The High-Value Commodity Export Effects of Standards in Africa

ABSTRACT

The stringency in standards usage, especially in developed markets, has trade effects, particularly for Africa. Thus, this study investigated the export effects of the EU standards for Africa in a two-step, Helpman et al. (2008) model for two high-value commodities. In all, 52 African countries were considered from 1995 to 2012. This study finds that fish standards are trade enhancing at the extensive margins, but not at the intensive margins. However, vegetable standards are trade inhibiting at both the extensive and intensive margins. Thus, these findings suggest that the impacts of standards on exports are commodity-specific.     

The effects of exchange rate fluctuations on exports: A sectoral analysis for Turkey

This paper examines the effects of exchange rate fluctuations on disaggregated data comprising 21 exporting sectors (BEC classification) in Turkey. Building on a theoretical model that decomposes movements in the exchange rate into anticipated and unanticipated components, the empirical investigation traces the effects through demand and supply channels. Anticipated exchange rate appreciation, in line with movements in underlying fundamentals, has significant adverse effects, contracting export growth across many sectors. Random fluctuations in the exchange rate, deviations around steady-state equilibrium, have asymmetric effects on sectoral export growth. The evidence indicates increased contraction of export demand to currency appreciation over time. In contrast, the effect of depreciation in stimulating export growth has lost momentum over time. While exchange rate fluctuations had a positive net effect on export growth before 2003, the net effect is negative for the post-2002 period. The implications are anticipated movement in the exchange rate guides export plans, signaling the importance of managing fundamentals to anchor rational forecasts. Moreover, less variability of the exchange rate is likely to improve sectoral export growth in Turkey over time.     

Drivers of Interorganizational Trust in Seafood Exporter-Importer Relationships

The article presents structural equation modeling analysis of survey data from 181 buyer-seller relationships in the seafood industry. Relational investments, relationship length, and sharing of strategic information are identified as the key drivers of interorganizational trust (measured for the whole exchange relationship and not as either buyer or supplier trust). Contrary to common assumptions, international experience and sharing of logistical (operational) information show no association with interorganizational trust. Hence, previous successes are no guarantee that exchange relationships will work well in the future. As the nature of business changes and new challenges arise, managers must always be alert to new approaches and develop new recipes to be successful.     

Economic Meltdown in Malaysia

Abstract

The economic downturn in Malaysia has encouraged a debate on the benefits of its export-oriented industrialisation strategy. There is renewed interest in the agricultural and livestock sectors. One of the beneficiaries of this policy change could be the dairy farming sector. Using desktop research and ‘key-informant’ techniques, this study reviews various factors that could influence the development of the dairy farming sector in Malaysia. The study concludes that the (a) Government may encourage the start-up of integrated plantation crop, animal feed and livestock farms, (b) investment and trade linkages with neighbouring countries could lead to diversification of import sources, and (c) consumption of dairy products may have matured, leading to increases in dairy self-sufficiency. It is postulated that these developments will produce a dynamic environment and significant threats to the interests of traditional dairy exporting countries.     

Exchange rate volatility and United Kingdom trade: evidence from Canada,Japan and New Zealand

This paper investigates the influence of exchange rate volatility on the real imports of the United Kingdom from Canada, Japan and New Zealand during the period 1980–2003. The Johansen multivariate cointegration method and the constrained error correction (general-to-specific) method are applied to study the relationship between real imports and its determinants (including exchange rate volatility). Conditional variance from the GARCH(1,1) model is applied as exchange rate volatility. Both nominal and real exchange rates are employed in the empirical study. Results indicate a significant effect of the exchange rate volatility on real imports. These exchange rate volatility effects are mostly positive. The author thanks an anonymous referee, the editor and Myles Wallace for several useful comments and suggestions. Any remaining errors and omissions are the author’s responsibility alone.     

影响我国服务贸易出口的可量化因素分析

文章简要回顾了中国服务贸易出口现状,并对影响服务贸易出口的可量化因素进行了分析。根据1990—2004年中国服务贸易出口及其可量化因素的时间序列数据做出的多元线性回归模型,印证了人均国内生产总值、世界GDP增长率、服务业占GDP的比重、货物贸易出口额等因素对我国服务贸易出口的影响,文章最后还就增加我国服务贸易的出口提出了几点建议。     

Impact of employment protection legislation on employment and exporting in select African countries

Labour market flexibility is an important issue in both development and labour economics. More flexibility in the labour market is believed to facilitate job creation, but also makes it easy for employers to terminate employment contracts and may be in conflict with the notion of decent jobs as promoted by the International Labour Organization and workers' unions. It is therefore not surprising that labour market flexibility or inflexibility has received a lot of attention in the extant literature. Using a sample of about 4700 firms from six African countries, we investigate the impact of restrictive labour regulation on a number of economic outcomes and find that more restrictive labour market regulations are detrimental to export propensity, export intensity, investment and employment. Policy-makers must be cautious, however, when implementing employment regulations as too flexible regulations may benefit employers at the expense of employees.     

FDI的利润汇出、出口创汇能力对我国国际收支的影响及趋势分析

本文运用1985-2006年的相关数据,通过区分和考虑不同类型外国直接投资对国际收支的影响渠道,分析了外国直接投资的利润汇出和出口创汇能力对我国国际收支特别是经常账户差额的影响。结果表明,外国直接投资是形成我国当前双顺差的主要因素。但是未来这种趋势将会发生变化。本文以2006年为基期进行预测,未来10年内,外国直接投资的出口创汇能力将由于外国直接投资从出口导向型更多地转向市场寻求型而下降,而利润汇出趋势将增强。因而,应加强对外国直接投资的动态监管,减少外国直接投资对我国国际收支的负面影响,避免可能由外国直接投资引起的经常账户危机。     

外部需求冲击对中国出口的影响

中国经济增长的特殊模式使得其容易受到外部经济表现的影响,其中外需冲击是重要的渠道。实证结果表明,中国出口一方面为外部需求所拉动,另一方面其竞争力体现为成本优势。在前期出口成本上升和目前中国的主要出口市场相继进入衰退的情况下,为稳定出口增长,中国应在短期适度回调出口退税率和稳定人民币升值幅度,在长期致力于技术进步。     

Rice Price under Pressure

Early in April, the FOB (Free on Board) value of rice exported from Bangkok, Thailand, the biggest rice exporter of the world, surged to a new high of US$730per ton, representing an increase of 70 percent in recent years, and setting a new record over the past 34 years of Thailand rice exports.