TRANSACTION COST IMPAIRMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE: LESSONS FROM EGYPT

Increasing evidence indicates the relative importance of transaction costs in international market penetration by LDC manufactured goods exporters. This paper identifies the sources and nature of these costs and recommends policies capable of helping LDC exporters overcome transaction cost-based obstacles to such exports. Data for the analysis are from questionnaires addressed to samples of manufactures exporters and trading intermediaries in Egypt.     

国际商品价格波动与中国出口贸易的能源成本:一个实证分析

中国的出口贸易面临着国际市场能源价格快速上涨与工业品价格滞涨的双重压力。本文对2002—2007年中国出口商品所包含的能源成本进行的估算发现,以2002年不变价计算的能源成本在5年间增长了7.53倍。与此对应,能源成本在中国出口总额中所占的比例从2002年的8.4%上升到了2007年的21.2%。通过计算价格弹性发现,国际市场上能源相对价格的波动是引起我国能源成本率上升的主要因素。能源成本快速上升大大降低了我国出口商品的利润空间,表明我国的外贸质量在下降,这主要是由国际市场进出口价格体系以及我国出口商品结构不合理所造成的。     

BCCI: LESSONS FOR INTERNATIONAL BANK SUPERVISION

This paper analyzes the BCCI collapse in light of the ongoing efforts of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision to ensure that "no foreign banking establishment escapes adequate supervision." It reviews the development of the Basle Committee's Concordat and analyzes ways of improving international bank supervision.     

非一体化经营方式的有效性及交易费用条件

产品外包加工是一种非一体化的生产方式,也称虚拟化经营方式,是网络经济的一种表现,也是社会分工的进一步细化。知识经济下产品价值来源转移,经济全球化、信息技术进步等因素以及由诸种因素导致的交易费用相对下降,是产生和推动这一变革的主要原因。在适宜的行业中实行非一体化经营方式是提高我国企业竞争力的一种战略措施。     

A NEW THEORY OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY AND EMERGENCE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE FROM DOMESTIC TRADE

Abstract. In the paper a fixed learning cost is introduced into a framework with consumer-producers and transaction costs. The fixed learning cost yields a rate of return on the investment in individual specific learning and training which is increasing in its rate of utilization. Division of labor can avoid duplicated learning costs and generate economies of specialized learning. The tradeoff between economies of specialization and transaction costs can be used to explain concurrent increases in the extent of the market, aggregate demand, productivity, trade dependence, the degree of market integration, the degree of production concentration, diversity of economic structure, variety of different professions, each person's level of specialization, and the extent of endogenous comparative advantage and the emergence of international trade from domestic trade. This model explains demand and supply as two sides of the level of division of labor which is determined by a transaction cost coefficient. Hence, the demand law may not hold even for normal goods owing to complicated interdependencies between the level of specialization and demand and between the level of specialization and prices of traded goods. The extended version of this model with the CES function is used to endogenize variety of consumption in addition to the endogenization of individuals'level of specialization.     

APEC: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND OUTPUT

Abstract.  This paper estimates the effect that the APEC 'currency union', loosely defined, has on trade and, via trade, on output per capita. A gravity model is used to measure the impact of exchange-rate variability on trade flows within APEC. The gain in trade flows from eliminating nominal exchange-rate variability through the formation of a currency union is less than 1%. Furthermore, every 1% increase in trade (relative to GDP) raises income per capita by roughly 0.3% for twenty years. Adopting the dollar currency union is much more profitable than adopting a yen currency union for each country in APEC.     

产权结构与制度环境降低交易成本的机理研究

产权能否降低交易成本与产权可分性下的不同产权结构与制度环境的适应性水平密切相关。以此为基本思路,本文以产权的可分性为切入点,对产权结构和制度环境进行了类型划分,并深入探究了产权结构、制度环境、交易成本间适应性下运行的一般机理。由此说明,产权结构、制度环境的优化均可降低交易成本,产权结构与制度环境的匹配度越高,交易成本降低越多。政府失灵型等六种产权结构类型与负国家环境水平指数型等六种制度环境类型的具体匹配,可以更好地探究出产权结构与制度环境深度匹配降低交易成本的路径。     

THE USE OF UNIT VALUES TO MEASURE DEVIATIONS OF TRANSACTION PRICES FROM LIST PRICES

The results reported in the Searle report have stimulated me to carry out an extensive study of unit value indices, based on a much more extensive body of data and much improved procedures as compared to the preliminary evidence contained in my "Measurement Bias in Price Indices for Capital Goods," published in this journal in June, 1971. Once again, the new study confirms the hypothesis that transaction prices of capital goods exhibit procyclical fluctuations relative to list prices. Machinery prices appear to have been considerably more flexible downward during the period of weak investment demand between 1957 and 1963 than indicated by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), and more flexible upward during the subsequent expansion during 1963–1969. This brief paper is a summary of the study. A complete and detailed report or results is contained in my forthcoming monograph, Measurement of Durable Goods Prices , to be published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.     

