Buy Local? Governmental Incentives to ‘Inform’ Consumers

This paper considers governmental incentives to provide information to local consumers about the relative merits of local versus foreign goods. We construct a model in which a local firm in a small, open economy competes in its domestic market with imports. Consumers are willing to pay an idiosyncratic premium for the local product, drawn from some support that the importing country government can affect through a costly information campaign. We examine incentives to undertake such a campaign in autarky and in the case of trade. We show, inter alia, that while a national welfare‐maximising government will always wish to shift this distribution upwards, it may not wish to reduce the variance of valuations, and that the optimal response of a foreign government will be to increase any support it offers to its exporters. Furthermore, falling world prices generally reduce the attractiveness of such a campaign both to a welfare‐maximising government and to one that cares only for domestic profits.     

Openness and growth: an interpretation of empirical evidence from East Asian countries

This study investigates the effect of openness on economic growth for rapidly growing economies in East Asia in which rapid growth has been accompanied by a persistent openness to world trade. The framework of analysis is a five-variable vector autoregressive model that consists of real output, money supply, real government spending, foreign price shocks, and openness measures. The results do not strongly support the 'new' growth theories in which increasing openness affects long-run growth. For most countries in the sample, fiscal policy shocks as well as foreign price shocks have greater impacts on economic growth than does the openness shock. The results are generally consistent with the view that the role of the government is critical for growth among the East Asian economies.     

A New Measure of Trade Openness

Trade openness, popularly measured as (X + M)/GDP in the hundreds of studies published to date, consistently considers the world's biggest trading countries such as the USA, the UK, Japan and Germany to be closed economies, irrespective of the data set used. This study suggests a composite trade share measure that more completely reflects reality by combining two important dimensions of trade openness: trade share and the relative importance of a country's trade level to total world trade. Robustness tests support the new proposed measure in lieu of the conventional measure of openness and suggest that the latter may not only be incomplete but may also overstate the impact of trade on such things as income and the environment.     

Proximity and Rationalisation: The Limits of a Levinasian Ethics in the Context of Corporate Governance and Regulation

In this article, I explore how the ideas of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas offer insights into a debate often held today in the field of corporate governance, concerning the relative merits of statutory and voluntary approaches to the regulation of business. The philosophical position outlined by Levinas questions whether any rule-based systematisation of ethical responsibility, either statutory or voluntary, can ever equate to a genuine responsibility for the other person. I reflect on how various authors have adapted Levinas’s philosophy to form a critique of bureaucracy and rule following in business, and the lack of ethical authenticity in corporate codes. However, this article also considers the question of whether a theoretical separation can be made between an ethical responsibility based on sensibility (as is suggested by Levinas) and a rational conceptualisation of how one is required to act. Considering the difficulty of disentangling these notions of ethics, I return to the problem of corporate governance and suggest an approach to stakeholder conflict based on mediation and dialogue, which rules out neither principles of conduct nor an openness of responsibility to the Other.     

贸易开放度、经济增长与劳动密集型产业结构调整

本文通过构建联立方程模型对贸易开放度、劳动密集型产业结构和经济增长之间的统计关系进行实证,同时利用VAR模型检验三者之间的相互作用。研究结果表明:经济增长不利于劳动密集型产业的发展,同时劳动密集型产业的发展也不利于经济增长;但贸易开放促进经济增长的同时阻碍了劳动密集型产业的发展。本文研究的政策含义是,当前政府应该优化劳动密集型产业结构,促进要素资源的合理配置;政府外贸政策的重心应该放在改变出口产业结构,使之朝着有利于转变经济增长方式的方向转变。     

贸易条件、国际利率冲击与经济波动

开放经济条件下国际金融危机所带来的传染和溢出效应是当下国际宏观经济学的热点和核心问题,而随着中国经济改革开放正在向纵深发展,在危机传染机制下的中国经济正在经历各种外部条件的冲击。金融危机的传染机制对中国经济产生了显著的负面波及效应,文章基于开放经济的视角,构建了一个动态均衡模型并对中国经济波动特征进行了研究,模型引入了反映国际经济传导的两类关键冲击,即国际贸易条件冲击和国际融资利率冲击。参数校准后的数值模拟显示,开放经济模型能够较好的匹配我国实际经济的主要二阶距波动特征,进一步的波动性分解发现国际贸易条件冲击和国际融资利率冲击对中国经济波动有很强的解释力。政府在开放经济框架下应该加强对经常账户和国际资本流动的监管,使得中国经济在改革开放走向纵深的背景下稳定增长。     

