区域贸易协定及其新近发展的多维解析

新近区域贸易协定正在经历重大变革。“区域”不再拘泥于传统物理的、政治的和经济的范畴,而延伸至更广阔的领域。“贸易协定”的内容早已跨越“贸易”领域,而广泛涉及到投资、金融、环境、劳工等经济领域和社会领域。本文运用政治、经济和法律等多元开放的研究视角,探寻区域贸易协定蓬勃发展的原因,并对其新近发展趋势作出了合理预测。     

区域贸易协定与出口的二元边际:基于中国—东盟自贸区的微观数据分析

以周边国家为基础加快实施自由贸易区战略是未来中国对外经济政策的重点.本文使用CEPII-BACI数据库1995～2012年中国对东盟各国的HS-6位数产品的出口贸易数据,探究了中国—东盟自贸区建立前后中国对东盟出口的二元边际结构及其决定因素.研究发现,中国对东盟的出口以集约边际为主,但自贸区的成立有效地促进了扩展边际的提升;中国—东盟自贸区对二元边际都有促进作用,但对集约边际的影响更大.结果表明,中国的自贸区战略仍处于浅度一体化的阶段,应该提高合作水平,向深度一体化发展.     

Sequencing Regional Trade Integration and Cooperation Agreements

Trade integration agreements and other international cooperation agreements have proliferated in recent years around the world. Rather than being spurred by exogenous forces alone, the two phenomena are likely to be both path‐dependent and endogenous to one another. However, the theoretical and empirical understanding of the relationships between agreements forged in different domains of cooperation remains nascent. The purpose of this paper is to describe a new, extensive dataset on international agreements that can be employed to start mending the gaps in the literature, and to develop ‘best practices’ of sequencing international agreements to obtain higher pay‐offs from cooperation. Of particular interest here is the relationship between trade integration and other cooperation agreements; the data provide preliminary grounds for hypothesising that trade integration agreements can be a particularly likely catalyst for further cooperation between states.     

Supplementary Trade Benefits of Multi-Memberships in African Regional Trade Agreements

ABSTRACT

Few papers have investigated the trade effects of multi-memberships of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), but none has done this in an Africa-wide manner. This paper investigates the supplementary trade effects of multi-memberships of RTAs after controlling for single-membership for all African RTAs. We use (1) overall number of RTAs by country pair; (2) dummies of number of RTAs; and (3) number of RTA memberships by countries within each RTA grouping, in a panel of 53 African countries from 1995 to 2014. The gravity models are estimated with the Eicker-White robust covariance Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) which is superior to previous ones. All the estimates concur that multi-memberships have significant additional intra-Africa trade benefits which increase with the number of memberships. The implication is that although RTAs enhance trade in Africa, it is only a second-best to a complete integration of the African continent. A complete dismantling of politically induced trade barriers and even inter-RTA boundaries within Africa will yield significant intra-Africa trade benefits. The results support the ongoing efforts in Africa in pursuing a “one Africa” vision. Such efforts have to transcend regional integration and pursue the ideal of an integrated Africa for the full trade benefits to be realized.     

区域自由贸易协议与多边贸易体制的发展

区域自由贸易协议作为一种对多边贸易体制产生影响的重要因素,它的发展在GATT时期就已经受到缔约方全体的规制。随着WTO多哈回合谈判议程的停滞,区域自由贸易安排开始活跃。这种区域自由贸易安排,根据其发展的特点,对多边贸易体制的影响存在两面性:在短期内可能会为多边贸易谈判提供协调意见的平台,但是这种区域自由贸易协议的长期运行也会割裂多边贸易体制的统一性,加深经济社会发展不平衡的状况。控制区域自由贸易的消极影响,必须调整WTO的区域自由贸易规则,使区域自由贸易安排能够在多边贸易体制的框架内运行。     

