Task Routineness and Trade Policy Preferences

Understanding the formation of individual trade policy preferences is a fundamental input into the modeling of trade policy outcomes. Surprisingly, past studies have found mixed evidence that various labor market and industry attributes of workers affect their trade policy preferences, even though recent studies have found that trade policy can have substantial impacts on workers' incomes. This paper provides the first analysis of the extent to which task routineness affects trade policy preferences using survey data from the American National Election Studies. We find significant evidence that greater task routineness leads workers to be much more supportive of import restrictions, consistent with recent evidence on how trade openness puts downward pressure on employment and wages for workers whose occupations involve routine tasks. In fact, other than education levels, task routineness is the only labor market attribute that displays a robust correlation with individuals' stated trade policy preferences. We also provide evidence that there are some interactions between the economic and non‐economic factors in our study. For example, women's trade policy views are much more invariant to their labor market attributes than men, suggesting that women's views on this issue are driven more by personal and ideological beliefs than men.     

Intra‐industry Trade Liberalization: Why Skilled Workers are More Likely to Support Free Trade

This paper presents a theoretical model and empirical analysis that connects the prevalence of intra‐industry trade with increased wage inequality from trade liberalization in both skilled and unskilled labor abundant countries. The Stolper–Samuelson effect is incorporated into an intra‐industry trade liberalization (intra‐ITL) hypothesis where skilled labor opposes protectionism in all countries engaged in intra‐industry trade because skilled workers gain at the expense of unskilled workers from multilateral trade liberalization within the skill‐intensive sector. We examine empirical evidence on whether skilled individuals are more supportive of trade liberalization than unskilled individuals across 31 countries with different levels of intra‐industry trade and skill endowments. We find that the extent to which countries engage in intra‐industry trade in high‐tech commodities is strongly linked with the intensity of opposition to protection by skilled labor. Regression results strongly support our hypothesis that skilled workers, almost everywhere, are more likely to support free trade.     

The political economy of trade and migration: Evidence from the U.S. Congress

We compare the drivers of U.S. congressmen's votes on trade and migration reforms since the 1970s. Standard trade theory suggests that trade reforms that lower barriers to goods from less skilled‐labor abundant countries and migration reforms that lower barriers to low‐skilled migrants should have similar distributional effects, hurting low‐skilled U.S. workers while benefiting high‐skilled workers. In line with this prediction, we find that House members representing more skilled‐labor abundant districts are more likely to support trade and migration reforms that benefit high‐skilled workers. Still, important differences exist: Democrats are less supportive of trade reforms than Republicans, while the opposite is true for migration reforms; welfare state considerations and network effects shape votes on migration, but not on trade.     

UNITED STATES-CHINA TRADE AT THE COMMODITY LEVEL AND THE YUAN-DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE

In 1978 when China began her economic reforms of moving toward a free market economy and trade liberalization, the trade balance between China and the United States was in favor of the United States in the magnitude of 600 million dollars. Over the 1978–2002 period, however, it has changed in favor of China such that in 2002 China had a surplus of 120 billion dollars against the United States. Over the same period, the Chinese yuan has depreciated almost fourfold. Is real depreciation of the yuan against the dollar a factor in the trade between the two countries? In this article, we employ data at the industry level (88 two‐ and three‐digit industries) and recent advances in error‐correction modeling to show that indeed the real yuan‐dollar rate has played a significant role. This contradicts most previous research that used trade data at the aggregate level. (JEL F31, F32, F14)     

Unity versus Collaboration: Construction of China's Belt and Road Free Trade Agreement 2.0 Network

In the context of the United States prioritizing bilateral as well as trilateral trade agreements and China's regional economic integration strategy based on the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, the B&R free trade agreement (FTA) and the US–European–Japanese FTA (UEJFTA) have become the two regional economic integration processes with the greatest potential impact on the world economic landscape. The present paper examines the game situation as well as the economic effects of China's B&R‐FTA 2.0 network against the United States' UEJFTA to study the optimization of China's B&R FTA system. By constructing a four‐country extended game model under a two‐part expansion, we find that an increase in members will promote the welfare of each country when there is a single regional trade agreement; the potential member countries tend to choose larger organizations for higher economic benefits when there are several regional trade agreements. Our quantitative simulation shows that promoting the construction of the FTA 2.0 network based on the B&R can significantly alleviate the impact of FTA entered into by the United States with its major trading partners.     

