The Pathological Export Boom and the Bazaar Effect: How to Solve the German Puzzle

Germany is the laggard of Europe, yet the country is world champion in merchandise exports. The paper tries to solve this theoretical and empirical puzzle by diagnosing a ‘pathological export boom’ and a ‘bazaar effect’. Excessively high wages defended by unions and the welfare state against the forces of international low‐wage competition destroy too big a fraction of the labour‐intensive sectors and drive too much capital and labour into the capital‐intensive export sectors, causing both unemployment and excessive value added in exports. Moreover, excessive wages induce too much outsourcing of upstream production activities, which implies that export quantities grow too much in relation to value added contained in exports. Finally, excessive wages cause capital flight resulting in a too large current account surplus.     

Rethinking Trade Preferences: How Africa Can Diversify its Exports

This paper argues that the contribution of trade preferences to economic development needs to be reappraised in light of the growth of globalised trade in manufactures. Trade preferences may be able to act as a catalyst for manufacturing exports, leading to rapid growth in exports and employment. To do so, preferences need to be designed to be consistent with international trade in fragmented ‘tasks’ (as opposed to complete products) and need to be open to countries with sufficient levels of complementary inputs such as skills and infrastructure. Recent experience with the African Growth and Opportunities Act shows that, in the right conditions, Sub‐Saharan African countries have had large manufacturing export supply response to trade preferences.     

扩大内需与中国制造业出口结构优化:基于“母市场效应”理论的研究

中国过往低价竞争的畸形出口遇到了阻碍,因而应扩大内需,但中国经济的增长还应是内外并举的,内需拉动增长和出口拉动增长并不矛盾,出口拉动经济增长的政策并未过时,中国的就业等压力也不允许出口大幅被替代,我们要的是在内需的扩大中寻找中国制造业出口的新优势,同时优化出口结构,而不是排挤或替代出口。本文利用"母市场效应"理论,通过对中国制造业各部门对外贸易"母市场效应"存在性的检验,从理论上和实证上证明了扩大内需政策会导致中国制造业出口结构优化。     

The Korean electronics industry: the Japanese role in its growth

Korea's electronics industry has developed to the point where it accounts for an increasing share of output, exports and employment. Its spectacular growth can be largely attributed to its rapid expansion to become the dominant export, accounting for more than a quarter of the total. To determine the causes of this performance, this contribution will look at both ‘internal’ (government policy regimes, incentives) and ‘external’ factors. It argues that domestic policies were only efective in so far as they were supported by external factors. Such export-orientated industrialization includes a cycle between investment, imports competitiveness and exports.     

South-north trade and southern growth: Bleak prospects from the structuralist point of view

A three-country, three-commodity model is developed to illustrate the dynamics of growth among the ‘North’, the ‘South’ and ‘OPEC’. One conclusion is that the Southern growth rate will be increased by faster growth of Northern capital, with a steady state response coefficient of unity. However, if the steady state is perturbed by increases in Northern productivity or the oil price, then the coefficient becomes less than one. In the short run, higher capital flows from North to South increase the former's growth rate but may have only marginal impact on growth in the South. Higher productivity in the South will slow its growth rate and reduce its terms of trade when the Engel elasticity of Northern demand for its exports is less than one. These and other results follow from surplus labor in the South and its dependent position in international trade, from which it will be difficult to escape.     

China,India and the Commodity Boom: Economic and Environmental Implications for Low‐income Countries

The international role of China has risen steadily for two decades – and has become even more important in the current global recession. The growing supply of labour‐intensive manufactured exports from China has been accompanied by a huge expansion in its imports both of raw materials and of skill‐intensive manufactured parts and components. This ‘offshoring’ of intermediates production by a large, labour‐abundant economy has economic and environmental implications for other developing economies. More recently, the rapid expansion of the Indian economy and trade indicates that it too will soon exert similar effects on global markets. We sketch a model showing how the growth of these developing‐country ‘giants’ generates adjustment pressures on other developing economies. We discuss in particular how differences in relative factor endowments of resource‐rich economies can produce quite different outcomes in the context of product fragmentation and expanding commodity trade. We also explore the effects on production, trade, environment and prospects for future growth in resource‐rich economies, particularly in the context of weak institutions and other market failures. We illustrate these different impacts by considering the cases of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and highlight implications for growth, development and policy.     

