Can international coproduction promote the performance of cultural products in the global markets? Evidence from the Chinese movie industry

This study investigates the effect of international coproduction on the performance of cultural products in the global markets. As a result of institutional barriers and cultural distances, coproduction, which allows a foreign producer to partner with the local firms, has emerged as a way of increasing cultural product performance in the global markets. Using the data on the Chinese movie market from 2012 to 2018, the authors find that international coproduction can promote movie performance and that the coproduction effect is mainly explained by the institutional variables. They further examine the heterogeneous effects and find that coproduction effect is stronger for culturally sensitive movies, and that the magnitude of the coproduction effect increases with the level of cooperation. They also confirm that the results are robust to different measurements of performance.

     

Investments in response to trade policy: The case of Japanese firms during voluntary export restraints

This paper develops a dynamic structural model of a single decision in order to analyze the effect of voluntary export restraints (VERs) on quality-upgrade and foreign direct investment (FDI) behavior. I estimate the model parameters using a variant of the two-step estimator developed by Bajari et al. (2007). Using panel data of Japanese firms in the U.S. automobile industry, both activities are found to have significant sunk cost, which introduces intertemporal interactions in decisions, and I also find that the entry costs for FDI are larger than fixed adjustment costs for quality-upgrade. I simulate counterfactuals based on the estimation of the structural model. In the absence of the VERs, both quality-upgrade and the probability of undertaking FDI decrease. The second simulation examines the substitution effect between the two investment activities. The proposal to restrict FDI policy causes a dramatic increase in the level of quality-upgrade. Similarly, the proposal to restrict quality-upgrade policy results in an increase in the probability of FDI.     

Export survival pattern and its determinants: an empirical study of Chinese manufacturing firms

While empirical studies of export entry have proliferated, less attention has been devoted to the study of export survival in foreign markets. This paper explores the patterns and determinants of export survival using data on Chinese manufacturing firms for the period 1998–2007. The analytical methods used include non‐parametric techniques and the estimation of a discrete‐time duration model. Our results show the high probability of exit of exporters at the start of the period. We also find that large, highly productive and more export‐oriented firms are more likely to export for a longer period. In addition, foreign ownership is found to be an important determinant of export survival, while state ownership increases the risk of export failure.     

Entry in Foreign Markets under Asymmetric Information and Demand Uncertainty

This paper examines the mode of entry of a multinational firm that has less information about the host market stochastic demand than the local firm. The foreign firm can enter the market either through direct investment or exports. Each entry mode entails different costs and has different informational implications. Entry through foreign direct investment (FDI) is favored by greater variability in demand. Interestingly enough, strategic behavior by the incumbent firm, which deviates from its first period monopoly output, might be aimed at increasing the probability of foreign entry through FDI despite having to compete against an equally informed and efficient entrant; this never happens in a symmetric information environment. Such host firm behavior is aimed at reducing the strategic uncertainty derived from the foreign firm's beliefs. Compared with the symmetric information setting, entry via direct investment may occur in more cases.     

Ideological taboos,entry barriers,and FDI attraction: Evidence from China

Developing and transitional countries often impose a wide variety of entry barriers on foreign direct investments (FDIs). One important reason behind these entry barriers is ideological taboos. However, do these taboos actually affect the inflow of FDIs? With the help of China’s “cultural system reform,” this study uses a panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities in China for 1994–2017 and the difference-in-differences method to evaluate the effect of the cultural system reform on regional FDI. We found that the cultural system reform remarkably promoted the inflow of FDIs by deregulating institutions and removing entry barriers, and the attraction of FDI has slowly increased along with the deepening of the reform. Our conclusions still hold after performing several robustness tests, thereby highlighting ideologies as important barriers to the inflow of FDIs into less developed countries.     

World Trade in Used Automobiles: A Gravity Analysis of Japanese and US Exports*

We estimate a gravity model of Japanese and US exports of used automobiles that incorporates an original, ordered measure of protection in global, used automobile markets. The model confirms that, overall, protection by our measure is suppress‐ive and often statistically significant and that what we term ‘Grubel income effects’ are present. However, Japanese export behavior appears to differ in some important respects from that of the USA, with distance and protection levels being less significant and left‐hand side driving patterns being a critical explanatory variable.     

Land costs,government intervention,and migration of firms: The case of China

By using unique firm relocation data in China, we first document the relocation behavior of Chinese firms and show that less government intervention (relative to market forces) can improve economic efficiency by facilitating industrial relocation which saves on costs. Ever since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, investments have poured into the coastal region, which in turn, have almost tripled land costs in the major coastal cities. We exploit this land cost shock in the early 2000s to identify its effect on the relocation behavior of firms. Specifically, we instrument land price growth with the access of a city to foreign markets (approximated by distance to Shanghai), and then estimate the differential impact of land costs on firms regarding land reliance. Our major findings are as follows: (1) the migration rate of Chinese firms in China is on average 3.2%, (2) Rising land costs drive firms to migrate, and firms that use more land-intensive technology are more compelled to migrate, and (3) in regions where the local government intervention is stronger (the market is less developed), the relocation decision of Chinese firms is distorted in the sense that firms are less likely to relocate despite surging land prices due to government intervention.     