Labor markets and cultural values: Evidence from Japanese and American views about caregiving immigrants

One overlooked reason for the persistence of distinct cultural values across rich democracies, we argue, is a country's labor market structure. Parents seeking to position their children for long‐term success would do well to instill values consistent with requirements of the labor market in the country where their children are likely to work. To the extent that labor markets are fluid, as in the United States, parents should teach their children to be resourceful and creative. In countries like Japan with relatively rigid labor markets, where workers have one chance to land a long‐term contract with a leading company, parents instead should instill the values of hard work and respect for authority. We find evidence consistent with this argument in survey experiments about attitudes in the United States and Japan about the desirability of employing immigrants for care work, and what values the immigrant care workers should hold. We also find evidence of indirect norm creation. American and Japanese respondents prefer immigrants—not just caregiving immigrants—whose values align with their country's type of valued human capital.     

Economic Integration Among Taiwan, Hong Kong and China: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

This paper investigates the effects of economic integration among Taiwan, Hong Kong and China (CEA). A seven-region, seven-sector computable general equilibrium model for world production and trade is developed for this purpose. The simulation results demonstrate that the three Chinese economies would benefit greatly from further integration by means of liberalizing trade policies. The opportunity cost of isolating the United States from East Asia is high for both the US and the three Chinese economies, suggesting that an economically integrated CEA is in the long-term strategic interest of the United States.     

中国经济与美、日经济波动的相关性研究

中国经济与美、日经济波动有很强的相关性和长期的均衡关系，美国经济与中国经济间有正向关系；日本与中国经济间却是负向关系。美、日两国经济的共同波动会通过资本流动的渠道影响中国。因此，为了降低美日经济波动对中国的影响，中国贸易必须走多元化的路子，而且应减少对国外资金流入的依赖。     

Global trade flows and economic policy uncertainty

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the impacts of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on global trade flows in gauging international trade developments. We employ a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) trade model, augmented with value-added bilateral trade linkages, that allows for quantifying the effects of economy-specific uncertainty shocks on exports and imports of individual economies. We find substantial spatial propagation in the temporal dynamics of international transmission of shocks amidst the manifestations of cross-border global value chains (GVCs) with China’s accession into the WTO. We provide evidence for the significance of EPU of China and the United States, particularly the latter, in influencing global trade flows. Our results show that while the US impacts can largely be attributed to its indirect trade linkages with other economies, the impacts of China can be relegated more to its direct GVC linkages. The findings have implications on trade protectionist inclinations of the current-term US government and the ongoing efforts of China’s policymakers in steering macroeconomic rebalancing for sustainable growth.     

ECFA对两岸三地的经济、贸易和产业影响-基于全球贸易分析模型GTAP的分析

基于全球贸易分析GTAP模型及相关地区关税校准,本文分析了《两岸经济合作架构协议》(ECFA)"早期收获"和"全面实施"两种降税安排对两岸三地的经贸影响。研究发现:短期内早期收获计划将对大陆的贸易余额和贸易条件产生负面冲击,但长期动态条件下将显著促进两岸贸易、经济增长和福利水平;ECFA全面实施的影响幅度大于早期收获计划;台湾地区的改善幅度大于大陆,香港地区作为两岸贸易中转港的地位显著减弱;ECFA对各产业影响存在差异。     

Understanding the recent Sino-U.S. trade conflict

ABSTRACT

To understand Sino-U.S. trade relations, this article interprets the trade imbalance between China and the United States from the Trump administration’s perspective. The Trump administration claims that the Chinese government’s subsidies and high import tariffs cause the Sino-U.S. trade deficit, resulting in job losses in the U.S. The Trump administration therefore argues that imposing high tariffs on Chinese exports can resolve the deficit. The article finds that U.S. statistical accounting overestimates the deficit. Reducing China’s imports cannot increase U.S. employment, and China provides the United States with low-price and high-quality products. Chinese investors tend to invest the surplus by purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds. In addition, the United States limits Chinese investments due to ‘national security’ concerns. China’s upgrading to the high end of the global value chain is a consequence of economic development. Therefore, the two countries should rebalance Sino-U.S. trade by seeking economic and trade cooperation via trade negotiations.     

