Skill classification does matter: estimating the relationship between trade flows and wage inequality

Empirical work must pay careful attention to how it measures the relative skill abundance of countries and the relative skill intensity embodied in trade flows. This paper compiles a new data set, using income levels, average education, manufacturing wages, and an index of these three variables, to classify countries and trade flows as relatively high skill or low skill. Then, in order to show the importance of skill classification, it uses a reduced-form fixed-effects model to estimate the relationship between trade flows and wage inequality. This specification not only controls for any time-invariant omitted variables, but also permits the inclusion of a large number of diverse countries. When more accurate skill rankings are utilized, results suggest that, in high-skill abundant countries, increased trade with lower-skill countries is correlated with an increase in wage inequality. This relationship is significant and highly robust and is driven by the negative relationship between trade and low-skill wages (instead of a positive relationship between trade and high-skill wages.) Results, however, are highly dependent on the skill classification utilized.     

The effect of outward processing trade on wage inequality: the Hong Kong case

This study uses time series analysis to investigate the impact of Hong Kong's increased outward processing trade with the Chinese Mainland on wage inequality. We found a significant positive association between outward processing trade and the wage premium of university graduates over primary school graduates and that over secondary school graduates. Moreover, a standard test showed one-way causality from outward processing trade to the widening of skill wage gap. Furthermore, the increase of outward processing trade is found to both increase the pay for well-educated people and decrease the pay for less well-educated people, thereby widening the wage gap.     

An econometric assessment of the Canadian wage and price control program: 1975:4–1977:4

This paper presents an econometric assessment of the Canadian Wage and Price Control Program. The assessment is specifically designed to determine whether controls have been effective in reducing the long-run inflation rate in Canada. The method of evaluation of the control program is to compare the behavior of inflation under controls to the behavior which would have occurred in the absence of controls. In addition, the paper analyzes inflation in the post-control period to test for the “catch-up” phenomenon. The results suggest that the control program exercised a permanent effect on the inflation rate.     

Putting sport into organizations: The role of the accountant

This paper examines how organizations can promote in their employees similarly high levels of interest, motivation, and fun that participants in sports commonly experience. Particular emphasis is placed on the role accountants can play in using what this paper terms hygiene and elevating factors. Hygiene factors ensure the fair and transparent recording of financial events; without them, the sport of work cannot occur. Elevating factors allow employees to experience their work as fun and enjoyable, and ultimately provide the basis for a high-quality game of work. In helping to put sport into work, accountants will find themselves creating systems that go well beyond what they have done in the past, and dismantling some of the systems they once worked so hard to construct and oversee.     

浅谈中国服务贸易开放的原则及措施

随着改革开放的不断深化和社会主义市场经济体制的逐步建立，与世界各国经济贸易和化各方面的交流不断增加，中国经济保持了较高的增长速度，服务贸易也得到了迅速的发展。尽管中国服务贸易出口及跨国经营已经取得了长足的发展，但总体水平仍然落后于货物贸易。为了适应经济的发展就必须完善我国服务贸易机制，根据开放服务贸易的基本原则，提出若干的对策措施，从而推进中国服务贸易的对外开放。     

Socially Responsible Investment and Fiduciary Duty: Putting the Freshfields Report into Perspective

A critical issue for the future growth and impact of socially responsible investment (SRI) is whether institutional investors are legally permitted to engage in it – in particular whether it is compatible with the fiduciary duties of trustees. An ambitious report from the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), commonly referred to as the ‘Freshfields report’, has recently given rise to considerable optimism on this issue among proponents of SRI. The present article puts the arguments of the Freshfields report into some further both empirical and critical perspective, however, and suggests that its findings do not call for very much optimism. The general argument is that while the understanding of fiduciary duty outlined by the Freshfields report seems to allow institutional investors to at least sometimes take some social or environmental considerations into account, the support it gives for SRI is notably contingent and, furthermore, it rules out exactly the kind of SRI which proponents of social responsibility and environmental sustainability should hold in highest regard – proactive cases and socially effective investment strategies. If SRI is to become an important force for corporate social responsibility through its adoption by institutional investors, then, it is suggested that legal reform is needed.     

高职高专《国际贸易实务》课程的开发与实践

高职高专学校里的<国际贸易实务>课程是商务英语专业或国际商务专业的核心课程.本文阐述了<国际贸易实务>课程的课程定位、课程能力目标、教学内容设计、教学方法与手段、教学队伍、实践条件、教学评价、特色与创新等八个方面的研究和实践.使高等职业院校的<国际贸易实务>课程得到提升和完善.     

TNCs and the corruption of GATT: Free trade versus fair trade

In order to enrich global corporate culture, a distinction must be made between the economic ideology of free trade and the moral ideology of fair trade. GATT has failed to make this distinction. Its sole ethos of free trade is only applicable among developmentally equivalent nations, and has been used by TNCs as a means for attaining their commercial ends in the third world. GATT's lack of commitment to an objective of fair trade necessitates its replacement. This article suggests a replacement in the form of a network of trade organizations. The network takes the form of a hub-and-spoke arrangement, in which the hub would be the Global Trade Organization, and the spokes would each represent Regional Trade Organizations.John Dobson is currently an Associate Professor of Finance at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. His primary research interests are Agency Theory and Financial Ethics. His publications include articles and letters inJournal of Business Ethics, Financial Management, Business in the Contemporary World andBusiness and Society.     