中印贸易合作的潜力及实现路径研究——基于随机前沿引力模型

在分析中印双边贸易结合度、相似度、互补性的基础上,利用随机前沿引力模型测算中国对印度的进口和出口效率,以及中印双边的贸易潜力,提出了中印贸易合作的实现路径。研究发现:中印双边贸易额稳步增加,但印度对华出口增长乏力,中方贸易顺差逐年扩大;中印两国贸易关系紧密,贸易产品互补性较强,且在两国主要出口市场的竞争性较弱;中国对印度的出口效率小于进口效率,出口和进口贸易潜力最大值分别为794亿美元、177亿美元;互相削减关税增加了两国的总经济效应,且印度的收益大于中国;印度加入上合组织促进了其与中国的贸易增长。建议中国扩大对印度的投资,增加从印度进口,积极推动RCEP尽快达成协议。     

Trade and Innovation in Services: Evidence from a Developing Economy

Studies on innovation and international trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the few existing studies on services focus only on industrial countries, even though in many developing countries services are already the largest sector in the economy and an important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using a recent firm‐level innovation survey for Chile to compare the manufacturing and ‘tradable’ services sector, this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, even though services firms have on average a much lower propensity to export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to be as innovative as – and in some cases more innovative than – manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and outputs of ‘technological’ innovative activity, even though services innovations more often take a ‘non‐technological’ form. Third, services exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be significantly more innovative than non‐exporters, with a wider gap for innovations close to the global technological frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism may not be misplaced.     

出口与劳动力市场“错配”——江苏制造业的证据

文章把异于传统劳动力市场、在中国最典型的高技能劳动过剩与低技能劳动短缺现象称为中国式劳动力市场错配,认为全球分工体系中发展中国家与发达国家以产品贸易表现的就业互换是导致发展中国家劳动力市场出现错配的重要原因。采用企业层面微观数据进行的实证分析表明,企业销售额中用于出口的比重、出口到发达国家的比重越大,企业对技能员工的需求和雇佣就越少。此实证结果可能说明,中国式劳动力市场错配是由过度参与全球分工体系导致的,过度贸易自由化导致劳动力市场困境。但这并非简单意味减少企业国际贸易、拓展国内市场就可以有效增加技能员工需求、解决高校毕业生就业难问题,促进经济发展方式由供给推动向需求拉动转变,促使企业更多以消费者需求为导向才是治本之策。     

大陆台商投资集中地区与台湾贸易之就业效应研究

采用1994-2008年8个省市的面板数据,对大陆台商投资集中地区与台湾贸易的就业效应进行探讨。研究结果表明,大陆台商投资集中地区的对台出口对就业具有显著的正向影响,而自台进口则对其就业具有挤出效应,而且自台进口对就业的挤出效应大于出口对就业的促进效应。另外,台商投资集中地区经济增长对就业有显著的正向影响,而且经济增长的就业效应明显大于对台出口的就业效应。资本产出比对就业产生显著的负向影响,表明在台商投资集中地区存在一定程度资本替代劳动的现象。     

中国和美国服务业出口竞争力比较分析

本文在界定服务业出口竞争力评价体系的基础上,对中、美两国服务业出口竞争力进行了4个方面的比较分析。通过比较两国服务业净出口额、服务业出口国际市场占有率、服务业贸易竞争优势指数和服务贸易显性比较优势指数4个指标得出:美国在技术密集型的服务业上有极强的出口竞争力,而中国在技术密集型服务业上具有显性比较劣势,并且中国在传统服务业运输和旅游业上的出口竞争力在逐渐减弱,但是中国技术密集型服务业的出口竞争力在增强。最后,本文借助波特的"钻石模型"对中国和美国服务业出口竞争力进行了进一步分析并提出了相应的对策建议。     

Are Exports of China,Japan and Korea Diverted in the Major Regional Trading Blocs?

In recent years China, Japan and Korea, the three major economies in East Asia, have been gearing up their efforts to sign free trade agreements with many different regions and countries. One of the main reasons for this is that they fear that with a regionalism movement rising in every corner of the world, their exports are discriminated against and diverted in the trading blocs of other nations. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether this is a real fear. We utilise the gravity equation augmented with dummy variables for regional trading blocs in three different specifications. One is the static, standard gravity model to examine the effect of regional blocs on the ‘level’ of exports from these three countries in 2003; the second is the fixed effects and random effects panel models for the period 1993–2003; and the third is the dynamic, partial‐adjustment model to examine the effect of blocs on the ‘changes’ in exports between 1993 and 2003. The results show that trade diversion is observed only for China's exports in EU, EFTA and EAEC, but no diversion effect is observed for Japan's and Korea's exports in any of the major trading blocs. On the other hand, trade creation is observed for exports from China in ASEAN, for exports from Japan in ASEAN, CACM, CARICOM, EAEC, EU and NAFTA, and for exports from Korea in ASEAN, CACM, EAEC and MERCOSUR. Thus, Japan's and Korea's fear of discrimination and trade diversion is ungrounded, while China's fear is grounded only to a limited extent.     