Marginal Distance: Does Export Experience Reduce Firm Trade Costs?

Are the costs of exporting to a market reduced if a firm has experience of exporting to a neighbouring market? If so, does this effect operate through reducing entry barriers or by increasing sales once the firm is operating in the market? This paper examines linkages between current export destinations and entry, sales and exit for new markets. We find that measures of exporting experience in geographically nearby markets increase the probability of entry into a market and reduce the probability of exit. However, these same measures have very limited effect on the firm’s export sales in the market. The effect of related experience on sales tends to be negative for recently entered firms. We interpret this result in the context of the Melitz heterogeneous-firm model of trade by showing that lower fixed costs reduce the entry threshold, but this lower threshold has the effect of allowing lower-sales marginal firms to be present in the market.     

行业关联、外资进入与出口质量——来自中国企业的微观证据

外资合理利用对实现我国本土企业技术进步和转型升级具有重要意义,文章聚焦外资的行业关联从出口升级的视角再次探讨这一问题。文章运用中国工业企业数据库、海关统计数据库和投入产出表的匹配数据,从行业内水平溢出、产业间垂直关联等多个维度系统研究了外资进入对我国企业出口产品质量的影响。文章发现:(1)外资进入显著促进企业出口产品质量升级,外资水平溢出、前向关联和后向关联的质量提升效应均显著,其中后向关联效应最大。(2)外资水平溢出、前向关联和后向关联对企业出口产品质量提升的影响渠道分别通过研发效应、中间品投入效应和市场规模效应得以实现。(3)异质性结果表明,外资进入对非国有企业、一般贸易企业、东部地区企业以及与外资技术差距较小企业的出口质量提升作用更为突出。文章为外资利用与企业出口质量关系提供了更为丰富的微观证据和理论依据,能够为当前中国新一轮高水平对外开放下引资政策调整和优化提供一定的政策启示。     

东道国社会信任能降低企业跨国经营的不确定性吗?——以海外子公司所有权结构设计为例

理解东道国制度环境并选择与之相适应的管理方式对企业跨国经营获得成功具有重要影响。现有文献侧重于分析东道国规制制度和认知制度对企业跨国经营的影响,对规范制度研究较少。基于来自世界价值观调查的东道国社会信任数据以及中国上市公司2009—2018年在海外设立的6 921个子公司的数据,本文探讨规范制度的核心维度——东道国社会信任如何影响中国企业对海外子公司的管控。本文提出东道国外群体社会信任和内群体社会信任影响企业跨国经营所面临的交易成本和不确定性,进而影响母公司对海外子公司的持股水平。此外,文化距离和母公司跨国经验是东道国社会信任效应的重要边界条件。本文通过揭示东道国社会信任影响海外子公司管控的理论机理,不仅增进了人们对于规范制度及其对企业跨国经营战略的影响的认识,还对企业评估东道国规范制度环境、科学地设计海外子公司的所有权结构具有启示意义。     

Exports, investment and firm-level sales volatility

This paper presents a dynamic model of risk-averse producers??decision to invest in physical capital and to export. The model features irreversible investment, no capital markets and fixed and sunk costs to export. Several features of the distribution of investment rates and export participation patterns observed in firm-level data are closely matched in a calibration exercise. Counterfactual experiments show that large adjustments in total sales associated with entry into foreign markets increase the volatility of total sales for exporting firms.     

市场相似性、路径依赖与出口市场扩张——基于2000—2011年中国海关HS-6产品数据的检验

为了检验市场相似性对我国产品进入新市场的影响，采用2000—2011年中国海关HS-6产品数据建立起大约237万个“产品-市场-年份”三维观测样本，并运用二值Logit模型对此面板数据进行回归，发现出口市场扩张是存在“路径依赖”的，即企业倾向选择那些与其之前出口市场地理相近、文化相似、经济相似的国家作为新进入的市场。相似市场的出口经验，不仅在同类产品之间产生了显著的信息溢出，而且对除石油之外不同种类产品的新市场进入也具有显著的积极影响。基于Rauch（1999）分类标准的结果则进一步发现，与同质产品相比，差异产品的出口扩张更显著地受到市场相似性的影响。     

Friends from afar: The Taiping Rebellion,cultural proximity and primary schooling in the Lower Yangzi, 1850–1949

This paper tests the hypothesis that the cultural distance between migrants and natives impedes the provision of public goods. The Taiping Rebellion was a shock that caused groups without a history of shared governance to be relocated to the same region. We use a unique historical dataset of surnames in the Lower Yangzi of China to construct a measure of the cultural distance between migrants and natives (MNCD). We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in the MNCD is associated with a decrease of over 0.19 public primary schools per 10,000 persons in the early twentieth century. The results survive various robustness checks and an instrumental variable analysis that exploits the pre-existing cultural distances between the native and the nearby population. Evidence from the timing of when the MNCD takes effect suggests that the primary mechanism runs from migrant-native cultural distance through quality of collective decision-making to modern primary education.     