Third‐country Effects of Regional Trade Agreements

Does regionalism negatively impact non‐members? To answer this question, we examine the effect of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on imports from non‐members and the tariffs that they face. Using data from six RTAs in Latin America and Europe, we do not find evidence that implementation of the regional agreements is associated with trade diversion from third countries to regional members. Using detailed industry data on preference margins and most‐favoured nation (MFN) tariffs for three trade agreements in Latin America over 12 years, we find that greater preference margins do not significantly reduce imports from third countries. We also look at the effect of preferences on external tariffs. We find evidence that preferential tariff reduction tends to precede the reduction of external MFN tariffs in a given sector, offering evidence of tariff complementarity. Overall, the results suggest that regionalism does not significantly harm non‐members.     

Regional Trade Agreements and the Pattern of Trade: A Networks Approach

This paper uses a complex network approach for the analysis trade effects from regional trade agreements on world trade flows. We use bilateral trade data to compute the network community structure for every year between 1970 and 2000. We compare this to null community structures that emerge from various models based on regional and geographical classifications, the implementation of RTA's and gravity models of trade. Our results show that RTA formation appears to have a cyclical pattern on the world trade network community structure. We document periods where bilateral trade flows and the structure of the world trade network are consistent with those predicted by formation of RTAs. These cycles occur in 1980–86 and 1990–96. At the same time, we document periods in which the pattern in the world trade network is not explained by RTA formation. Two periods, 1986–90 and 1997–2000, show a pattern of bilateral trade flows that moves away from the prediction that results from assuming RTA formation as the driving force in the determination of the world trade network structure. Factors contributing to the latter parts of the cycle during our sample period include formation of regional trade networks in East Asia that account for a significant portion of world trade but are not formalised by RTAs in force.     

区域贸易协定中透明度机制对出口贸易的影响

本文利用39个经济体(34个OECD国家和5个主要新兴经济体)与59个贸易伙伴之间签署的50份区域贸易协定,检验区域贸易协定中透明度条款设定对双边贸易的影响,结果表明:区域贸易协定中透明度条款的设定对双边贸易增加值有异质性影响;制度质量的改善能够显著增加双边出口贸易增加值,而且制度质量的提高还会提升透明度对双边贸易增加值的促进作用;在透明度承诺较高的状况下,政府施政有效性才能够发挥对双边贸易增加值的促进作用。     

区域贸易协定对中国OFDI制造企业母公司绩效的影响研究

区域贸易及投资协定谈判正加速成为新一代国际贸易与投资规则的构建平台,而我国目前参与的区域贸易协定仍然以传统议题为主,当前亟须评估新规则对我国对外直接投资的影响,以明确我国的区域贸易协定谈判策略。本文分析了贸易投资议题对中国制造企业母公司绩效的影响,并进行了实证检验。结果表明:知识产权保护对母公司绩效具有负面影响;劳工保护对母公司绩效具有正面影响;国企属性对母公司绩效影响不显著;东道国投资自由化程度对母公司绩效不显著。本文据此对我国自贸区谈判策略提出了五个方面的建议。     

Regional Trade Agreements versus Global Trade Liberalisation: Implications for a Small Island Developing State

This study undertakes an empirical investigation of the macroeconomic and sectoral impacts of two forms of regional trade agreements vis‐à‐vis global trade liberalisation on a small island country, using Fiji as a case study. In order to capture the feedback effects of such a complex set of policies, we employ a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of the Fijian economy to investigate (i) the impact of the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA), (ii) the impact of PICTA, the Pacific Agreement for Closer Economic Relations (PACER), and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), (iii) the impact of full tariff liberalisation (i.e. tariff removal only), and (iv) the impact of full trade liberalisation, with removal of both tariff and non‐tariff barriers. While PICTA consistently provides the least benefits across a range of macroeconomic indicators including real output, welfare, trade volumes and employment, full trade liberalisation involving the removal of tariff and non‐tariff barriers provides the greatest benefits compared to the other scenarios in terms of real output. However, the latter scenario is outperformed by PICTA, PACER, the EPAs and full tariff liberalisation in terms of welfare effects, trade volumes and employment. The policy implications hold important lessons for developing countries considering trade liberalisation.     

