Effects of foreign and domestic economic policy uncertainty shocks on South Korea

This paper investigates the effects of foreign and domestic economic policy uncertainty shocks on South Korea via structural VARs. The results show that both foreign and domestic policy uncertainty shocks exert negative and significant impacts on South Korea. Foreign economic policy uncertainty shocks are found to be more dominant than domestic economic policy uncertainty shocks in influencing the Korean output. The results also indicate that economic policy uncertainty that originates from foreign countries is a significant source of disturbance to the Korean economy, but domestic policy uncertainty plays a rather limited role in explaining Korean business fluctuations.     

The economic policy uncertainty and the choice of entry mode of outward foreign direct investment: Cross-border M&A or Greenfield Investment

The paper investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the choice of entry mode of enterprises' Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI). Based on a framework of heterogeneous enterprises, this paper first theoretically investigates the impact mechanism. The theoretical predictions are then empirically tested using rich micro-level data of Chinese enterprises from 2000 to 2013. The empirical results show that economic policy uncertainty has a significant effect on the entry mode choice of Chinese OFDI. Specifically, when the economic policy uncertainty decreases, enterprises choose Cross-border mergers and acquisitions mode with higher propensity than the Greenfield investments mode of OFDI. Further analysis indicates that the impact is heterogeneous based on ownership type, region, factor intensity, productivity level, financing abilities, and host country development level. Statistical robustness checks strengthen our findings. Our study has implications for researchers and government policymakers, especially in developing economies similar to China. The results could help device policies that encourage enterprises to choose a specific mode of ODFI. The study also provides novel insights for Chinese enterprises to "go out" and the Chinese economy to realize high-quality development.     

Economic policy uncertainty and household consumption: Evidence from Chinese households

We find that households reduce their consumption in response to higher economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Compared with lower income households, high income group is more severely affected which can be explained by the portfolio choice of illiquid asset and liquid asset. In addition, the uncertainty effect is more pronounced among older, wealthier, well-educated and urban households. The impact of EPU on household consumption is also persistent. Holding more liquid asset and commercial insurance represent important channels in mitigating the negative effect of EPU on household consumption.     

Macroeconomic effects of uncertainty shocks: Evidence from Korea

This paper proposes a new measure of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) for Korea by fine-tuning the keywords and exploiting information drawn from a wide variety of local newspapers. The uniqueness of our new EPU index lies mainly in the fact that it uses a set of keywords that correspond much more closely to actual language use and better reflect the economic environment of Korea, which is classified as a small open economy. After shocks to EPU being identified, we employ these shocks to estimate the impulse responses using local projections. Unlike the existing measure, our results show that shocks to EPU lead to a significant decline in macroeconomic aggregates such as output, consumption, investment, and employment. Thus our results suggest a refinement of the EPU index in general for other countries accordingly. We also develop policy-specific uncertainty indices and show that they capture important historical events related to the corresponding policies, such as monetary and fiscal measures.     

Europe in the midst of China–US strategic economic competition: what are the European Union’s options?

ABSTRACT

Despite President Trump’s announcement of a partial deal on October 11, the prolonged economic competition between the two superpowers does not bode well for the future. Within this context, the European Union faces an urgent question: how to position itself in the US–China competition. This paper aims at addressing this question after reviewing the milestones of the trade war and the consequences for China, the US and EU. This paper concludes that European companies are to suffer from the trade war but some sectors could experience gains. Also, a trade deal which pushes China to reform and open up would also be beneficial. Against this background, this paper reviews the EU’s options in dealing with the two hegemons in the light of their growing strategic confrontation. These options are safeguarding multilateralism, relying on the Transatlantic Alliance and remaining neutral which implies relative more engagement with China on economic matters.     

Economic relations between China and the U.S

ABSTRACT

First, we summarise the chronology of the China-U.S. trade war. We then show that the China-U.S. trade surplus, correctly measured, is not as large as it is made out to be, but is nevertheless still a large number. In terms of the total domestic value-added generated by the exports of goods to each other, the China-U.S. bilateral gap is even smaller. Next, we analyse both the immediate and real impacts of the mutual tariffs on the two economies. Third, we discuss economic and technological competition between China and the U.S. and present long-term projections of the two economies to 2050. Fourth, we identify the economic complementarities between China and the U.S. We then discuss the possibility of coordinated expansion of trade. Fifth, we also discuss the thorny bilateral issues in the economic relations between the two countries.     