中国进出口贸易对经济增长方式转变的影响分析

文章基于中国1980-2010年GDP和进出口的相关数据对中国进出口贸易和经济运行的轨迹进行分析,测算了外贸依存度、贡献率和拉动度三个指标。运用协整理论和格兰杰因果关系检验方法对中国进出口贸易与经济增长的关系进行实证分析。结果表明中国经济增长与出口之间是正相关的关系,出口增长对经济增长具有明显的促进作用:出口每增长1%,中国GDP将增长约0.714%;同时,经济增长与进口之间也是正相关的关系,弹性为0.0286,进口每增长1%,中国GDP将增长约0.0286%。因此,可以看出中国进出口贸易的增长都促进经济的增长。     

Effects of the preference for environmental quality on the export competition between China and OECD countries

This study examines how importers’ preferences for environmentally friendly products influence the effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries to third markets. The effect of China’s export growth is systematically investigated using the theoretical gravity model, which assumes that importers’ environmental preferences are heterogeneous among countries. A new measure is also proposed to represent importers’ revealed preferences for environmental quality across countries. Panel data consisting of observations for 30 OECD exporting countries and 60 importing countries over the 2000–10 period confirm that the crowding‐out effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries observed in markets for consumption goods and the dampening effect observed in markets for intermediate goods are becoming weaker as the importer preference for environmental quality becomes stronger.     

Im/Ex in May,2010：Exports Continued Recovery in May

On June 10, 2010, General Administration of Customs of the People＇s China （GAC） Republic of released the profile of China foreign trade import and export in May and the first five months of this year. China returned to a trade surplus in April on strong exports growth after posting its first monthly deficit in almost six years in March, and Chinas exports surged by 48.5 percent year on year in May, while the imports climbed 48.3 percent, the General Administration of Customs （GAC） announced.     

中欧贸易对双方经济和就业的影响分析

本文考虑到中欧贸易的特点,分别利用中国反映加工贸易的非竞争型投入产出模型和欧盟一般非竞争型投入产出模型,分析了2002年和2007年中欧贸易对中国和欧盟增加值和就业的影响;利用结构分解技术(SDA)分析了其随时间的变化的原因。分析发现中欧贸易对中国增加值和就业的总体拉动作用要远大于对欧盟增加值和就业的拉动,其对增加值的拉动效率却小于欧盟,另外双边贸易对中国增加值的拉动效率随时间而提高,但对中国就业和欧盟增加值和就业的拉动效率则在不断降低。文章同时对中欧贸易顺差进行了重新审视,发现利用出口增加值方法,中欧贸易顺差减少了9%-10%。     

Fiscal and Monetary Policy Rules in an Unstable Economy

This paper examines the implications of different monetary and fiscal policy rules in an economy characterized by Harrodian instability. We show that (1) a monetary rule along Taylor lines can be stabilizing for low debt ratios but becomes de‐stabilizing if the debt ratio exceeds a certain threshold, (2) a ‘Keynesian’ fiscal policy rule can stabilize the economy at full employment, (3) a fiscal ‘austerity’ rule that links fiscal parameters to deviations from a target debt ratio fails to adjust the ‘warranted’ to the ‘natural’ growth rate and destabilizes the warranted path and (4) instability may arise from a combination of fiscal and monetary policy rules which separately would stabilize the system.     

The factor content of Chinese trade

This article demonstrates that the growth of China's exports in recent years is consistent with the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) prediction of the factor content of trade based on international differences in factor endowments, after adjusting for substantial differences in factor-specific productivity. A comparison of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development input–output data in the year 2000 shows that China's labor productivity relative to the United States is the lowest in a sample of 33 diverse countries, although China's capital is more productive than US capital. This in turn demonstrates the importance of a factor-specific rather than factor-neutral productivity adjustment common in much of the HOV literature. The use of value-added data to measure factor usage helps to correct for unobserved differences in factor qualities and differences in productivity across sectors, as is demonstrated for China. China's low average labor productivity reflects the structure of the Chinese economy where most employment is still in the inefficient agriculture and service sectors, with only 11% of employment in the more modern export-oriented manufacturing sector. Due to a trade surplus, China exports both labor and capital but Leamer's (The Journal of Political Economy 1980;88: 495–503) test for trade-revealed factor abundance confirms that China is labor abundant even after substantial factor-specific productivity adjustments.     

Liberalising Trade in the Agriculture Sector of a Small Island State: The Case of Fiji

This paper uses Fiji as a case study to investigate the impacts of three trade liberalisation policies – removal of sugar price subsidies, unilateral trade liberalisation and multilateral trade liberalisation, implied by the successful completion of the Doha Round. Removal of the sugar price subsidies has an adverse effect on real output, real national welfare and employment, but promotes growth of non‐agricultural exports in the long run. Unilateral trade liberalisation, in the form of tariff cuts in the agricultural sector, increases real output, real national welfare and non‐agricultural exports in the medium term. However, this growth is not sustained in the long term. The best outcome for Fiji is multilateral trade liberalisation which increases real output, real national welfare, non‐agricultural exports and employment. It is argued that reform of trade policies in less developed countries could come at a cost, therefore highlighting the need for compensating mechanisms to deal with the adverse impacts. Other measures to assist farmers to expand output in response to a rise in prices could include measures to reduce transport, storage and packaging costs, as well as institutional measures to enhance the functioning of input and factor markets.