Domestic Support and Border Measures for Processed Horticultural Products

In horticultural markets, trade barriers often apply to the processed products whereas domestic support applies to farm-produced raw commodities. Here we assess the effects of such trade barriers and domestic support by simulating the effects of policy reform on global processing tomato markets, which are faced with modest processed product tariffs and high domestic support in the European Union (EU). Both protection and EU subsidy drive down world welfare, but we find that reducing import tariffs for tomato products would yield greater effects on markets and larger welfare impacts outside Europe than would reductions in EU domestic support.     

Can R&D-inducing green tariffs replace international environmental regulations?

This paper investigates the link between trade and environment by exploring the effects of green tariffs on innovation, location of production and the environment. It shows that tariffs levied on polluting goods could result in less world pollution than global harmonization of environmental standards by inducing more pollution-abatement R&D effort and generating lower unit emissions from production. Specifically, green tariffs reduce pollution by (1) shifting production to the region where environmental standards are respected, (2) inducing the firm in the clean country to engage in more abatement R&D by granting it a higher market power/share in its home market, (3) instigating green R&D investment by deterring delocation. When these outweigh the R&D-creating effect of environmental harmonization in the dirty country, green tariffs bring about a cleaner environment.     

WHOLESALE PRICES AND COURNOT‐BERTRAND COMPETITION

This note considers the competing vertical structures framework with Cournot‐Bertrand competition downstream. It shows that the equilibrium wholesale price paid by a Cournot (Bertrand)‐type retailer is above (below) marginal costs of a corresponding manufacturer. This result contrasts with the one under pure competition downstream (i.e., Cournot or Bertrand), where the wholesale price is set below (above) marginal costs in case of a Cournot (Bertrand) game at the retail level.     

碳关税壁垒对我国工业品出口的影响及对策研究

全球环境的恶化使人们越来越关注碳排放问题,发达国家正在考虑通过对不实施减排的国家征收碳关税。从碳关税提出的背景出发,阐述低碳经济背景下碳关税壁垒的相关特征,运用局部均衡法分析碳关税对我国整体的影响,同时也运用可计算的一般均衡模型测算不同的碳关税对我国工业品出口影响的程度。通过分析发现碳关税的征收将对我国经济和贸易产生重大影响,建议我国企业要顺应低碳经济发展趋势,加快研究和发展低碳经济。     

发达国家光伏建筑推广政策实施效果的启示

光伏建筑作为太阳能利用的最佳形式,正在各国政府的大力推广下飞速发展,而我国光伏建筑的推广效果却不尽如人意.通过研究日本、德国等发达国家光伏建筑推广政策及其实施效果,揭示了其推广政策取得显著成效的主要原因,并从中获得启示,即我国光伏建筑推广政策应注重科学地制订经济激励政策,重视研发并促进形成合作创新的研发体系,及时展示新成果,培养和造就一流的光伏制造商.研究成果为政府有效地制订光伏建筑推广政策提供了科学依据.     

A successful British MNE in the backyard of American big business: Explaining the performance of the American and Canadian subsidiaries of Lever Brothers 1888–1914

After 1888, Lever Brothers expanded into the United States and Canada. The surviving archival evidence suggests that the Canadian subsidiary was more successful than the American one. This article considers a number of factors that help to explain why this was the case. Some of the factors considered, such as differences between the Canadian and American tariffs, Canada's more robust system of trademark protection, and the absence of an anti-trust law in Canada before 1908, are related to themes very familiar to business historians. This article also applies concepts that are not part of the normal toolkit of business historians. The article draws on the literature on identity economics and argues that the greater success enjoyed by Lever Brothers in Canada was, in part, rooted in Canada's strongly British identity. The impact of identities on the policymakers, managers, and consumers who collectively shaped the two North American subsidiaries is assessed.     

A Classroom Tariff-Setting Game

The author outlines a classroom tariff-setting game that allows students to explore the consequences of import tariffs imposed by large countries (countries able to influence world prices). Groups of students represent countries, which are organized into trading pairs. Each group's objective is to maximize welfare by choosing an appropriate ad valorem tariff that may be changed intermittently throughout the game. The game is built on a computable general-equilibrium model, which allows each nation's utility and terms of trade under alternative tariff regimes to be expressed quantitatively. The exercise encourages students to consider terms-of-trade improvements and efficiency losses resulting from large-country tariffs and provides a framework to discuss the Nash equilibrium of a tariff war. The game is a useful supplement to traditional teaching methods.     

Optimal tariffs,optimal taxes and economic development

Cross-section and time-series data suggest that nations substitute income taxes for tariffs as they develop. This paper confronts the data within the context of a two-country open-economy endogenous growth model in which public expenditure is financed by an optimal tariff and income tax. When the latter is subject to administrative costs, the model predicts that the government will optimally substitute the income tax for the tariff as output rises along the transition. The model is calibrated and a simulation yields time paths for the shares of total government revenue derived from the tariff and the income tax that are consistent with the data.     

Integration of FSU/economies in transition into the World Trade Organization1

Membership of the World Trade Organization is a goal for many transition economies. This paper discusses what is involved in WTO membership, the information required and the commitments imposed upon members. After reviewing the accession process in general, the topic is illustrated by the recent example of Bulgaira and Mongolia.