting from recent free trade area agreements, on poverty and distribution of income in Brazil. Results show that trade can reduce inter-regional income inequality, but poor urban households lose with trade liberalization. Trade policy alone is not sufficient for achieving more equitable income distribution goals in Brazil. Without greater investment in human and physical capital, incomes in most regions of Brazil are likely to lag behind incomes in the South/Southeast, the most developed regions in the country.     

Trade Liberalization and Poverty in Ecuador: A CGE Macro-Microsimulation Analysis

Cross-country analysis of the aggregate growth-poverty link is likely to miss important country-specific detail and possible offsetting forces in the underlying labour market adjustment process. This paper combines a CGE model analysis with a microsimulations approach to analyse the effects of trade liberalization on poverty and income distribution in Ecuador. The CGE model enables us to disentangle the general equilibrium effects of various trade policy scenarios on sector output, employment, factor incomes and household consumption. However, as is typical of CGE models, this analysis only provides distribution results for fairly aggregated groups of workers and a reduced number of representative households. The microsimulations approach adds the full distribution to the analysis and allows simulation of the effects of trade reform on the job status and remuneration of individual workers and thereby on household income distribution and poverty. The macro- microsimulation results indicate that the trade opening in Ecuador induced mild aggregate welfare gains, but rising income inequality due to rising wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers implies virtually no poverty-reducing effect from trade liberalization.     

Openness,rural-urban inequality,and happiness in China

Although the relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being has been extensively discussed in the literature, relatively little is known about the effects of openness on subjective well-being and how rural-urban inequality may influence these effects. This article attempts to address this issue by using the dataset of the China General Social Survey (CGSS). We find that the effect of trade openness on happiness takes an inverted U shape, whereas that of financial openness is U-shaped. We also find that rural-urban inequality has a dampening effect on happiness, and this effect is strengthened by trade openness but weakened by financial openness. These findings extend previous studies on the determinants of happiness by highlighting the different effects associated with trade openness and financial openness and how these effects may interact with rural-urban inequality.     

贸易自由化与中国企业进口中间品质量升级

进口高质量中间品是发展中国家实现技术追赶的重要途径;贸易自由化会降低进口高质量中间产品的贸易成本和相对价格,促进企业进口中间品质量升级。基于此,本文利用细分关税数据、海关数据和工业企业数据,将加工贸易作为控制组、一般贸易作为处理组,采用倍差法经验分析贸易自由化对中国企业进口中间品质量的影响。结论发现：伴随关税下降,中国企业进口中间品质量整体增长,且一般贸易组增长速度远快于加工贸易组。同加工贸易相比,关税下降1%一般贸易进口中间品质量增长高出0.06%~3.74%。这一作用在持续进口企业中,在基础设施完善、市场化水平高、经济集聚程度高的地区更明显。上述结论通过了同趋势假设、内生性等一系列稳健性检验。     

A SURVEY OF TRADE AND WAGE INEQUALITY: ANOMALIES,RESOLUTIONS AND NEW TRENDS

This paper surveys recent studies on trade and wage inequality. We first introduce some trade‐based explanations for increased wage inequality. There are, however, a number of criticisms of this line of thought based on the ‘trade‐wage inequality anomaly’, the ‘price‐wage anomaly’, and the small volume of trade. Mainly due to these criticisms, trade‐based explanations for rising wage inequality have been limited in the economic literature. Rather, the primary explanations for wage inequality have been based on skill‐biased technological change. Some trade models, however, have weakened the above criticisms, and more economists now argue that the effect of trade, though relatively small compared to that of technological change, is more significant than generally believed. Finally, we attempt to link new trends in inequality, such as job polarization and within‐group inequality, to the trade and wage inequality literature.     

EVIDENCE ON THE IMPACT OF TARIFF REDUCTIONS ON EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

This paper analyses the evidence on the impact of tariff reductions on employment in developing countries. We carry out a systematic review of the existing empirical literature, and include both, ex post econometric evidence and ex ante Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) simulation studies. The synthesis of results suggests that the effects of tariff reductions on employment are country and trade policy specific. When looking across higher quality econometric studies that control for the endogeneity of tariffs, only a couple of studies have statistically significant results, and these suggest that employment is likely to decrease slightly in the short run following trade liberalization. This is consistent with the notion that there are winners and losers from trade policy reform. These results are in contrast with the CGE findings, which by design incorporate projections of the medium‐run economy‐wide knock‐on effects suggested by economic theory. The synthesis of CGE studies suggests non‐negative effects of trade liberalization on aggregate employment and moderate inter‐sectoral labour reallocation effects.     

