The Impacts of Alignment with Global Product Standards on Exports of Firms in Developing Countries

Complying with global standards and technical norms can be costly, making them potential impediments to trade, but it can also expand export opportunities. Two policies available to governments are alignment of domestic technical regulations with international standards and entry into mutual recognition agreements (MRAs). We study the effects of such decisions on the volume of exports to developed markets by firms in developing countries, using data from a World Bank firm‐level survey of awareness of global product norms. Both standards alignment and MRAs are associated with more exports to developed countries, but only MRAs significantly promote exports. This finding is consistent with theoretical predictions that MRAs should reduce the fixed costs of exporting more than standards alignment, permitting more firms to enter export markets in higher volumes. Governments in developing countries hoping to encourage exports may wish to favour the negotiation of mutual recognition of testing and certification procedures with major trading partners as a more affirmative avenue to expanding international sales.     

Quality Measures in Food Trade: The Indian Experience

World trade in food has expanded significantly over the years and traditional tariff barriers have reduced with increasing commitments under the WTO. The industrialised countries potentially offer higher returns to food exporters from developing countries, but also pose a greater challenge in market access through stringent safety and quality standards. This paper analyses how this has impacted the Indian marine export industry, and the industry response to this challenge. The large firms are upgrading to signal quality in the OECD markets, while the small firms remain below the quality mark and are catering to other developing country markets where standards are not as stringent. Quality certification has thus become the basis of product differentiation and affected the pattern of trade. On the institutional front, a significant positive change is evident, with the Indian government taking measures to raise safety standards in the domestic food processing sector and increasing the credibility of its export certification agency abroad. There are also cooperative initiatives to improve testing facilities and promote equivalence of certification with OECD countries. The two‐pronged approach of investment in upgrading the food processing industry and promoting international partnership in certification with destination markets offers a good model to address the continuous quality challenge facing other food exporting developing countries.     

Standards and Institutional Capacity: An Examination of Trade in Food and Agricultural Products

The ability of developing countries to cope with emerging standards in food and agricultural products is influenced by their institutional capacity. This paper develops original measures of four dimensions of standards-related, institutional capacity: information, conformity, enforcement, and international standard-setting. These measures are incorporated into a gravity model to investigate whether these capacities offset the negative effects of Aflatoxin B1 standards on food and agricultural product trade. The results indicate that informational capacity and conformity capacity do indeed have such offsetting effects. The evidence with regard to enforcement and international standard-setting is less clear.     

Predicting the poverty impacts of trade reform

There have been a number of high profile food safety disputes in trade over the past decade. These include the widely publicized case at the World Trade Organization between the US and EU over hormone-treated beef. In particular, consumers in some industrialized countries have expressed concern over the health implications of consuming beef produced with antibiotics and other artificial supplements. Developing countries are affected in a significant way in how these concerns are addressed, as well as the balance between risk and safety reflected in how standards are set. This paper examines the impact of drug residue standards on trade in beef and the trade effect of setting harmonized international standards. We find that if international standards set by Codex were followed in antibiotics, global trade in beef would rise by over $3.2 billion. Among other developing countries, South African exports would rise by $160 million, Brazil's by $200 million, and Argentina's by over $300 million.     

Market‐specific Sunk Export Costs: The Impact of Learning and Spillovers

Firms may face sunk costs when entering an export market. Previous studies have focused on global or country‐specific sunk export costs. This study analyses the importance of market‐specific sunk export costs (defining ‘market’ as a product–country combination). We also study how market‐specific export costs can be affected by various kinds of learning and spillover effects. We use firm‐level panel data for Norwegian seafood exports distributed on products and countries. The results lend support to the hypothesis of market‐specific sunk costs. We also find evidence of learning and spillover effects, particularly within the same product group.     

Movements of People for Movements of Goods?

Whilst it is well established to think of international tourism as a type of exports, namely ‘home’ exports, the potential of tourism flows as an engine for fostering trade among countries is a poorly studied topic. In this paper, we show that this relationship can be studied at a very detailed level by exploiting the disaggregation of existing information on international trade and inbound tourism. We consider a sample of 25 countries belonging to the European Union, a region that has been interested by common shocks such as the establishment of the euro as the new currency for many countries and the liberalisation in the air transport market. We carry out a panel data analysis by means of which we assess whether international tourist arrivals by a given country activate additional exports towards the same country. We find not only that tourism can promote exports, but also that this effect displays important differences depending on whether or not consumption goods are considered. This finding is consistent with the idea that the experience of tourists in a given destination reduces the fixed costs of trade, thus facilitating access to the advantages of international trade for more peripheral economies.     