In Search of Optimised Regional Trade Agreements and Applications to East Asia

We quantitatively analyse the trade effects of enhanced trade facilitation with extended gravity equations. Our findings confirm that RTAs comprised of countries equipped with better trade facilitation are more likely to be trade‐creating, less likely to be trade‐diverting, and are thus more likely to lead the world economy toward global free trade. We also find that (i) the traditional gains from shallow integration through eliminating tariff barriers will be greater for South‐South RTAs in East Asia such as an ASEAN‐China RTA, provided that the tariff‐reducing schedule is strictly fulfilled, (ii) the gains from deeper integration through enhancing trade facilitation will be greater for North‐North RTAs in East Asia such as a Japan‐Korea RTA, and (iii) the gains from a combined trade liberalisation strategy through tariff reductions and enhanced trade facilitation will be greater for North‐South RTAs in East Asia such as a China‐Korea and an ASEAN+3 RTA.     

Trade Creation and Diversion Effects of Regional Trade Agreements: A Product‐level Analysis

This paper examines the impacts of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on trade flows at product level, with a particular focus on trade creation and diversion. Based on estimation of the gravity equation, dealing with the zero trade flows and endogeneity bias problems, we analyse the impacts of various types of RTAs involving 67 countries for 20 products during the 1980–2006 period. We find that RTAs among developing countries tend to cause trade diversion compared with RTAs among developed countries. Taking the higher external tariff rates of developing countries compared with developed countries into consideration, our results suggest trade diversion is likely to be caused by remaining high tariffs on imports from non‐members. In addition, we find the trade creation effect for many products in the cases of Customs Unions and plurilateral RTAs. These results imply that trade creation would be caused by various factors besides the reduction in tariff rates. Based on these results, we draw a policy implication that external tariff rate reduction is an important factor in avoiding trade diversion in the formation of RTAs, in particular for RTAs among developing countries, while a large number of members and the common external tariff appear to be important for generating the trade creation effect.     

区域服务贸易自由化的新趋向——基于GATS和NAFTA类型协定的比较

区域贸易协定主要有GATS和NAFTA类型两大基本类型。虽然GATS类型的协定并没有减少,但是NAFTA类型的协定发展更快。这主要是因为负面清单"不列入即开放"的性质决定了NAFTA类型协定的自由化程度更高。区域贸易协定特别是NAFTA类型的协定,将议题延伸至与国内监管制度密切相关的"21世纪新议题",表明发达经济体关注的焦点已经由寻求市场开放转向协调监管制度,即向发展中国家输出其监管制度,以此进一步推动服务贸易自由化。     

Regional Trade Agreements in Mediterranean Area: Econometric Analysis by Static Gravity Model

Since the mid-1980s, there was the rise of a new wave of economic regionalism in the world economy with the spread of free trade agreements (FTAs). A key objective of free trade involves developing commercial exchanges between member countries. The gravity model is a vital tool to explain the bilateral trade data against the variables of the relative size of the pair of countries implicated in the trade: distance, common border, and language and models for each of the FTAs. This article focuses on studying the influence of FTAs in the Mediterranean countries in which we integrate the role of regional dummy EU (15), EMU (euro zone), the AMU and AGADIR agreement in trade flows. The use of regional variables are designed to determine whether its FTAs contribute to the creation of trade diversion. This study examines a cross-section and panel of 27 countries for 1980–2011. The results show the existence of a strong relationship between the factors of FTAs and trade flows.     