The effects of trade exposure on technical efficiency: New evidence from the Turkish rubber industry

When a country's foreign trade regime becomes more open, international trade theory suggests that domestic firms face more competition and start to operate more efficiently to reduce their production costs. This proposition is empirically examined by using plant-level data from the Turkish rubber industry during a period of substantial trade liberalization: technical efficiency levels improved significantly when Turkey's trade regime shifted from a restrictive to a more liberalized one. Incumbent plants located closer to international markets improved technical efficiency more than the other plants. These findings suggest that the improvement in technical efficiency was due largely to trade liberalization.     

Services trade restrictiveness and manufacturing export sophistication

This paper highlights the importance of services trade liberalization. It is well-known that there is a strong relationship between the level of economic development of a country and the quality of its export basket. Since the pioneering work of Hausmann, Hwang, and Rodrik (2007), several studies have attempted to identify the determinants of export sophistication. In this paper, based on the existing literature, we argue that restrictiveness of services sector trade can have a negative impact on the level of export sophistication. Using panel data from 36 countries over the 2005–2014 period, we show that the impact of services sector trade restrictiveness on export sophistication is negative and statistically significant. We find that this negative effect has increased in the post-2007 period. Furthermore, restrictiveness of trade in modern services is relatively more detrimental to manufacturing export sophistication. A series of endogeneity and robustness tests confirm the reliability of our main empirical result. Our analysis suggests that services sector trade liberalization can also be used as a development strategy by developing countries.     

Russia’s and Kazakhstan’s agro-food sectors under liberalized agricultural trade: a case for national product differentiation

Russia is a major importer of agro-food products in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), whereas Kazakhstan’s agro-food sector is more export-oriented. Based on a multi-market-model with bilateral trade, the paper investigates how a Common Agricultural Market (CAM) and World Trade Organization (WTO) accession would affect prices, quantities, and welfare on agro-food markets in both countries. Trade diversion effects are expected because of a changed tariff structure. Kazakhstan’s agro-food sector will loose price competitiveness on Russia’s markets if liberalization is too narrowly focused on import tariffs. Simulations also suggest that national product differentiation can be part of a strategy for Russian agro-food industries to cope with stronger international competition.     

Impact of trade liberalization on firm's labour demand by skill: The case of Tunisian manufacturing

This paper investigates the impact of the trade liberalization process in Tunisia on employment by distinguishing different skills and different types of firms using micro level data covering the period of 1983–1994. There is considerable disagreement among analysts on the impact of recent trade reforms upon labour. Our contribution to these debates in this paper is essentially an empirical issue. The analysis of a Tunisian firm's data may be viewed as an attempt to apprehend how employment in Tunisia, a developing country, adjusted to the trade reforms. Using micro-level detail on individual firms, we are able to trace the relationship between changes in trade policies and manufacturing employment at firm level and by skill. Although trade reforms are generally implemented at the sector level, their effects may vary significantly across firm characteristics such as output orientation. We measure the effects of trade policy on employment according to different types of firms. We also associate changes in employment directly with a measure of change in trade protection, rather than linking them to changes in imports and exports which would be more common. The results suggest that the impact of trade liberalization on labour demand depends on a firm's characteristics. In particular, the estimates obtained suggest that trade liberalization has beneficial effects on employment for exporting-firms. Conversely, trade liberalization has negative and disciplinary effects on employment for domestically oriented firms. The reduction in tariff levels conducted in this first phase of liberalization in Tunisia seems to have had effects with different intensity on unskilled labour and on skilled labour; this justifies the examination of these two skills.     

贸易开放是否影响了中国产业结构升级？

研究目标：探讨贸易开放是否影响了中国产业结构升级。研究方法：利用2003～2014年省际面板数据，采用中介效应检验方法。研究发现：贸易开放在加快产业结构整体优化的同时还有助于服务业与工业内部行业的变革。同时，贸易开放可以借助增加物质资本积累、刺激消费需求、提升技术进步、促进制度变革等方式间接加速产业结构整体升级和产业结构高级化发展。加工贸易对产业结构升级的促进力度小于非加工贸易，东部地区对产业结构升级的促进力度大于中西部地区，欧美发达国家对产业结构升级的促进力度大于东亚发达国家。研究创新：深入探讨了贸易开放影响产业结构升级的理论机制，并从产业间与产业内视角构建多维产业结构升级指数检验贸易开放对产业结构升级的影响。研究价值：有利于缩小贸易区域差异以及环境承载力差异对产业结构升级的影响，为实现产业转型升级提供科学决策依据。     

The effect of trade and FDI on inter-industry wage differentials: The case of Mexico

Taking advantage of the liberalization process under NAFTA, this paper assesses the relative importance of the degree of trade openness and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in explaining inter-industry wage differentials for the case of Mexico. Using INEGI's National Survey of Urban Employment for the period 1994–2004, the empirical analysis is conducted on two stages. In the first stage, individual wages are regressed on worker characteristics, job and firm attributes, informality and a set of federal entity and industry indicators. In the second stage, inter-industry wage differentials (derived from the coefficient estimates of the industry indicators) are regressed on trade and FDI variables. The main findings show that trade openness does not have a statistically significant effect on inter-industry wage differentials, whereas for the case of FDI, a positive nonlinear relationship is found to exist.     

