THE WTO AND ANTIDUMPING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Since the 1995 inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO), developing countries have become some of the most frequent users of the WTO-sanctioned antidumping (AD) trade policy instrument. This paper exploits newly available data to examine sector-level use of nine of the major "new user" developing countries, matching data on production in 28 different three-digit ISIC industries to data on AD investigations, outcomes, and imports at the six-digit Harmonized System product level. We present economically significant evidence consistent with theory that developing-country industries that seek and receive AD import protection are responding to macroeconomic shocks, exhibit characteristics consistent with endogenous trade policy formation, and face some changing market conditions consistent with requirements of the WTO Antidumping Agreement. However, the evidence also suggests substantial heterogeneity in determinants of AD use across developing countries, which highlights the flexibility of this policy as a protectionist tool responsive to many different types of political-economic shocks.     

EXCHANGE RATE PROBLEMS IN NATIONAL ACCOUNTING OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES*

Developing countries which typically have import surpluses and inflationary pressures because of insufficient savings are prone to use indirect taxes on imports (Tm) and subsidization of exports (Sx) in order to prevent deterioration of the balance of trade. If these substitutes for devaluation are included in the net indirect tax component of product at current market prices (Ym) the import surplus is likely to be understated, and Ym upward biased. This distortion will be avoided if imports and exports are measured at effective exchange rates (ER), that is, at official rates (OR) plus Tm and Sx respectively, and if (Tm - Sx) is deducted from the net indirect tax component of Ym. Only in this manner become imports and exports consistent with the other uses and resources at market prices and can be articulated with them. At base-year prices the volume index of product at OR diverges from that of ER to the degree that the composition of imports and exports in regard to tax and subsidy rates computed ad valorem significantly changes. Such a case is similar to that of the price indexes of imports and exports moving in diverging proportions: the trade balance at base-year prices will differ from that at current prices. The resulting discrepancies in national accounts have led to proposals of deflating, for example, exports by the price index of imports. Suchlike approaches are incompatible with the principle of national accounting that prices are supposed already to measure substitution values. Deflating exports by import prices means reintroducing substitution values, as does, for example, deflation of incomes by a consumer price index. Correspondingly, since the trade balance at ER conceptually expresses the value of imports at domestic market prices as compared to the corresponding domestic market value of exports, and if at ER the trade balance diverges from that at OR, the former balance has an important meaning (as has the trade balance at base-year prices as compared to that at current prices) and the resulting discrepancy between the two measures should not be removed merely for the sake of accounting smoothness. In contrast to the market price approach, the measurement of product at base-year factor cost is indifferent to the measurement of the trade balance at ER and at OR. It is, therefore, proposed in countries in which part of import taxation and export subsidization substitutes for devaluation, to record imports and exports in the national accounts at effective exchange rates, and to correct the net indirect tax component of product correspondingly. Imports and exports at official exchange rates should be shown within the balance of payments, and the latter separately as a memorandum item.     

PROBLEMS OF DETERMINING AND MEASURING THE RELIABILITY OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Most developing countries have compiled national accounts on a regular basis only for the last few years. It has not yet been possible for them to collect many of the statistics necessary to obtain good coverage of their economic activities by methods which would generally be accepted as reliable. Consequently the checks on reliability imposed by the framework of the national accounts are often absent, and the accounts prepared contain many estimates of doubtful quality. These doubts can usually only be removed as statistics collected by better methods become available. This is proving to be a slow process, partly because of the shortage of trained statistical staff and the competing demands of social and demographic statistics and partly because of the inherent difficulties in collecting good statistics from small businesses and traditional households. The need to define traditional households as producers as well as consumers leads to our demanding extra information from this difficult sector. In addition it is often difficult for the national accounts statistician, and even more so for the user, to find out in the time available exactly how some of the statistics with which he is presented were obtained. When this cannot be done it is impossible to assess their reliability. Thus assessing the overall reliability of national accounts in developing countries for even a limited range of uses is at present largely a matter of personal judgment. The information necessary to make more objective assessments rarely exists and hence the problems which developed countries face in using such information are not yet within the experience of most developing countries.     

21世纪发展中国家城市化的深层次发展

21世纪发展中国家的城市化必然向深层次发展。文章分析了21世纪发展中国家城市化的必然趋势，指出城市的区域化发展和个性化发展是城市化深层次发展的两条主要途径，重点论述了这两种发展形式的意义、基础和主要策略。在城市数目、规模、地域扩展的基础上，深层次发展的群体形态——区域化发展，应以城市体系调控为主要策略；深层次发展的个体形态——个性化发展，应以城市更新为主要策略。文章还以河南省城市体系、深圳市、上海市、吉隆坡市等为案例，对区域化发展和个性化发展进行了实证分析。     

THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN FIRMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Foreign firms are likely to attempt to shape host government policies in their favour, as the profitability of MNE foreign affiliates largely depends on the business environment in which they operate. Based on data from the World Business Environment Survey, this paper investigates the political influence of foreign firms in 48 developing countries. It is found that foreign firms derive substantial fiscal and regulatory advantages from their political influence and from their ability to negotiate superior entry conditions.     