International Organisations in a World of Regional Trade Agreements: Lessons from Club Theory

This essay deals with the challenge that international organizations face at the turn of the millennium. The basic insight from the theory of clubs and information theory is that coordination and cooperation require dominant providers. Cooperation becomes more difficult as players become more equal in economic size. Today's environment is less conducive to cooperation than the environment after World War II. By extension, club theory suggests that Regional Trade Agreements are not flukes. They have proliferated because cooperation is feasible in smaller groups with a few larger players. There is a significant risk, however, that regional blocs may replace the multilateral cooperative process. To reduce this risk we propose the creation of an inter‐bloc international organization dedicated to reduce blocs' barriers to trade and finance.     

地方财政行为与中国贸易收支:约束还是激励

本文通过构建双边随机前沿模型,在考虑财政约束和财政激励的情况下,实证测度了地方财政行为对贸易收支的驱动性影响。研究结果表明:财政激励效应要明显强于财政约束效应,因此地方财政行为会导致实际贸易收支的整体偏高,这也是中国贸易收支长期处于顺差状态的重要症结;平均而言,财政激励行为将使贸易收支高出基准水平76.69%,而财政约束行为则能使实际贸易收支降低69.54%。当前财政约束机制的调控效果正逐步显现,将推动中国贸易收支向再平衡状态趋近;财政激励行为和财政约束行为对贸易收支的影响具有显著的区域异质性。东部地区的财政激励效应最强,净指数也最高,而中部地区的净指数最低,其贸易收支趋于基准水平。同时,各地区不同分位点上贸易收支的变动幅度也不尽相同。     

中国服务业的产业内贸易水平与影响因素的区域特征分析

我国产业内对外服务贸易以垂直型的产业内贸易为主,北部沿海地区等区域产业内贸易水平最高的是劳动密集型服务业,东部沿海地区等则是知识技术密集型服务业.对影响我国各区域的产业内对外服务贸易水平的因素和程度的面板数据的经验分析表明:区域人均收入水平、服务业外商直接投资、区域市场规模因素显著影响大部分区域的产业内对外服务贸易水平,但服务业外商直接投资、区域市场规模的影响程度非常小;区域对外开放度、货物贸易密集度仅对部分区域内少部分省市有显著影响;区域要素禀赋显著影响各区域的产业内对外服务贸易水平,其中,资金、技术等要素的影响更大.值得关注的是东部沿海地区的上海市出现水平型产业内对外服务贸易的萌芽,且其产业内贸易更多的体现为由产品差异推动而不是规模经济的推动,但推动程度较小.     

International Trade Agreements and International Migration

Despite large potential economic gains, bilateral and multilateral negotiations focusing on liberalisation of migration have not shared the high profile of international trade negotiations and agreements. Migration and trade have been traditionally viewed rather separately and the relevance of the many, and complex, interdependencies has been given remarkably little attention in the literature to date. In this article, we focus on the two‐way interaction between international migration and agreements designed to enhance cross‐border trade and investment. Liberalisation of international trade in services and in the movement of people potentially offers much greater economic gains than liberalisation of remaining barriers to goods trade. However, progress within multilateral frameworks is fraught with difficulty. The World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has yielded little real progress so far and negotiations within more flexible unilateral and bilateral frameworks are likely to be more successful in liberalising the movement of labour. We discuss a range of specific examples, focusing particularly on the interesting case of New Zealand. We find that trade agreements are increasingly including agreements on migration, though typically favouring temporary migration and involving numerically modest quotas. We conclude that migration regulatory frameworks are likely to be further and more strongly linked to trade and investment agreements in the future, particularly given changing economic and demographic forces. The primary focus of migration policies may nonetheless remain different from that of trade policies. While further migration liberalisation is likely to be through bilateral and regional agreements, it will be important to try to lock in the gains of such agreements, while simultaneously working to consolidating these in a way that will help to facilitate future multilateral agreement.     

中国对外贸易新论

随着世界经济的发展,我国对外贸易有了进一步发展,取得了一定成就。但是我国至今仍然不是世界经济强国,与贸易强国之间依然存在一定差距。本文通过对我国与对外贸易强国之间差距进行分析,得出我国对外贸易中存在的问题,进而提出解决问题的策略。