中国服务贸易开放度研究

入世前中国在入世议定书中对服务贸易的开放作出了相关承诺。如今中国入世已近10年,服务贸易对外开放的进展情况如何?本文就这个问题采用修正过的对外贸易比率法进行了实证研究,并用同样的方法研究了美国的服务贸易开放度,然后对中美服务贸易开放度进行了比较。研究结果表明,中国服务贸易处于一个相对较高的水平,服务贸易开放的现状与我国入世承诺基本一致。     

Indonesia – Trade Policy Review 2007

This paper examines the 2007 WTO review of Indonesian trade policy. Indonesia undertook a major policy liberalisation in the late 1960s. Serious protectionist pressures emerged in the 1970s but for most of this period, and especially since the mid‐1980s, the economy has remained broadly open. We summarise the WTO report, update some of its analysis, highlight its key findings, and point to some trade policy issues that in our opinion warranted greater attention. The main theme of the paper is that Indonesia is a largely open economy, but that this openness on occasion remains precarious. There are both political economy, rent‐seeking forces opposed to the current openness and, perhaps more importantly, much of the country's influential public opinion is sceptical of the merits of an open economy and deeper global commercial integration. Nor is there a deeply institutionalised support for openness in the country's bureaucracy and polity. Seen from this perspective, a key question to answer is why the country has remained open, particularly since the deep economic and political crises of 1997–98.     

Trends in international business,thought, and literature: The past and future of political analysis for international business

The literature on political risks (and opportunities) in international business has expanded far beyond its initial preoccupation with expropriation and instability in “third world,” developing countries. The literature has thus become more concerned with other types of government policies and with political conditions in “first world” and “second world” countries as well. In those respects, the literature has developed analytically and become of more widespread relevance to managerial issues in international business. This article reviews the topical coverage of the political risk literature of international business, and in addition it considers key analytical issues concerning the levels of analysis, theoretical content, and analytical methods that have been evident, as well as those that have been neglected. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Understanding offshoring: A research framework based on disintegration, location and externalization advantages

We present an analytical framework explaining offshoring in this paper. We address the question: why do firms offshore their business functions? Given the growing prevalence of offshoring as a dominant business practice in the world of global business, this question merits further research attention. We propose that firms embark on offshoring when they perceive three sets of interrelated advantages: disintegration advantages (D), location-specific resourcing advantages (L) and externalization advantages (E). Theories from multiple disciplines form the foundation of Disintegration–Location–Externalization (DLE) framework. Implications for managers, government policy makers and recommendations for future research are explored.     

经济开放度与城市住宅租金分析

作为重要的非贸易品,世界大都市核心区住宅投资主体的国际化特征越来越明显,但城市住宅的租金变动是否满足巴拉萨-萨缪尔森效应,即经济开放度的提高是否会相应提高城市住宅的相对价格还没有实证研究的文献。本文选取44个分布于全球不同国家的大都市为样本,证实分析了都市核心区住宅的租金变化情况,研究表明经济开放度与城市规模具备正向相关性,并在城市不动产领域检验了巴拉萨-萨缪尔森效应。这一研究成果可为我国在经济全球化背景下,正确制定以平衡租房与买房来引导商品住宅价格走向合理化的政策提供一定参考。     

Using complex networks analysis to assess the evolution of international economic integration: The cases of East Asia and Latin America

This paper exploits recently-developed indicators based on network analysis to investigate the pattern of international integration followed by East Asian countries and compares it with the Latin American performance. Standard trade openness indicators fall short of portraying the peculiarity of the Asian experience, and of explaining why other emerging markets with similar characteristics have been less successful over the last 25 years. The analysis offers an alternative perspective on the issue regarding international economic integration by taking into account the whole structure of international trade relationships and by determining both the position of countries in the world trade network, and its evolution over time. We find that East Asian countries are more integrated into the world economy, as they have moved from the periphery of the network towards its core. Our results support the idea that the degree of openness matters but it is not enough to characterize economic integration. The number and identity of trade partners, and the specific individual structure of trade for each country, need to be incorporated in order to fully characterize international economic integration. By doing so, it is possible to argue that the integration process of the East Asian countries mirrors their high economic performance, while the lower degree of integration of Latin America can be related to the lack of economic development of the region, even though their degree of openness has increased.     