我国应对农产品出口技术性贸易壁垒的策略

技术性贸易壁垒在当今国际贸易中的影响日益强化,加入WTO以来,中国出口农产品频繁遭遇国外技术性贸易壁垒的冲击,这严重阻碍了中国农产品出口,给出口农产品的相关行业及生产经营者造成了严重损失。通过研究技术壁垒对中国农产品出口的影响状况,提出应建立与国际接轨的农产品质量安全标准,提高农产品质量,企业应积极开拓新市场,实施市场多元化战略。     

浅析国际劳工标准对我国对外贸易的影响

我国拥有丰富的劳动力资源,长期以来主要大量出口劳动密集型产品,因而,不可避免地被要求接受有关国际劳工标准的审核。国际劳工标准与国际贸易挂钩己经演变成为一种无法改变的趋势。这种趋势,一方面使得国际劳工标准在我国逐步推广,另一方面也给我国的对外贸易带来正反两个方面的重大影响。本文重点分析国际劳工标准与国际贸易挂钩的趋势给我国对外贸易带来的正反两个方面的影响,提出企业和政府应对此趋势的对策。同时,希望对相关的研究提供参考。     

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.     

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.     

The Trade Effects of the EU–Turkey Customs Union

In the present study we argue that the salient features of both the EU‐15 countries and Turkey are conducive to making the effects of the 1995 EU–Turkey customs union asymmetric among the incumbent EU countries. In order to support our argument we rely on a model in which trade involves the exchange of vertically differentiated products. This model generates the prediction that the more contiguous an incumbent country is to the joining country in terms of technological sophistication, the larger will be the crowding out of this country's exports to the other incumbent countries as a result of the CU expansion. Using a gravity model we estimate the effects of the customs union between Turkey and the EU‐15 by differentiating between exports from (a) lower‐technology EU‐15 countries (we term this group of countries ‘South’) to higher‐technology EU‐15 countries (the ‘North’), (b) North to South, (c) South to Turkey, (d) North to Turkey, and (e) Turkey to EU‐15. Our econometric results indicate that, in contrast to North's exports to the other EU‐15 countries (which have remained intact), the Southern countries’ exports to the other EU‐15 countries have declined as a result of the CU. Moreover, the extra penetration of the Turkish market by the EU‐15 countries has not been more favourable to the Southern group.     

The US Generalised System of Preferences in Principle and Practice

In principle, the US generalised system of preferences (GSP) offers uniform market access to exports from eligible developing countries for a broad set of GSP‐eligible products. In practice, realised GSP tariff exemptions demonstrate marked variation across countries, industries and years. In this paper, we identify the sources of discretionary and non‐discretionary GSP exclusions and quantify the extent to which competitive needs limitations (CNLs), waivers and additional annual product, country and country‐product exclusions drive a wedge between the ‘generalised’ principle of GSP and its implementation in practice.     

安全标准与农产品贸易:中国与主要贸易伙伴的实证研究

国际农产品贸易引起争端的安全标准的大量存在,表明市场自身力量不足以纠正失灵,农产品市场的独有特征构成安全标准广泛实施的理由。文章测算了十年间一项具体农产品安全标准—黄曲霉素最大允许含量标准,对一组发达国家和一组包括中国在内的亚洲发展中国家的水果/坚果类产品的贸易影响程度。政策模拟结果显示,进口国协调采用国际标准将产生更大的贸易促进效果。     

Food Safety Issues,Trade and WTO Rules: A Developing Country Perspective

The SPS Agreement and the related WTO dispute settlement mechanism are an important first step in strengthening the global trade architecture, bringing in greater transparency and orderly conditions to world food trade. However, implementation of the new trade rules has turned out to be a more complex task than the traditional market access issues handled by the WTO. Several factors, including inadequate financial and technical resources, have constrained devel‐oping countries from becoming effective participants in the implementation process, and there is widespread suspicion that SPS regulations are being used as hidden protectionist devices by developed countries. However, despite all the problems, some developing countries have been quite successful in penetrating developed country food markets; they have done so by accepting the consumer preferences and standards in quality‐sensitive high‐income markets and implementing domestic supply‐side measures. While making full use of available international assistance initiatives, developing countries should view the task of complying with SPS standards not just as a barrier but also as an opportunity to upgrade quality standards and market sophistication in the food export sector.     