扩招、教育选择与教育公平

基于CHIP2002和CHIP2007数据，采用双重差分( DID)、线性概率模型( LPM)研究扩招对于个人教育选择及教育公平的影响。研究发现：扩招后个人选择接受高等教育的概率提高6．9个百分点。具体而言，扩招使得个人接受大专教育的概率提高10．3个百分点，接受大学本科教育的概率提高6．4个百分点。扩招并没有改善在性别、民族、家庭文化背景(父母受教育水平)方面的差异引起的教育不平等，扩招政策没有起到促进教育公平的作用，最后提出促进教育公平的建议。     

Access to Finance,Financial Development and Firm Ability to Export: Experience from Asia–Pacific Countries

With particular reference to Asia–Pacific countries, the present study examines how access to finance and financial development affects firms’ ability to enter export markets. Using firm‐level data from the World Bank Enterprises Survey, we found that access to finance plays a significant role in improving firms’ ability to export. In addition, development of the financial sector fosters export market entry. Among the financial development indicators, reach of the banking sector variable is most prominent. The present study suggests that improvements in access to finance and financial development (increases in the reach of the banking sector) enable firms operating away from capital or major cities to enter export markets easily. The present study supports policy intervention to strengthen access to the financial sector, which would encourage firms to export, and to facilitate export market entry for remotely located firms.     

The effects of regional trade agreements on FDI by its origin and type: Evidence from U.S. multinational enterprises activities

The effects of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on foreign direct investment (FDI) depend on both the origin and type of FDI. To estimate the various effects of RTAs, I differentiate between various types of FDI by using data on the sales destinations of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs), while also addressing the endogeneity of RTA formation. Consistent with the theory of MNEs, I find that RTAs reduce horizontal FDI from intra-RTA countries and increase export-platform and total FDI from extra-RTA countries. Moreover, the overall effects of RTAs are positive for extra-RTA FDI, but inconclusive for intra-RTA FDI. The results also support the effect of integrated markets’ economies of scale in inducing extra-RTA FDI.     

Multi‐Market Competition,R&D,and Welfare in Oligopoly

We investigate a multi‐market Cournot model with strategic process research and development (R&D) investments wherein a multi‐market firm meets new competitors that enter one of the markets. We show that entry can enhance the total R&D expenditures of the multi‐market firm. Moreover, the incumbent's profit nonmonotonically changes as the number of entrants increases. Depending on the fixed entry costs and R&D technologies, both insufficient and excess entry can appear. Our results imply that diversification of their products can be a useful strategy for firms.     

Effects of presidents’ characteristics on internationalization of small and medium firms in Japan

Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export activity and foreign direct investment. In practice, however, many productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are, which suggests that there are factors other than productivity that influence firms’ internationalization. This study uses a unique panel data set for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to examine whether the personal characteristics of a firm’s president are factors in firm internationalization. We find that SMEs with a risk-tolerant, forward-looking president are more likely to be internationalized. These effects are large in magnitude, as is the productivity effect, which provides a partial explanation as to why many productive firms are not internationalized. In addition, we find that productivity has an insignificant effect on firms exiting export markets, whereas presidential myopia increases the probability of exit. The evidence further suggests that a firm’s initial export costs become sunk following its entry into export markets, which explains why many unproductive firms are internationalized.     

Global production networks and China's processing trade

This paper unveils a systematic pattern in China's processing trade. In a cross-section of Chinese provinces, the average distance traveled by processing imports (import distance) is negatively correlated to the average distance traveled by processing exports (export distance). To explain this pattern, we set up a three-country industry-equilibrium model in which heterogeneous firms from two advanced countries, East and West, sell their products in each other's markets. Each firm can use two modes to serve the foreign market. It can directly export its products from its home country. Alternatively, it can indirectly export to the foreign market by assembling its product in a third low-cost country, China, which is located in the vicinity of East. Our model establishes two theoretical predictions relating China's geographical location to its processing trade patterns. First, China's processing exports are negatively affected by both an increase in import distance and a rise in export distance. Second, China's processing exports to East Asian countries are more sensitive to export distance and less sensitive to import distance than its processing exports to non-Asian countries. We find empirical support for both predictions.     

Foreign Holding Companies and the US Taxation of Foreign Earnings: Evidence from the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005*

I analyze US multinationals' (MNCs) use of foreign holding companies in their organizational structures and the impact of holding companies on internal capital markets. The look-thru rule in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA) reduces the after-tax cost of foreign intercompany financing transactions. I use TIPRA as a natural experimental setting to test whether a shift in US tax policy that reduces the cost of moving foreign capital increased firms' reliance on foreign holding company subsidiaries. I find that MNCs responded to TIPRA by creating more foreign holding companies. Furthermore, consistent with the policy objectives of TIPRA, I document that MNCs that rely on holding companies gained tax efficiencies in their post-TIPRA foreign internal capital markets, reducing domestic taxation on foreign earnings and easing financial constraints. Overall, my results expand our understanding of foreign organizational structure decisions and their internal financing benefits. I contribute to the tax literature by documenting a response to TIPRA that sheds light on the growing complexity of foreign subsidiary ownership structures.