Similarity in trade structures,integration and catching‐up1

In this paper, we look at the role of export composition in the growth process, considering how increased similarity in trade structure among countries can induce catching‐up in income levels in a group of countries in transition. We analyze the sectoral export patterns of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) by comparing them to those of the current members of the European Union (EU), focusing on countries’ specialization as suppliers for the EU market, and we assess whether similar export patterns foster the catching‐up process of the CEECs. Our main result is that similarity in export composition has a positive, significant and non‐linear impact on catching‐up, and seems to be driven by the growth of the main export market and delocalization of production more than by other factors.     

THE MICRO‐DYNAMICS OF CATCH‐UP IN INDONESIAN PAPER MANUFACTURING

In this study we analyze the micro‐dynamics of catch‐up in Indonesian paper manufacturing, using a two‐country plant‐level dataset for the period 1975–97. We apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure to what extent Indonesian paper mills are catching up with Finnish mills in terms of technical efficiency. Three questions are addressed: What is the distribution of Indonesian plant technical efficiency vis‐à‐vis the technological frontier? What is the role of entry, exit, and survival in Indonesia for catch‐up in the paper industry as a whole? In what ways do catching‐up plants in Indonesia differ from non‐catching‐up plants? We find that on average the Indonesian paper industry moved closer to the technological frontier during the 1990s. However, catch‐up has been a highly localized process in which only a few large establishments have achieved near best‐practice performance, while most other plants have stayed behind.     

服务投入与中国农业劳动生产率的追赶进程--对中国农业劳动生产率阶段性特征的新解释

长期以来,中国农业劳动生产率严重滞后于国际先进水平。文章对我国农业劳动生产率相对于美国的追赶进程进行了分阶段的分析,基于增长核算框架着重分析了服务投入在其中所发挥的作用。研究发现,我国农业劳动生产率在1995－2003年期间对美国的追赶效应明显,但服务投入密度提高的贡献相对偏小。我国农业劳动生产率在2003－2009年期间对美国的追赶效应更加明显,但服务投入密度相对偏低的贡献反而拖累了追赶进程。服务投入的内部结构分析显示,我国农业服务投入的发展滞后基本上是全方位的。进一步提高我国农业劳动生产率,缩小与国际先进水平的发展差距,需要充分认识到服务投入的重要性。解决我国农业服务投入发展滞后的问题需要在农业金融、农业保险、农业营销、农业物流、农业“互联网＋”和农业机械融资租赁服务等方面予以改进。     

Catching up and falling behind,a vintage model approach

The literature on catching up suggests that due to diffusion and imitation, relatively backward countries should grow at a faster rate. A model along lines suggested by Abramovitz is constructed to examine this. A country's change in productivity (technological gap) is supposed to depend on the productivity gap itself (relatively backwardness), social capability of adopting new technology, and R&D-activity. Together with a vintage growth model, this set-up gives a lot of different possible explanations of why growth rates differ among nations. The possibilities of both catching up and falling behind are considered.     

Convergence and catching up in ASEAN: a comparative analysis

The increasing diversity of average growth rates and income levels across countries has generated a large literature on testing the income convergence hypothesis. Most countries in South-East Asia, particularly the five founding ASEAN member countries (ASEAN-5), have experienced substantial economic growth, with the pace of growth having varied substantially across countries. Recent empirical studies have found evidence of several convergence clubs, in which per capita incomes have converged for selected groupings of countries and regions. This paper applies different time series tests of convergence to determine if there is a convergence club for ASEAN-5, as well as ASEAN-5 and the USA. The catching up hypothesis states that the lagging country, with low initial income and productivity levels, will tend to grow more rapidly by copying the technology of the leader country, without having to bear the associated costs of research and development. Given the important effects of technological change on growth, this paper also examines whether ASEAN-5 is catching up technologically with the USA.     

The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump

The Trump administration has embarked upon two large economic policy initiatives at a time of full employment: increasing the budget deficit by cutting personal and corporate tax rates; and increasing protection, especially against countries with which the United States has bilateral trade deficits. These initiatives are meant to reduce trade deficits and increase employment and incomes in the US manufacturing sector. Economic analysis tells us that the result will be larger trade deficits, and weaker total tradeables, including manufacturing employment. There may or may not be a net gain for employment and incomes in those industries which have been the greatest beneficiaries of protection. Trump's protection policies will damage incomes in the United States and the rest of the world; the damage will be greater if other countries retaliate or emulate. Alternative policies that compensate losers from free trade would give better results.     

新兴市场企业追赶战略:一个文献综述

新兴市场企业通过不懈追赶实现快速崛起,引起越来越多学者的强烈关注,其追赶战略的形成在很大程度上受本国制度环境的影响。新兴市场国家处于从计划经济到市场经济的转型进程之中,在这一制度变迁背景下,企业面临诸多市场机遇,同时必须建立适应制度变化的能力以保证企业战略的动态性。从技术追赶和市场追赶两方面构建新兴市场企业追赶战略,技术追赶遵循改进型模仿、资源整合、自主创新的路径,市场追赶则主要利用成本领先和差异化优势提升市场份额,技术追赶与市场追赶相互促进,企业国际化既是追赶目的也是追赶手段。     

Trade Liberalization and Technology Diffusion

The paper considers the role of technology diffusion and trade liberalization for the catching‐up of structurally backward countries. A New Economic Geography model is presented that accounts for firm entry/exit and international mobility of skilled labor employed in public R&D sectors. This raises the traditional agglomeration effects in a core–periphery setting as firms and mobile factors usually cluster within spatial agglomerations. With international technology diffusion, however, there is a counteracting effect on the traditional agglomeration effects as firms in the periphery also benefit from increasing R&D expenditures in the core lowering entry costs for firms. It is found that the catching‐up of structurally backward countries is spurred not only as a result of trade integration but also because of technology diffusion.     

Economic growth in a world of ideas: the US and the leading European countries

This article discusses the ideas creation model that was initially formulated by Romer and later generalized and empirically applied by Jones. In particular, we generalize Jones' model to include catching up to a technological frontier, which improves the empirical results for European countries, and ensures convergence to the technological frontier in the steady state     

Technical Diffusion,Productivity Convergence and Specialisation in OECD Manufacturing

A panel data regression analysis investigates the issue of total factor productivity (TFP) convergence in OECD manufacturing during the period 1970–1995. The results imply: conditional β convergence, actual catching up and stronger convergence at a disaggregate level than at the level of manufacturing as a whole. The evolution of the standard deviation of the log of TFP shows that there is also evidence of σ convergence. The stronger convergence of TFP at a disaggregate level is explained by a high level of OECD manufacturing production specialisation, which is also shown to be very persistent. The degree of research specialisation is shown to be even higher and equally sticky. A correlation analysis shows that both specialisation patterns are related.