Catching Up and Convergence: Long-run Growth in East Asia

The paper attempts to combine the traditional learning model with the recent theory of economic growth using Maddison's long‐run real GDP per capita data of the three fastest growing countries in East Asia: Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. The authors first explain games of catching‐up among nations, and then explain the learning coefficients of Taiwan and Korea with Japan and the United States through periods before and after World War II. The model of leaning leads to the logistic model of economic growth of convergence between two countries. Using time‐series data, the coefficients of a logistic model are estimated to confirm that the real GDP per capita of Taiwan and Korea are converging to that of Japan and the United States, respectively. Similarly, Japan's GDP per capita converges to that of the United States. The time required for finite convergence for these countries is also estimated.     

The United States is a Small Country in World Trade*

Despite being the largest country in world trade and thus presumably having high optimal tariffs, the United States has long had low and declining levels of protection. This paradox suggests that the United States is failing to exploit its monopsony power by levying optimal tariffs. Using data on world output and trade flows, we find that the United States is a small country in world trade in that its trade policies have negligible impacts on world prices. In the median manufacturing industry, US tariffs reduce world prices by only 0.12%. United States optimal tariffs are also typically small (3.6% in the median industry) and are lower than existing US tariffs in most industries. It is no puzzle that the United States has been a champion of free trade since the 1930s—the United States, like other small countries, benefits economically from tariff reductions.     

港澳台—中国对外开放的独特优势

中国对外开放三十多年,经济发展速度之快举世瞩目。作为对外开放的典型标志,对外贸易和引进外资更是突飞猛进,成为世界贸易排名第二、发展中国家引进外资最多的经济体。中国对外开放之所以取得如此成就,港澳台地区功不可没,甚至可言,如果没有同文同种的新型工业化经济体港澳台与中国内地的密切经贸往来,中国对外开放将经历较长的探索阶段。港澳台地区是中国对外开放最早的也是迄今最主要的投资者,是中国承接国际产业转移最重要的推动者,也是中国进军国际市场的最重要中介与平台。无论是珠三角经济带还是长三角经济带,港澳台企业都是重要的支柱力量。中国最早的区域经济一体化协议,是与香港和澳门签署的,今后中国的自贸区战略,港澳台地区将成为核心。     

浅析美国在华直接投资与中美贸易的关系

贸易和投资——世界经济全球化的两个主要推动力量,日益向着一体化的方向发展。随着经济全球化的日益深入,中美两国的经贸联系越发密切。美国是当今世界经济的主要引擎之一,其在华的直接投资对中关进出口贸易产生着举足轻重的影响。文章分析了美国在华直接投资与中关贸易的发展趋势及其特点,并在此基础上探讨了美国对华投资与中关贸易互相促进的关系。     

The ECFA and its expected effect on cross-strait trade and investment: a Taiwanese perspective

To come to terms with the realization of ASEAN+1, Taiwan had concluded with mainland China a special free trade agreement (FTA), the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June 2010. This framework agreement provides an early harvest agreement of near-term tariff elimination, including detailed product schedules for goods and services from each side, with the final shape of fuller trade liberalization in goods and services taking years to negotiate and realize. The conclusion of the ECFA has been considered as a major breakthrough in cross-strait talks and economic relationships, even though it is by no means free from controversies inside Taiwan. The authors are therefore motivated by hot debates in Taiwan to reflect on the expected trade effect of the ECFA by taking into account the factor of cross-strait global production networks. In particular, we examine with a proposed model and statistical robustness, the trend of Taiwan-based firms' localization in mainland China, driven in part by constant movements in global production networks, which generates complicated and dynamic relationships between Taiwan's investment-induced trade and structural shift in Taiwan's exports to mainland China. Based on our empirical findings, we reflect on the conventional views on the trade effect of the free trade agreement. The results of our analyses tend to support a cautious view about the trade effect of the ECFA. Without denying the significance of the ECFA and deepening cross-strait economic relationships, we argue that the impact of the ECFA should be interpreted in a wider context than just the trade perspective, as the conventional wisdom and the existing evaluations suggested.     