外贸代理法律关系的性质及其在实务中存在的问题

推行外贸代理制是我国外贸体制改革的一项重要内容。1984年9月国务院批转经贸部《关于外贸体制改革意见的报告》，首次提出实行进出口代理制的外贸改革思路。1991年外经贸部颁布的《关于外贸代理制的暂行规定》（以下简称《暂行规定》）规定了外贸代理制的概念和基本原则。《对外贸易法》则以法律的形式明确了外贸代理制的法律地位。应当看到，外贸代理制对于推动我国计划经济下的外贸体制向市场化体制转变起了十分重要的作用。二十多年来，随着我国进出口贸易发展，外贸代理这种业务方式也得到了市场的普遍认可，尤其在出口贸易中，广泛采用代理出口的方式，对推动我国出口贸易的增长起了不可忽视的作用。     

Intra-industry trade between the united states and the major latin american countries: Measurement and implications for free trade in the Americas

This paper presents estimates for the level of intra-industry trade in the 1991 bilateral commerce between the United States and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. As theory predicts, intra-industry trade is positively correlated with income and with foreign investment in this study. Furthermore, Mexico and the United States present high levels of intra-industry trade, whereas the other Latin American countries analyzed have relatively low levels. The paper concludes that Mexico should experience much less difficulty in adjusting to free trade with the United States than the other countries. The low levels of intra-in-dustry trade between the United States and the other Latin American nations signal that increased trade between these areas would bring about significant dislocation of resources and high adjustment costs.     

Purchasing power parity: Doctrinal perspective and evidence from the 1920s

The first part of the paper traces the doctrinal origins of the purchasing power parity (PPP) doctrine and reviews the central issues of controversy. The second part is an empirical study covering the flexible exchange rates period of the 1920s. The empirical work examines the efficiency of foreign exchange markets, the absolute and the relative versions of PPP for alternative price indices, the homogeneity postulate, the relation between the short run and the long run, and the patterns of ‘causality’ between prices and exchange rates. The paper concludes with estimations of price equations and a discussion of the proper specification of PPP.     

Purchasing power parity and exchange rates: Another look at the evidence

This paper examines some of the evidence on the relationship between prices and exchange rates, looking at data from the 1920s and the 1970s. Simple regression tests lead us to reject the hypothesis of purchasing power parity. These tests are, however, inappropriate when, as is usually the case, neither prices nor the exchange rate may be taken as exogenous. Tests which recognize the endogeneity of both prices and exchange rates give results considerably more favorable to purchasing power parity. Tests which recognize the endogeneity of both prices and exchange rates give results which, while not definitive, are more favorable to the purchasing power parity hypothesis.     

Trade in tourism services: Explaining tourism trade and the impact of the general agreement on trade in services on the gains from trade

The article addresses two questions related with tourism as a service trade. Can tourism be explained as other export activities? Does service liberalisation have a positive or negative impact on tourism receipts in destination countries? Previous research has either focused on the demand side factors (i.e. factors of demand in the origin countries) or on tourism as a long-run factor of economic growth. The research shows that a complementary perspective such as that offered by trade in a supply side perspective can render additional insights towards understanding tourism. This approach can explain why countries have absolute and comparative advantage. Another finding is that tourism as an export can be explained by some of the same destination factors that explain other service exports. Using different panel estimators the importance of supply side factors that are to some extent exclusive to tourism are demonstrated: the general price competitiveness of the destination, tourism infrastructure and the provision of safety. The econometric models also confirm the relevance of other conventional explanatory factors of trade in services such as GDP per capita and internet usage. The last part of the article analyses the welfare gains from trade under the general agreement on trade in services (GATS). The revenue (tourism receipt) effect is decomposed into a volume (arrival) and price effect. Results suggest that liberalisers under the GATS gained especially from a volume effect with average higher growth rates in the number of arrivals. There is also found to be a positive effect on the average income earned per tourist from being a liberaliser.     

Keiretsu and relationship-specific investment: implications for market-opening trade policy

This paper considers the implications of relationship-specific investment within keiretsu for policies aimed at opening the Japanese market for intermediate goods, such as auto-parts. Both VIEs applied to parts and VERs restricting Japanese exports of autos cause the keiretsu to import a wider range of parts, but of a relatively unimportant type, such as seat covers. Since keiretsu investment and output fall, the total value of US parts exports may actually fall. For a given value of these exports, a VIE is less costly for US consumers and Japanese producers, but a VER is preferred by US automakers.     

Return on investment for workplace training: the Canadian experience

One of the central problems in managing technological change and maintaining a competitive advantage in business is improving the skills of the workforce through investment in human capital and a variety of training practices. This paper explores the evidence on the impact of training investment on productivity in 14 Canadian industries from 1999 to 2005. Our productivity analysis demonstrates that in 12 out of 14 industries, training had a positive effect on productivity. However, when the analysis is put within a financial context, the return on investment was positive in only four industries. Faced with negative rates of return, why should managers in most of the industries in the study promote investment in training? Probably the best explanation is that new technology requires an investment in training. The investment in training is necessary just for the firm to maintain its current labour productivity. Employee turnover necessarily impedes the efficacy of training, because trained workers leave, and untrained workers arrive. Thus, training in this instance again is necessary just to maintain current labour productivity.