Does exchange rate volatility deter Japan-China trade? Evidence from pre- and post-exchange rate reform in China

This paper is an empirical investigation of the effect of RMB-JPY volatility on Japan-China trade with a special emphasis on the impacts of the reform of the RMB exchange rate regime implemented on July 21, 2005. We estimated two types of volatility measures (one based on the ARCH model and the other the usual standard deviation) utilizing daily data from Jan. 2002 through Dec. 2011 and examined both short-run and long-run effects of this volatility on exports of each country to the other with an ARDL approach. The results indicate that Japan's exports to China are not affected by the exchange rate volatility, but China's exports to Japan are negatively influenced during the reform period. Furthermore, the level of the exchange rate has no influence on Japanese exports, but it has a significant impact on Chinese exports. This asymmetric result may be due to differences in the depth of financial markets and in the maturity of exporters of the two countries.     

The effect of exchange rate changes on Japanese consumption exports

This paper investigates how exchange rates affect Japanese exports. This is difficult because many of Japan's exports are used to produce goods for re-export. An appreciation in the importing country that decreases exports can decrease its imported inputs from Japan. To avoid this bias we examine consumption exports. Using a panel dataset of Japan's consumption exports to 17 countries over the 1988–2009 period, we find exchange rate elasticities of about one. These results indicate that the large swings in the value of the yen over the last decade have caused large swings in the volume of Japanese exports.     

Exchange rate policy and export performance in a landlocked developing country: The case of Nepal

This paper examines the implications of Nepal's exchange rate policy for its export performance over the period 1980–2010. We first document Nepal's long-standing currency peg against the Indian rupee and that Nepal's real exchange rate appreciated substantially from the late 1990s. We then employ a gravity modeling approach to confirm that this real exchange rate appreciation has adversely affected Nepal's exports, especially to third-country markets. Nepal's exchange rate-related export competitiveness trap provides a motivation to reconsider the current peg.     

China＇s Import-exchange Rate Linkage： Evidence from the China-bound Exports of Japan and Korea

This paper examines how the China-bound exports of Japan and Korea are related to exchange rates, motivated by the fact that processing trade makes up a large proportion of China＇s trade, and that Japan and Korea are the leading source countries for processing imports. Because processing imports are inputs for exports, the link between such imports and China＇s exchange rates are ambiguous. We estimate export functions that include China＇s RMB real effective exchauge rates （REER） along with bilateral real exchange rates （B RER） using Johausen ＇s cointegration method aud find that the RMB REER significantly affects Japanese and Korean exports to China, even more so than BRER in most cases examined. These two exchange rates appear in the export equations with opposite signs. Subsequently, we use the estimated model to illustrate the importance of accounting for a concurrent change in B RER when analyzing the effects of a hypothetical RMB revaluation on China＇s trade balances despite the apparently weak imports-B RER linkage.     

人民币升值对广东机电产品进出口的影响分析

汇率改革以来,人民币逐渐升值,这对广东出口加工业产生了较大影响。本文通过对人民币实际有效汇率、广东机电产品进口、出口总额的月度数据进行处理,利用协整分析和向量自回归等计量工具,验证了实际有效汇率对广东机电产品贸易的影响。结果表明,本币升值对广东机电产品进出口有一定影响,并在金融危机中被放大,但总体上广东机电产品进出口对汇率变动的弹性不大。     

Japan's inflation under the Bretton Woods system: How large was the Balassa–Samuelson effect?

Japan's real exchange rate appreciation during the post-WWII manufacturing-led growth period has been regarded as a classical example of the Balassa–Samuelson effect. We choose the most conspicuous sub-period—1956–1970—to confirm the effect. Japan was in a rapid growth period under the U.S. dollar peg (real GDP growth, 9.7% per annum). The nominal anchor was weak as Japan's inflation rate (GDP deflator-based, 5.4%) was markedly higher than the U.S. rate (2.6%) during the 15-year period. The decomposition of the annual 2.7% (geometric) Japan–U.S. inflation rate gap (real exchange rate appreciation of the Japanese yen) reveals that the Balassa–Samuelson effect accounted for 0.7%; most of the real exchange rate appreciation (1.7%) was attributed to greater price increases in Japan's tradables. Although Japan's tradable sector achieved high TFP growth, the joint effect of the tradable–nontradable TFP growth difference between the two economies was too small to generate a sizable Balassa–Samuelson effect. Japan's example may suggest that even in rapidly growing economies, the magnitude of the effect in long-run real exchange rate appreciation is generally modest.     