基于货币需求的货币替代研究——以台湾为例

台湾曾经是日本的殖民地,且因地理位置的关系,所以日本一直都是台湾的主要贸易国家,以致于长期对台湾货币体系及外汇市场的影响力不亚于美国。然而过去对于台湾货币需求的研究,多半以美国作为主要对象国家来研究。现如今民众可多元地持有国际性资产,单一探讨美国的影响或许不够全面。本文根据1985-2008年的资料,研究美国和日本的货币性冲击对台湾货币需求的影响。首先通过台湾对美、日的贸易比重,编制有效汇率和有效利率,作为衡量来自两国货币性冲击的依据。其次以向量误差修正模型进行分析,找出台湾货币需求的长期均衡关系,发现台湾的货币需求与本国产出、本国利率、美日两国有效利率及有效汇率等存在显著长期均衡关系。简言之,台湾货币体系对来自美国和日本的干扰因素,具有高度的敏感性。     

The effect of NAFTA on internal migration in Mexico: a regional economic analysis

Trade facilitates growth in some regions of a country while shrinking others, and therefore to benefit from trade, labour may need to be able to migrate. This mobility is particularly crucial in a developing country with high income inequality like Mexico. We seek to answer the following questions: What characteristics facilitate or hinder that internal migration? Has trade liberalization changed the pattern of internal migration in Mexico? We first predict regional economic growth resulting from changes in Mexico-US tariffs by sector. We find that trade liberalization appears to have largely benefited the manufacturing sector. Next, using a spatial gravity model of migration, we find that while economic growth from trade openness drew workers to urban regions in the northern Border States of Mexico, much of the trade-driven migration occurred before NAFTA. Second, contrary to popular belief, migration from largely rural states appears to have decreased since NAFTA. We also find evidence that migration to the United States increased after NAFTA. Last, we find that income disparity in both the destination and origin region deters migration and that this effect increases after NAFTA. Thus, we see evidence that within-region income disparity can hinder migration, potentially exacerbating income disparity among regions.     

US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past,the Present,and Implications for the US–China Trade War

The United States and Japan have been involved in trade frictions over a number of products including textiles, steel, automobiles, semi‐conductors, and agricultural products over the last 50 years. US–Japan trade frictions have taken basically two forms: (i) the United States attempting to restrict Japan's exports to the United States; and (ii) the United States attempting to increase its exports to Japan by “opening” the Japanese market. By putting pressure on Japan to adopt necessary measures, the United States sought to achieve two main objectives: (i) to reduce its trade deficit vis‐à‐vis Japan; and (ii) to protect and/or promote US industries. The United States failed to achieve the first objective, while some success was achieved for the second objective. The United States triggered a trade war against China with the objectives of: (i) reducing the bilateral trade deficit; and (ii) stopping unfair trade practices by Chinese firms such as violations of intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer. Based on the experiences from the US–Japan trade frictions, the United States may achieve some success for the second objective, but not for the first. The chances of achieving the second objective would increase if the United States cooperates with countries such as Japan and the European Union, which are faced with similar problems.     

对外贸易差额结构 与中国新经济增长模式

本文通过考察中国对外贸易的差额结构来展望“十二五”纲要中提出的中国新经济增长模式的发展前景。统计分析表明,中国对外贸易顺差是伴随着高耗能、低附加值制造业的发展而实现的,中国外向型制造业的附加值很低,无法真正实现从根本上提升技术水平的目标。中国的产成品过于集中地出口到美国和欧盟,使中国产品在国际市场上面临着严重的贸易摩擦与争端,使中国对外贸易发展具有不可持续性。为完成“十二五”纲要中的发展目标,实现内外平衡的经济增长新模式,需要调整目前的贸易差额结构,既要努力实现国内制造业技术水平的提升,又要注意出口流向多元化,并且从根本上促进金融保险等服务业的发展;在依靠国内市场的同时不能放弃对外贸易,并力争做到二者的协同发展。