GLOBALIZATION,TRADE, AND WAGES: WHAT DOES HISTORY TELL US ABOUT CHINA?

Newly assembled data show that, as China opened up to global trade during the early 20th century, its exports became more unskilled‐intensive and its imports more skill‐intensive. Difference‐in‐differences estimates show that World War I dramatically increased Chinese exports, raising the relative demand for the unskilled workers producing them. When the war ended, trade costs declined and China's terms of trade increased, further stimulating exports. A simulation of a dynamic general equilibrium model demonstrates that the effects of the war on China's terms of trade produces a decline in the skill premium similar to what China experienced in the 1920s.     

中国农产品出口增长的二元边际及其影响因素——以蔬菜出口为例

采用Hummels和Klenow（2005）二元边际分解法对2003—2011年中国蔬菜产品出口数据的实证研究结果表明,中国蔬菜出口增长主要来自扩展边际的贡献,但集约边际在对主要贸易伙伴出口中也发挥着重要作用。对集约边际进一步分解后发现,中国蔬菜出口增长主要是数量扩张,价格边际的贡献相对较小,表明中国蔬菜出口还一定程度上存在“重数量、轻质量”的粗放型增长方式。对二元边际的影响因素实证研究发现,集约边际和扩展边际不仅各自影响因素不尽相同,而且各影响因素的作用方向与作用强度也不相同。     

Contractual frictions and margins of trade

A recent body of work has shown that quality of national institutions that enforce written contracts plays an important role in shaping a country’s comparative advantage. The current paper contributes to this literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms through which institutional frictions affect the pattern of aggregate trade flow by distinguishing its effect on the intensive and extensive margins. We find that better contracting institutions not only increase the probability of exporting (the extensive margin) but also enhance the export sales after entry (the intensive margin), particularly in industries where relationship-specific investments are most important. With around two-third to three-fourth share (depending on the definition used), the contribution of institutions along the intensive margin dominates that along the extensive margin. The benefits of improved institutions, particularly via the intensive margin, favor the less developed countries over the more developed ones. In addition, better contracting institutions increase the probability of survival of export products in more contract-intensive industries in particular. These findings are robust to measuring the intensive and extensive margins using a more granular export data based on firm-level aggregates, as well as the variety and destination based definitions.     

The PRC's long-run growth through the lens of the export-led growth model

We explain China's remarkable growth performance over the last three decades through an export-led growth (ELG) model, where countries need to export to pay for their imports. We show that China's actual long-run growth rate is well approximated by its balance-of-payments equilibrium (BOPE) growth rate, defined as the long-run growth rate consistent with current account equilibrium. This growth rate is given by the ratio of the growth rate of exports to the income elasticity of imports. We estimate the latter using the Kalman filter, which allows us to obtain a time-varying estimate of China's BOPE growth rate. We find that the average value of China's BOPE growth rate during 1981–2016 was about 11 percent but fluctuated significantly over time and declined notably after 2007. It is estimated to be 5.9 percent in 2015. We then discuss the determinants of China's BOPE growth rate and of the income elasticity of imports, with the help of the Bayesian Model Averaging technique. The analysis highlights the role of the composition of aggregate demand as the main driving force, both for its direct effects on the income elasticity of imports, and for the indirect effects on export growth via capital accumulation, in particular fixed asset investment. Our analysis has important implications to understand China's transition to a “New Normal” of a lower growth rate and the effects of the external and internal rebalancing strategy pursued from the early 2000s.     

Export tax refund and the misreporting by Chinese exporters

We document how Chinese exporters misreport their exports to China's customs in order to benefit from export tax refunds. We estimate the response of the logarithmic difference between the exports reported in China's customs data and the imports reported in destination countries' customs data to export tax refund rates. We find that with an increase of 1 percentage point in export tax refund rates, the logarithmic difference increases by 0.051. Additionally, with an increase of 1 percentage point in the export tax refund rates of similar products, this gap decreases by 0.024. Further study reveals that quantity manipulation accounts for the majority of the export reporting distortion.     