NON-CORPORATE SECTOR FINANCE AND FINANCING OF SMALL INDUSTRIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

This paper attempts to report the author's findings regarding the role of the non-corporate sector in providing investment finance for small-scale industries in Nigeria, through co-operative efforts. It specially underlines the role of indigenous social organizations and group relations in solving the economic problems of a developing economy which places emphasis on industrial development. Though these sources provide short-term consumption finance, they certainly constitute an inadequate source of long-term finance for industry in a situation where the importance of small-scale industry development is officially greatly emphasized, and existing financial institutions are designed to serve only the financial needs of large industrial enterprises. The role of government in the context of the dilemma of the small-scale entrepreneur is examined and suggestions made for improvements. The paper reflects what is probably the experience of many developing countries trying to industrialize.     

WTO COMMITMENTS AND CAP ADOPTION IN CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF ROMANIA

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -     

OPTIMAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE COMPOSITION OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper analyses how the composition of public expenditure should be adjusted to maximize the economic growth rate in developing countries. We first apply a theoretical framework to empirical data from 50 countries. We then demonstrate how each country should adjust public expenditure for the purpose of maximizing growth. Results show that developing countries in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe have generally misallocated public expenditures in favour of defence, at the expense of public services. Other region‐specific results suggest that Asian developing countries should increase expenditure on education, and that Middle Eastern countries should decrease expenditure on education in favour of health.     

THE GOVERNANCE OF KNOWLEDGE COMPOSITENESS AND TECHNOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IN EUROPE

Abstract

Knowledge compositeness measures the variety of scientific disciplines that it is necessary to command in order to generate new technological knowledge. The paper investigates the relations between the knowledge compositeness of the flow of patents delivered to the main European automobile companies and the evolution of their technological and product market shares. Compositeness confirms to be an important characteristic of private knowledge: its governance exerts strong and positive effects on the technological and competitive advantage of firms. Knowledge compositeness has strong effects on the mechanisms of knowledge governance and management of technology. Appropriate measures of knowledge compositeness make it possible to qualify the quantitative measures of the technological competence of firms based upon patents counts.     

THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY AND THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In 1962 an article by Mr. Angelos Angelopoulos, professor at the Pantheios School of Political Sciences (Athens), entitled "The Third World, the European Common Market and the West", was published in the Annals . In that article the author described, with the freedom which is by tradition allowed to all contributors to the Annals , the fears and anxieties of the newly developing countries regarding the European Economic Community.
In the present article Mr. André Marchal, lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Economics of the University of Paris, discusses the same problem with the same freedom and a viewpoint radically different from that of Professor Angelopoulos.     

TRANSACTION COSTS AND EXPORT CHANNELS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: THE CASE OF KOREA

This paper develops hypotheses concerning firm- and industry-specific factors determining the relative importance to manufacturing exporters of different export channels in relatively high transaction cost Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data from a Korean SME survey demonstrate the validity of several hypotheses and reveal that most sample SMEs rate the external support for international marketing rather low. The paper offers recommendations for reforming such support.     

WAGE SUBSIDY AND WELFARE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper seeks to answer if wage subsidy to workers displaced due to trade reform raises welfare in a developing country. We use a general equilibrium model with non‐specific factor inputs and trade liberalization as a policy variable. A combination of wage subsidy and tariff rate obtains the second‐best welfare level. The theoretical result is new, policy‐relevant and important in view of political‐economy aspects of free trade in developing and transition countries.     

FOREIGN CAPITAL AND EFFICIENCY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper uses stochastic frontier methodology to analyse foreign direct investment, imported capital goods and human capital as channels for increased efficiency in less‐developed countries. Empirical investigation reveals that developing countries differ with respect to the efficiency with which they use frontier technology. Foreign direct investment and human capital play a significant and quantitatively important role in explaining these differences.     

SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LATIN AMERICA*

This paper presents some preliminary findings from a research study by the OECD Development Centre into the treatment of subsistence activities in national accounts. It summarizes the results of a questionnaire on country practices, and reports on the findings with respect to shares of non-monetary production in GDP, methods of estimation, and usefulness of the resulting estimates. Among the 48 developing countries covered, the share of non-monetary value added in total GDP ranges from over 40 percent for the poorer countries of Africa to 5 percent or less for the more advanced countries of Latin America and Southern Europe. In countries where rural living standards are much below those in urban areas, non-monetary activities may be very important to the well-being of a large number of people, even though they form only a small part of GDP, and it is still important to make realistic estimates for subsistence output. Agriculture is obviously the main item in non-monetary production, accounting often for over 80 percent of the total. Most countries use some kind of “producers' prices” for valuing agricultural output. Few countries now publish separate figures for non—monetary activities. For many countries, doing so would involve a considerable amount of extra work, but for a number of planning purposes it does seem important to distinguish subsistence activities separately.     

中韩新能源产业合作的经济效应实证研究

本文主要探讨中韩新能源领域的合作,尤其是对两国新能源领域中合作的经济效应进行评估。为了评价合作的经济效应,本文建立新能源合作的相对收益指数,并利用向量自回归模型(VAR)探寻能源合作指数(ECI)和贸易、GDP之间的关系,从而论证中韩新能源产业合作的重要性。