Trade Flows,Exchange Rate Uncertainty,and Financial Depth: Evidence from 28 Emerging Countries

This article investigates the effects of real exchange rate uncertainty on manufactures exports from 28 emerging economies, representing 82% of all developing country manufactures exports, and explores the sources of heterogeneity in the uncertainty effects by controlling for the direction of trade (south‐north or south‐south), and the level of financial development of the exporting country. The empirical results show that for more than half of the countries, the uncertainty effect is unidirectional, either south‐south or south‐north, and the median impact is negative. In addition, while we find that financial development augments trade, exchange rate shocks can negate this effect. Last but not least, trade among developing economies improves export growth under exchange rate shocks.     

Processing trade,exchange rates and China's bilateral trade balances

This paper analyzes the role of processing trade in China's bilateral trade balances and the impact of the yuan's appreciation on China's processing trade. The analysis is based on panel data covering bilateral processing trade between China and its partners from 1993 to 2008. The empirical results show that: (1) processing trade accounted for 100% of China's annual trade surplus during the period; (2) China's processing trade showed a significant regional bias—77% of processing imports originated from East Asia while only 29% of processing exports was destined to the region in 2008; and (3) a real appreciation of the yuan would negatively affect both processing imports and exports—specifically, a 10% real appreciation of the yuan would reduce not only China's processing exports by 9.1% but also its processing imports by 5.0%. Based on these empirical findings we conclude that the combined effect of the yuan's appreciation on the balance of processing trade and thus China's overall trade balance will be limited.     

汇率变动对工资和就业结构影响的实证分析

本文由Frenkel两部门理论模型,采用IMF提供的人民币对美元实际汇率数据,通过实证分析发现,实际汇率升值会显著减少贸易部门就业,即人民币升值使贸易部门就业人数显著减少,非贸易部门第二产业工人就业人数会增加,对第三产业工人就业影响不大,但就业工人实际工资水平都会有所提高。所以本文的结论是,人民币升值能提升中低阶层福利水平,支持人民币升值。     

THE IMPLICATIONS OF OECD GROWTH FOR SOUTH AFRICAN EXPORTS

This paper examines the role of OECD growth on South African exports using a vector error correction model. In the long run both OECD growth and the real effective exchange rate were found to influence South Africa's export performance, while in the short run, the real effective exchange rate was found to be an important driver of export growth. The policy implications that emerge from the study underscore the importance of fully exploiting current trading relationships, diversifying South African export destinations and enhancing competitiveness.     

Vanishing of China's Twin Surpluses and Its Policy Implications

This paper argues that the twin surpluses in China's balance of payments will disappear in the future as a result of external and internal structural changes. China's current account surplus will diminish as a result of the decline in the goods trade surplus, the expanding service trade deficit and negative investment income. China's capital account might shift from surplus to deficit as a result of shrinking net direct investment inflows and more volatile short‐term capital flows. When the twin surpluses no longer exist, the normalization of the US treasury bond yields will be sped up, terminating the one‐way appreciation of the RMB exchange rate; the People's Bank of China's pressure to sterilize inflows will be alleviated, and new problems for the People's Bank of China's monetary operation will emerge; new financial vulnerabilities for the Chinese economy will arise. Finally, the present paper provides some policy suggestions for the Chinese Government to deal with the declining twin surpluses.     

An empirical analysis of ASEAN's labor-intensive exports

This paper investigates the factors affecting the demand for ASEAN's labor-intensive exports. Results obtained using a panel data set including exports to 25 countries indicate that an appreciation in ASEAN countries would substantially reduce exports of clothing, furniture, and footwear. In addition, an increase in foreign income and an appreciation among competitors would raise ASEAN's exports. These results indicate that profit margins for labor-intensive manufactures are thin and that slow growth abroad will curtail ASEAN's exports. These findings imply that policymakers should seek to promote domestic and regional demand, expand the technological base, and consider exchange rate coordination to mitigate “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies.     

Exchange Rate Regime,Financial Market Bubbles and Long‐term Growth in China: Lessons from Japan

Since 2014, capital inflows into China have turned into capital outflows, reversing the gradual appreciation path of the renminbi against the US dollar into an erratic depreciation path. The paper explains the current capital outflows by comparing China and Japan with respect to the impact of exchange rate expectations on speculative capital flows. It is argued that both in China and Japan, given benign liquidity conditions in the USA, policy‐induced appreciation expectations have generated capital inflows that have contributed to overinvestment and financial market bubbles. The current reversal of capital flows is seen as a signal that the bubble in China has burst. To stabilize growth in China and to discourage speculative capital outflows a fixed exchange rate to the dollar is recommended. Given Japan's experience and given that China's foreign assets remain high, the depreciation pressure on the Chinese renminbi can be expected to abate.     