Does China really lose from RMB revaluation? Evidence from some export industries

This study attempts to examine the impacts of Real Exchange Rate (RER) misalignment on China's export performance. Using the SUR methodology coupled with disaggregate panel export data, it shows that China's export sector may not necessarily lose from the Central Government's decision to revalue its RMB against the US dollar because the negative impact of the RER appreciation on Chinese exports may be diluted by the positive impacts attributing to a reduction in the RER misalignment.     

出口国技术水平与进口国知识产权保护的互动效应对出口国出口贸易的影响——基于中国出口贸易的实证

利用2007—2014年中国对112个国家出口贸易的面板数据,实证研究了中国技术水平、进口国知识产权保护及两者的交互效应对中国出口贸易的影响。结果显示:中国技术水平与高收入进口国知识产权保护的交互效应对中国出口贸易的影响显著为负,而与低收入进口国知识产权保护的交互效应的影响并不显著。这说明,中国出口产品技术水平的提升,对高收入进口国企业的威胁加大,迫使其建立更严苛的贸易壁垒,抑制中国企业出口。     

Exchange rate disconnect and financial constraints —evidence from Chinese firms

One puzzling observation in international economics is the lack of response of exports to exchange rate fluctuations. Employing the most comprehensive export data from China for the 2000–2007 period, we provide sector- and firm-level evidence that the response of exports to exchange rate movements depends crucially on the level of financial constraints. For sectors with large financial constraints, the response is small, whereas, for less financially constrained sectors, the response can be much larger, with the estimated elasticity decreasing with the sector's degree of financial constraints. At the firm-level, financial constraints affect the firm's response to exchange rate shocks at both the intensive and the extensive margins. At the intensive margin, financial constraints dampen the effect of exchange rate on exports by restricting the firm's export value to the existing destination market; at the extensive margin, financial constraints restrict the number of firms participating in exporting, the number of firm-product pairs being exported, and the probability of entering a new destination market.     

Can Production Subsidies Explain China's Export Performance? Evidence from Firm‐level Data*

This paper analyses the relationship between production subsidies and firms’ export performance using a very comprehensive and recent firm‐level database and controlling for the endogeneity of subsidies. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity at the intensive margin, although this effect is conditional on firm characteristics. In particular, the positive relationship between subsidies and the intensive margin of exports is strongest among profit‐making firms, firms in capital‐intensive industries, and those located in non‐coastal regions. Compared to firm characteristics, the extent of heterogeneity across ownership structure (SOEs, collectives, and privately owned firms) proves to be relatively less important.     

文化贸易存在进口引致出口吗*——基于中国文化产品出口二元边际分析

文化贸易发展对于提升一国“软实力”和打造“贸易强国”具有重要意义。在工业品贸易领域广泛存在“进口引致出口”机制是中国货物出口奇迹产生的重要原因,该机制在文化贸易领域是否同样存在对于中国文化贸易发展具有深远意义。本文基于中国文化贸易微观产品层面六位码数据,对文化出口指标进行了二元边际结构性特征分解,实证分析发现：第一,总体来看,文化产品进口对出口没有显著的促进作用,即进口引致出口机制在中国文化贸易中并不存在;第二,文化产品进口对文化产品出口二元边际并不存在显著的引致效应,文化产品进口对集约边际甚至还有一定的抑制效应;第三,上述结论在不同的二元边际指标和持续期分样本估计中均成立,尤其是二元边际水平较高的核心文化产品和具有较长贸易持续期的产品样本;第四,细分不同类别来看,目前仅在图书及其他印刷品比较标准化的文化产品贸易中,可能出现了一定程度的进口引致出口效应。总体而言,进口引致出口机制在文化贸易中未能有效地发挥作用可能是导致中国文化贸易发展相对迟缓的重要原因,未来如何更好地发挥文化进口对出口的促进效应将是强化中国文化贸易发展的关键。     