从国际经济周期理论到世界经济周期理论

来自经济体系外部的冲击,通过国际经济纽带在各国之间传导,并在市场机制作用下引起世界各国经济的大致同步波动,从而生成一轮世界经济周期,这种机制可以概括为"外部冲击—部门传导—国际传导"。     

面向公共政策制定的区域规划--国外区域规划的编制对我们的启示

我国的区域规划经过50多年的发展历程,形成了一个比较庞大的内容体系和一套比较完整的技术程序。但技术性仅仅是区域规划属性之一,政策属性才是区域规划的本质属性,区域规划的科学性是为政策性服务的,新时期的中国区域规划改革应该首先确立和实现区域规划的公共空间政策属性。文章分析了我国区域规划当中政策缺陷及其影响,从公共政策的角度出发,介绍和分析了国外区域规划中的综合性与微观性、规划地位的法定性、规划行政程序的开放性、规划实施手段的多样性,并阐述了国外区域规划对于我国区域规划改革可供借鉴的个人观点。     

REFORMING THE FED: ITS INDEPENDENCE AND LESSONS FROM HUMPHREY-HAWKINS

The last session of Congress witnessed renewed calls for reforming the Federal Reserve System so as to better coordinate monetary and fiscal policies. This paper examines how the current institutional structure, established by the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978, performed when the supply-side tax cuts were implemented during 1981 and 1982. The findings reveal that authorities barely discussed the necessary policy coordination at the Humphrey-Hawkins hearings. Further, the record reveals that Fed Chairman Volcker refused to utilize the Fed's independence to publicly oppose the supply-side tax cuts.     

MEASURING INTERNATIONAL AND INTER-SECTORAL TERMS OF TRADE: SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

The view is expressed that the well-known formulae for measuring changes in terms of trade cannot be used to conclude whether a country is better off or not. Other variables which reflect the impact upon production, employment, and the competitive position should also be taken into account.
Similarly, changes in terms of trade between the industrial sectors of an economy cannot be used to conclude whether one sector is better off than others. Other factors which play a role include increases in productivity per man-hour. These may help to explain why in some sectors prices increase less than in others. An attempt is made to illustrate this point using some statistics for the Netherlands.     

ENDING RESTRICTIONS TO MIGRATION FROM THE NEW EU MEMBER COUNTRIES: SECTORAL TRADE AND REAL WAGE EFFECTS

Most EU-15 countries have kept restrictions to migration from the new member countries but committed to removing them within seven years from the 2004 enlargement. This article predicts the sectoral trade and real wage impact on high-income, mid-income, and low-income members of removing those restrictions, given two extreme scenarios: either all migrants are skilled or all are unskilled. The main effect of skilled migration is the relocation of high-scale economy, skill-intensive industries from mid-income into high-income countries. The main effect of unskilled migration is the relocation of low-scale economy, low skill-intensive industries from low-income into mid-income countries. Both high-income and low-income members would be better off with skilled migration, but those with mid-income would benefit from unskilled migration. ( JEL F1, F15, F22, J31, L6)     

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE AND QUALITY OF SERVICE: LESSONS FROM MEDICAID

Much recent public debate centers around failures in the U.S. health care system. Studies indicate that as many as 33 million Americans are without health insurance, while health care expenditures continue to out-strip GNP growth. Numerous proposals for national health insurance have surfaced in response to these apparent shortcomings. The various proposed health insurance structures are not always based upon careful economic evaluation of incentive schemes and of the full range of potential effects. This paper examines results of recent Medicaid system studies so as to shed light upon the outcomes one can expect from national health insurance plans possessing similar incentive structures. The results here have potentially useful policy implications.     

THE REGULATION OF MORTGAGE SERVICING: LESSONS FROM THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Pivotal litigation against the largest subprime mortgage servicer in the United States provides lessons about the appropriate regulation of mortgage servicing and adds to research about the causes of the financial crisis. Mortgage servicing is essential to the functioning of the financial system so servicers must be held to a high standard. The litigation revealed egregious practices but was settled quickly for a nominal amount and provided the servicer a very broad release of liability, allowing it to expand without correcting serious problems, and created significant wealth gains for the parent firm. Regulatory authority should not be split between agencies. (JEL G28, G21, K40)     

INFLATION TARGETING AND THE ECONOMY: LESSONS FROM CANADA'S FIRST DECADE

Inflation targeting has become the centerpiece of the monetary policy framework in a number of industrial countries and emerging economies. The first part of this article examines the Canadian experience with inflation targeting since its introduction in early 1991 and various issues that require resolution in establishing such a framework. It also examines the way inflation targets deal with demand, price, and productivity shocks. The second part focuses on Canada's economic performance during the 1990s. Factors other than monetary policy - most notably private sector restructuring and the fiscal situation in the first half of the decade - played an important role in the sluggishness of the recovery from the recession of 1990–91. Trend growth in Canada during the 1990s was lower than in earlier periods and than U.S. trend growth over the same period. The article examines the role of such factors as productivity growth and participation rates in explaining the differences. I conclude that a good monetary policy is necessary but not sufficient for good economic outcomes.