China： Unscathed through the Global Financial Tsunami

This paper investigates the reasons behind the resilience of China＇s economy to the global financial tsunami. China ＇s economy is lowly leveraged in its banking, household, public and external sectors and, therefore, is less plagued by the global deleveraging than most developed economies. Chinese domestic sectors have improved significantly over the past decade, giving them larger capacity to cope with external shocks than during the Asian financial crisis a decade ago. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that China＇s economic growth is highly dependent on exports, we find that the main growth engine for China is domestic demand. Destocking, rather than falling exports, was the main cause of the sharp economic slowdown in China in late 2008 and early 2009. Therefore, the global economic slowdown should have limited impact on China＇s economy. We forecast a sustained eeonomic recovery in China in 2009-2011, with real GDP growth exceeding 10 percent in 2010.     

人民币实际有效汇率变动的中国产业结构升级效应

本文在劳动力市场动态均衡模型的基础上,通过构建厂商利润最大化模型,验证了汇率变动影响产业结构调整的传导机制;然后通过协整检验、误差修正模型检验和脉冲响应分析进一步对传导机制进行验证,并具体考察了1981～2010年度人民币实际有效汇率变动对中国产业结构调整的影响。研究结果表明:人民币实际有效汇率变动能够通过价格水平、对外贸易(出口和进口)和FDI 3条路径影响中国的产业结构调整。其中,价格水平和进口是两条重要路径,FDI的影响作用并不显著。人民币实际有效汇率升值能够促进中国产业结构的优化升级。     

Measuring the Competitiveness of China's Processed Exports

China's surplus in processing trade remains large. Processed exports are final goods produced using parts and components that are imported duty free. Because much of the value‐added of these exports comes from East Asia, exchange rates throughout the region should affect their foreign currency prices. This paper presents data on value‐added exchange rates for processed exports over the 1993–2013 period and reports that they significantly affect exports. While the renminbi appreciated 36 percent between the beginning of 2005 and the end of 2013, exchange rates in supply chain countries depreciated. This has mitigated the effect of the RMB appreciation on the price competitiveness of processed exports.     

Microeconomic adjustments in Argentina during 1976–1981: The importance of changing levels of financial subsidies

This paper uses the financial statements of Argentine industrial firms to study the micro level impact of recent liberalization and reform attempts. The main lesson is that extremely large subsidies were provided to the industrial sector by way of negative effective financial costs. These negative costs appeared first in the late 1970s because of real currency appreciation and unconstrained access to foreign credit, then again in 1981 because of an exchange insurance program. We also find that the Argentine Government's announced intention to promote exporting activities did not translate into relatively favorable product market conditions for exporting firms. To the contrary, the real currency appreciation squeezed exporters' profits while redundant tariff protection insulated import competing firms from world competition, at least until 1980.     

Productivity,financial constraints and outward foreign direct investment: Firm-level evidence

This paper studies the relationship between the financial constraints and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Chinese enterprises. First, we construct a theoretical model and develop a series of hypotheses to analyze how productivity and financial constraints influence firms' OFDI decisions. Then we construct a multivariate index to measure internal and external financial constraints. Using Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database as well as the Database of OFDI Firms in China, our empirical finds that both productivity and financial constraints have important impacts on firms' OFDI decisions. In addition, the marginal effect of the financial constraints increases as firms' productivity rises; an effect felt more to the private enterprises than state-owned enterprises. Empirical results also indicate that external financial constraints affect the firms' OFDI decisions more greatly than the internal financial constraints.     

Can Renminbi Appreciation Reduce the US Trade Deficit？

I. Introduction The trade relationship between the USA and China has been contentious during the past several decades since China’s economic reforms in 1978. The trade relationship between the two countries has been strongly constrained and highly politically influenced. Figure 1 depicts US–China trade from 1994 to 2004. US imports from China have been far greaterthan US exports to China over the past 10 years, and the corresponding US trade deficits with China have become increasingl…     

An Empirical Study of OEM in Taiwan's Apparel Industry

Abstract

This paper has examined the effectiveness of the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) system in Taiwan's apparel industry from the perspective of international competitiveness. For that purpose, this study uses the following three definitions as the dependent variables in the empirical analyzes: namely, the ratio of apparel's export value to real gross domestic product (GDP); apparel's export value per unit of labor cost; and trade specialization index of Taiwan's apparel industry. The indices constructed for statistical analysis in this study illustrate clearly that international competitiveness of Taiwan's apparel industry has deteriorated from 1989 to 2005. In addition, in order to clarify those factors that have influenced the fall of international competitiveness, this study identifies three important factors—namely, wage, labor productivity, and the real effective exchange rate (REER)—and four structural and policy dummies, and then conducted multiple regressions to clarify their statistical relations with each of the dependent variable. The analytical findings show that the Taiwanese apparel industry has lost its attractiveness as an OEM production base because of the rise of wages and the fall of labor productivity. In addition, our findings show that the appreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) in terms of REER does not influence the movement of international competitiveness in Taiwan's apparel industry.