我国农产品进出口形势分析及对策研究

随着经济全球化和贸易一体化进程的不断深入,我国各种农产品的出口出现大幅增长的势头,但随着各种进口关税的降低及配额制和许可证的逐渐取消,我国农产品的进口也出现了显著增长。同时,发达国家利用其先进的技术,以食品健康和安全为由制定各种技术性壁垒和绿色壁垒,给我国农产品的出口造成了种种障碍。因此,认清我国农产品的进出口形势,积极采取各种应对措施,有利于我国农产品赢得更大的出口贸易。     

从出口看食品安全与技术性贸易壁垒影响的思考

食品安全不仅直接关系到消费者的身体健康,而且影响食品生产企业尤其是食品出口企业的生存和发展。我国是食品出口大国,但由于在食品安全方面还存在一定隐患,食品技术法规和标准与国际上许多国家还存在一定差距,致使我国食品的出口频频遭遇技术性贸易壁垒的限制,给我国食品贸易造成巨大损失,严重影响了我国食品行业的发展。针对上述问题,就如何提高食品安全性,使食品安全进一步适应社会发展、冲破壁垒的束缚,本文从四个方面进行了探讨,希望能对我国食品安全和食品出口贸易有一定的借鉴作用。     

European Union Market Access Conditions and Africa's Extensive Margin of Food Trade

This paper examines the impact of two European Union (EU) market access regulations in the food sector presumed to simultaneously affect firms’ decisions to export food products to the EU. We analysed EU pesticide standards on African exports alongside a complementary non‐tariff measure in the form of a minimum entry price regulation, which aims to protect EU growers of certain fruits and vegetables against international competition. Analysis was based on Africa's exports of tomatoes, oranges, and lime and lemon to the EU between 2008 and 2013, using the gravity model of trade. Our results show that EU market access conditions constitute significant barrier to the formation of new trade relation between the EU and Africa. In addition, initiation of trade relationships is contingent not only on market access conditions but also on domestic market constraints in Africa. These results imply that negotiating preferential entry prices duties and the removal of domestic market restraints as well as strengthening domestic capacity to comply with EU standards to enhance continuous market access for the continent could stimulate food trade along the extensive margin.     

The Extensive and Intensive Margins of Exports: The Role of Innovation

An important prediction of trade theories is that innovation can improve a country’s export performance. Using data on patents granted by the US as a proxy for innovation and data on manufacturing exports from 105 countries over the period 1975–2001, I investigate the extent to which innovation increases the number of products traded (the extensive margin) and the export value of each product (the intensive margin). The empirical results show that (i) innovation has a positive and significant effect on both the extensive and intensive margins. The intensive margin contributes 70 per cent of the effect, and the extensive margin accounts for 30 per cent. (ii) The effect of innovation on exports is stronger for low‐income countries than for high‐income countries. (iii) More innovative countries export greater quantities and charge higher prices, suggesting that innovation increases the product quality of exports.     

Determinants and Relationships in Sectoral Trade: A Bilateral Model for Knitwear Clothing

The generalized aggregated trade models do not capture the industry or product‐specific competitive situation and overgeneralize the bilateral cases. As a result, product‐specific trade determinants at the sectoral or bilateral level cannot be sufficiently drawn from such generalized models. This holds true for knitwear clothing products, an important component of international textile trade. To remedy this, we propose a sector‐specific bilateral model in the context of knitwear clothing exports from India to the United States. This pair of countries is chosen due to unilateral trade flows as well as to underline the contrasting features of developed north versus developing south. The vector autoregression (VAR) model was found more appropriate than other available modeling choices. We used monthly frequency data from January 2006 to December 2012. The traditional determinants such as exchange rate and price competitiveness remain relevant. Chinese competition emerges as a significant determinant, which underlines the relevance of a sector‐specific bilateral trade model. The 2009 recession showed a clear impact, albeit for only a few months. Our model is parsimonious but has more explanatory power than generalized models. Policy researchers may further explore the model for more fine‐tuned policy on sector‐specific factors. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

《SPS协定》对中国农产品出口效应及法律对策研究

随着世界贸易自由化进程的不断加快,非关税壁垒特别是技术性贸易壁垒成为各国新的贸易屏障,许多国家通过制定严苛的卫生及植物卫生措施限制进口,以保护国内市场。《SPS协定》对中国农产品出口造成了正、负两方面效应,从中分析中国农产品出口的现状及存在问题,法律上应补充、完善中国的标准立法体系、加强技术法规制定、建立卫生与植物卫生措施的预警机制、建立相关的法律协助机构,同时应利用《SPS协定》等应对措施,以便趋利避害促进中国农产品出口贸易的长效发展。