The interest group theory of financial development in China: Openness and the role of interest groups

The interest group theory of financial development predicts that the incumbents' opposition to financial development will be weaker when an economy is open to both trade and capital flows. Based on regressions of financial development on trade and financial openness, existing studies only provide indirect tests of the hypothesis and deliver mixed findings. This paper proposes models for direct tests of interest group theory for China. Using Chinese cross-province data, we define and measure interest groups based on the close tie between state-owned enterprises and local government in China. The empirical results show that the opposition from interest groups to financial development cannot be weakened in provinces with high trade or financial openness alone. However, the opposition is indeed weakened in provinces with high levels of both trade and financial openness. These results provide robust support for interest group theory in accounting for cross-province differences and time-series variation in financial development in China.     

我国政府门户网站建设现状及对策研究

政府门户网站的建设是电子政务的重要组成部分,同时也是加强政府和群众沟通、提高政府办事透明度、实现数字政府的主要工具。建设优质高效的政府门户网站可以更好地服务民众,服务社会,因此具有重要的意义。本文通过研究目前我国政府门户网站的建设现状,分析我国目前政府网站建设存在的问题,并根据这些问题提出相应的解决对策。     

Shocks to Malaysia's Exports: Temporary or Permanent?

ABSTRACT

The export sector has been the primary source of growth and development in the Malaysian economy. However, a high degree of openness as well as dependence on a few product categories have rendered Malaysia vulnerable to external export shocks. In this paper, we use unit root testing to demonstrate that exogenous export shocks can have either a temporary or a permanent effect on the Malaysian domestic economy depending on their country of origin. The resulting merits of country-specific export policies are discussed.     

Greenfield FDI,cross-border M&As,and government size

This study examines the effects of greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on government size in host countries of FDI. Using panel data for up to 130 countries for the period from 2003 to 2011, the study specifically tests the compensation hypothesis, suggesting that by increasing economic insecurity, economic openness leads to larger government size. It is found that greenfield FDI increases labour market volatility and thereby economic insecurity while M&As are not significantly associated with labour market volatility. The main results of this study are that greenfield FDI has a robust positive effect on government size, while M&As have no statistically significant effect on government size in the total sample of developed and developing countries, as well as in the sub-samples of developed and developing countries.     

On the Relationship Between Openness and Growth in China: Evidence from Provincial Time Series Data

The effect of increasing openness on real output growth in China is examined. The framework of analysis is a regression model that uses time‐series data for each province. For east coastal provinces, increasing openness is found to have positive effects on real output growth, and some of the effects are statistically significant. The results appear to be broadly consistent with the new growth theories that openness enhances long‐run growth through its impact on technological improvement. However, inland provinces in China have been isolated from world trade for several decades and their economies devastated. An increased openness in these provinces is found to have, in most cases, negative effects on real output growth.     

经济转型与城乡收入差距——以广西1980～2009年数据为例

本文基于广西1980～2009年数据,研究了经济转型对城乡收入差距的影响。研究发现：非国有化、政府对经济活动干预程度的减弱对缩小城乡收入差距有显著的作用,经济开放则显著地扩大城乡收入差距。此外,城市化对城乡收入差距的扩大也有显著影响,而财政、金融对农村资源的投入等因素对缩小城乡收入差距的影响并不显著。研究结果表明,缩小城乡收入差距,政府应重点推进经济转型,特别是推进非国有化和减少对经济活动的干预;收入均等与经济增长可以成为地方政府两个并行不悖的目标,中央政府在推进城乡统筹时应尊重地方的自主实践。     

Competing in the global marketplace: The case of India and China

As the world economy becomes increasingly integrated and globalized, U.S. companies face unprecedented opportunity, as well as challenge. In the global marketplace, China has made great strides in economic and commercial developments. The business community observes that China is becoming a manufacturing base for the world in providing quality products at low prices. As more business people turn their attention to China's progress, however, they are missing out on an important part of the equation: its neighboring country, India, which may deserve more attention than it has received. In this article, we attempt to present an argument that India could be a viable alternative in competition with other countries on the world stage. In spite of its problems, the Indian government and people are determined to increase Indian contribution to the world economy. As such, India may serve as its next frontier.     

政治风险与中国企业对外直接投资——基于东道国与母国两个维度的实证分析

利用中国大陆企业对外直接投资(OFDI)统计数据和两类政治风险指数进行实证研究,结果发现:来自东道国的政治风险对OFDI有着显著的负向影响;本土的政治风险对于OFDI也有实质影响;经济增长、经济开放程度以及政府政策等因素对OFDI也有显著作用。