FDI,Industry Heterogeneity and Employment Elasticity in China

We investigate the different impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) on employment elasticity with China's firm level data from 1998 to 2007. Our analysis shows that the inclusion of FDI does significantly affect firms' employment elasticity when facing wage, capital and output shocks. These effects vary dramatically across industries with different factor intensities and export status. Specifically, we find that non‐exporters with FDI tend to increase employment elasticity more than exporters when wage, capital input or output changes. However, FDI firms that are engaging in labor‐intensive production tend to have larger output and capital input elasticity of employment while smaller wage elasticity of employment. Our findings help to explain the contradicting results in existing literature and provide important references for China's policy makers to design proper industry policies towards FDI.     

How China is Reorganizing the World Economy*

We analyze the impact of China's integration into the global economy on other countries, Asian countries in particular. We first examine how the growth of China's exports is affecting the exports of other countries in Asia and the rest of the world. Our innovation is to distinguish exports of capital goods, consumer goods, and intermediates and to disaggregate textiles and consumer electronics, the most visible sectors where China's presence is felt. We next look to the impact of China on direct foreign investment flows. Here our innovation is to distinguish vertical and horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI) and to consider how they are affected by supply‐chain relationships. We then look more closely at factors influencing the articulation of these supply chains, the fragmentation of production, and the emerging international division of labor, focusing on two industries, electronics and autos, that exhibit very different responses. The results suggest that countries specializing in the production and export of components and raw materials feel positive effects from China's growth, while countries specializing in the production of consumer goods feel negative effects. Similarly, countries that compete with China for horizontal FDI find it more difficult to attract foreign investment as a result of that country's emergence, while countries that are potentially attractive destinations for vertical FDI find it easier to attract foreign investment as a result of trade links, especially in components and intermediates, that allow them to take advantage of supply chains involving their large and dynamically growing neighbor.     

Financial Constraints and the Extensive and Intensive Margin of Firm Exports: Panel Data Evidence from China

Some theoretical work suggests credit constraints to hamper exports while other work suggests that they deter firms' sales at large. Hence, credit constraints might reduce the export–sales ratio or not. This paper assesses the role of credit constraints for the export–sales ratio at the firm level. We explore this hypothesis empirically, using cross‐section and panel data on Chinese enterprises compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. We approximate credit constraints by a firm's ratio of liquid debt to sales and, alternatively, the ratio of liquid assets to total assets. In particular, we estimate the impact of these financial fundamentals on the extensive and the intensive margins of firm‐level exports in two‐part fractional response models. Fixed effects panel regressions point to a negative relationship between export–sales ratios and credit constraints only at the extensive margin.     

The impact of Africa‐China's diplomatic visits on bilateral trade

This article documents that African leaders’ state visits to China could stimulate China's exports to Africa in capital intensive manufacturing goods. We further find that state visits significantly increase official aid and exports by state‐owned enterprises to African countries which contribute to the trade growth after state visits.     

Foreign direct investment, regional market conditions and regional development

This paper uses regional panel data to investigate the mechanism whereby foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed to China's regional development through quantifying regional marketization levels. It is found that FDI inflow generates a demonstration effect in identifying regional market conditions for investment in fixed assets and hence affects industrial location. In addition, its effects on regional export and regional income growth have varied across east, central and west China since the second half of the 1990s, depending on differences in FDI orientation between different regions. In east China, geographical advantage in exports attracts FDI inflow and FDI promotes exports. In addition, the rise of the FDI–GDP ratio increases east China's share in national industrial value added. These effects contribute positively to regional income growth in east China although there is a direct crowding‐out effect between FDI and domestic investment (as input) in growth. In contrast, the negative impact of FDI inflow on regional export orientation in central China weakens its contribution to regional income growth. Furthermore, the contribution of the improvement in the market mechanism to regional development is evidenced in attracting FDI, in promoting export and directly contributing to regional income growth.     