贸易同盟、二元扩张与中国出口的双重优势

本研究基于异质性理论考察关税减免的贸易二元边际扩张效应,通过GTAP软件研究中国内地与香港双边贸易CEPA协议的远期效应,结果发现两地市场充分自由化后CEPA发挥了同盟区的贸易创造效应,内地对港贸易的二元边际保持明显的增长收益,其中外延边际更为显著。研究还发现低替代弹性产品越能够获得自由化的贸易收益,这显示我国内陆企业具有充分的差异化（多样性）国际竞争优势。研究表明市场自由化的国际区域性同盟可成为维持和发挥我国出口贸易“双重大国优势”的新来源。     

Capturing the Implications of Services Trade Liberalization

This paper evaluates the impact of service sector trade liberalization on the world economy by a ten-region, eleven-sector CGE model with import embodied technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries. Simulation results show that service sector trade liberalization not only directly affects world service production and trade, but also has significant implications for other sectors in the economy. The major channel of the impact is through inter-industry input-output relations and TFP growth induced from services imported by developing countries from developed countries, which may be embodied with new information and advanced technology.     

中国与金砖国家间农产品贸易成本弹性测度与分析

本文在Novy(2013)超越对数引力模型基础上把国内民主化程度作为政治因素从出口国和进口国两条路径引入该模型对其进行改进,并利用改进后的模型对中国与金砖国家部分农产品贸易成本弹性分别进行测度。结果显示中国与金砖国家农产品贸易成本弹性均为正,中国与金砖国家通过降低贸易成本均可提高贸易量。然而中国出口与进口贸易成本弹性差值均为负,中国总体不具有相对优势。从细分产品结构来看,中国可以优先考虑本国优势产品,重点在优势产品领域积极推进贸易自由化和便利化。中国与金砖国家存在产业内贸易潜力较大产品,中国可以与金砖国家在不同层次加深农业分工与合作,分散中国农产品贸易风险,实现对外贸易多元化和可持续发展。     

Cultural distance and international trade in services: A disaggregate view

In this paper, we estimate the effect of “cultural distance” on bilateral trade in services. The measure of cultural distance we use is based on scores that reflect country averages of individuals’ attitudes towards inequality, self-orientation, competition, uncertainty, traditions, and indulgence. Controlling for standard ingredients of gravity equations, we show that an aggregate measure of cultural distance has a significantly negative effect on total bilateral services trade. Once we take a more disaggregate view, we find that the strength of this effect differs across various types of services and various aspects of cultural distance.     

Trade Creation and Trade Diversion

SUMMARY

In this paper we raise questions regarding the appropriateness of the traditional gravity model for evaluating the existence of trade creation and trade diversion in the context of regional trade arrangements. We demonstrate that existing methods fail to separate multilateral and allocation effects, and are therefore unable to say anything useful about either. Further, we point out that omitted variables-perennially unobservables-further contribute to the contamination of the results. Bearing these criticisms in mind, we provide a new methodology for assessing the effect of preferential trading arrangements on the trade volumes, and hence, the welfare of member and non-member countries. We offer a test that separates these effects, and employ it in an assessment of the EC. We find that the allocation effects of the EC caused 5 of its 11 members to divert trade toward bloc members, and 2 of its members to divert trade away from the EC. We also find that the EC increased multilateral trade for both members and non-members.     

中国普惠金融发展对贸易边际及结构的影响

研究目标：考察中国普惠金融发展对贸易边际及结构的影响。研究方法：首先从理论上探讨了普惠金融发展对于贸易的影响,提出普惠制金融发展不仅会从集约边际和扩展边际两个方面影响贸易的规模,而且会因为行业间外部融资依赖度的差异而影响贸易的结构。然后,运用我国10个省份15个制造行业2004~2013年的数据,检验了普惠金融发展对于地区出口的影响。研究发现：普惠金融的发展对于出口总体上具有促进作用,不过,普惠金融对于出口的影响在行业上具有显著的异质性,总体来说,在外部融资依赖度较高的行业,普惠金融发展对于出口呈现出较多正向影响,而在外部融资依赖度较低的行业,普惠金融发展对于出口越多呈现出较多负向影响。研究创新：理论上研究了普惠金融发展与国际贸易边际的关系,并运用中国的数据进行了验证。研究价值：对于促进中国普惠金融体系的构建和贸易转型升级具有一定的政策启示。