WHAT DRIVES EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS? THE ROLE OF FDI IN CHINESE MANUFACTURING

Export competitiveness (XC) is a country's ability to compete globally through expanding export capacity and upgrading export sophistication. How does foreign direct investment (FDI) affect XC? This article studies the issue based on evidence from Chinese manufacturing. Using data on 21 manufacturing sectors for 31 regions over 2005–2011, we construct the XC index and its three composite indicators, following the Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Four findings emerge from the estimates: (a) FDI is a key driver of China's export success; (b) China's absorptive capacity reinforces the effects of FDI through domestic learning efforts; (c) FDI seems to contribute more to export capacity than export upgrading, especially in labor‐intensive/low‐tech products; and (d) high‐tech FDI from the western world seems to be more conducive to export upgrading than low‐tech FDI from developing economies. (JEL F21, F23, O14, O53)     

Market Access,Export Performance and Survival: Evidence from Peruvian Firms

This paper explores the effect of market access on firms' export performance and their survival in foreign markets. The data used covers all Peruvian exporting firms between 2002 and 2008, a period during which Peru was active in joining the global economy. This is done using two indices, one that summarizes the tariffs faced by exporters, the other that measures the preferential margin at the bilateral level. Results show that more than market access conditions per se, it is market access conditions relative to those faced by competitors that significantly influences export performance and survival. About a fifth of the increase of exports directed to Mercosur countries is due to improvement in preference margins.     

Little Divergence: Evidence from Cotton Textiles in Japan and China 1868–1930

This paper looks at the role of textile exports in Japan and China's economic development in the period of 1868–1930 as a major explanation for the “Little Divergence” between the two countries in the context of the “Great Divergence” between Europe and Asia. Because of textiles' large weighting in proto‐industrialization gross domestic product (GDP), we postulate that China's initial 20‐year lag in textiles vis‐à‐vis Japan turns out to be fatal for its industry and that it eventually ordains totally different development patterns for the textile industry in the two countries, which ultimately led to different growth patterns for the overall economy. Although both countries saw rapid growth of textile exports, the nature of those exports and the entailed position of each country in the industry value chain of trade were quite different. We then use Granger causality tests to show that in one case (Japan) it is in support of the export‐led‐growth hypothesis (ELG) while in another (China) it is not. Our study then also explains why Japan's industrial revolution took place much earlier than China's.     

ISO Standards: A Certificate to Expand Exports? Firm‐Level Evidence from Argentina

Does standard adoption help firms in developing countries overcome information barriers and thereby perform better in international markets? What are the channels through which certification affects firms' exports, the intensive margin, or the extensive margin? We provide evidence on the impact of certification on export performance using a unique firm‐level dataset for Argentina over the period 1998–2006. We find that ISO certification is associated with increased exports, along the extensive margin—primarily in terms of destination countries—and the intensive margin.     

Foreign Exchange Accumulation and the Entrapment of Chinese Monetary Power: Towards a Balanced Growth Regime?

This article criticises the notion that China's foreign exchange reserves have strengthened its monetary power. While some scholars have argued that China's international monetary influence has been ‘entrapped’ by the domestic interests of its export sector, a one-sided focus on the export sector fails to identify the significant constraints on its macroeconomic autonomy. This article proposes an extension of the concept of entrapment that draws attention to the key role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and their domestic fixed-asset investment in its growth regime: China's external monetary dependency – which is understood as both export dependency and the need to maintain foreign exchange accumulation – has been caused by a disparity between fixed-asset investment and private consumption that reflects a redistribution of income from the household sector to the SOE sector. In particular, I expose the SOE sector's rising interests in foreign exchange accumulation by uncovering a mutually reinforcing dynamic between China's external monetary dependence and the financial repression of its banking system. By entrenching an investment-led growth regime that provides key benefits the SOE sector, this dynamic is found to have seriously constrained the macroeconomic policy autonomy of Chinese authorities to rebalance growth away from investments and exports towards private consumption.