Trade policy uncertainty,development strategy,and export behavior: Evidence from listed industrial companies in China

On the basis of new structural economics theory and heterogeneity of firm viability, this study analyzes the effect of trade policy uncertainty on firm export behavior using panel data of Chinese listed companies in the industrial sector. Empirical results show that the high uncertainty of trade policy significantly inhibits the extensive and intensive margins of firm export, while heterogeneity effect occurs across firms with different levels of viability. The development strategy that violates comparative advantage strengthens the negative impact of trade policy uncertainty on firm export. Despite their correlation with viability, the type of ownership, total factor productivity, and long-term loan are not suitable proxies for firm viability. Under high uncertainty of trade policy, export market diversification can alleviate the restraining effect of development strategy on firm export, whereas firms in regions with high industrial-oriented development tend to be vulnerable to cost shocks, thus reducing export market diversification. Findings present important implications for emerging market countries to enact better international trade and economic policies.     

应对进攻型互联网自由战略的挑战——析中美在全球信息空间的竞争与合作

自奥巴马入主白宫以来,美国的网络空间战略已经发生了重要而显著的变化。2009-2011年的一系列事件表明,美国逐渐转变了其原有的以防御为主要特征的网络空间战略,转而发展并初步完善了一套以"互联网自由"为核心概念,以"控制-塑造"为基本特征的进攻型互联网自由战略。借由监控网络空间信息流动,实现对于全球网络空间的塑造,以期形成有利于美国的网络空间环境,争夺、树立并确保美国在网络空间的领导地位。这一转变是信息技术革命与其所在的政治、社会结构互动的自然后果;同时也是20世纪70年代以来,美国国家信息安全战略系统演化发展的必然结果。进攻型互联网自由战略的成型将对中美关系产生复杂的影响,中美之间将在全球信息空间展开复杂而微妙的博弈,其主要特点是基于有限信任基础上的合作。确立行为准则以消除不确定性,确认共同利益并建立可操作的双边合作机制,推动规范全球信息空间行为准则的发育和发展,在可预见的未来,应该成为中美共同努力达成的目标。     

The need for economic policy coordination between Europe,Japan, and the United States: Policy recommendations for the 1990s

Better policy coordination between Europe, Japan, and the United States is urgently needed in order to restore economic growth and to diminish mutual trade imbalances. Using the EC Compact model it is shown how coordinated fiscal policies can contribute to reaching these goals in the 1990s. For Europe, the most plausible fiscal policy option seems to be a combination of lower direct taxes, public spending cuts, and wage moderation; for Japan a more expansionary fiscal policy is feasible. For the United States, however, public spending cuts or tax increases are necessary conditions for better economic performance. In addition, for all three blocks a swap between tax reduction and wage moderation is recommended.     

Behind the heterogeneous trade effects of standards: Multi-sector evidence from China

Standards can influence trades via multiple channels, such as signaling effects, common language effects, and compliance costs. We argue that the impacting channels of standards differ across sectors, which originates from diverse sector features and results in heterogeneous trade effects of standards. In this paper, we focus on the trade effects of standards in developing countries as exporters. Gravity models are applied on the panel data of China’s bilateral trades in 33 sectors from 2002 to 2016. We examine the moderating role of sector features, including the intensity of capital, labor, and technology, on the trade effects of standards. We find that trade-promoting effects of standards are stronger in high-capital sectors and weaker in high-labor sectors. In high-tech sectors, the trade-promoting effects are stronger for internationally harmonized standards while weaker for national standards. Our findings provide managerial implications on standardization policies for China and other developing countries. For instance, international harmonization of standards should be highlighted in high-tech sectors.     

Human capital quality and the regional economic growth: Evidence from China

China's economic development has advanced from a high-speed to a high-quality growth stage in recent years. The optimization and upgrading of the economic structure require high-quality human capital to support an innovation-driven economy. In this paper, a general equilibrium model of human capital (Xiang & Yeaple, 2018) is applied to estimate the cognitive and non-cognitive productivities based on Chinese provincial-level macro-data and individual labor's micro-data from 2008 to 2017. The weighted power mean of cognitive and non-cognitive productivities helps calculate the provincial-level human capital quality index (HCQI), which provides a realistic estimate of human capital quality. We find that the improvement of the HCQI leads to convergence in economic growth in China's provinces. HCQI can help explain the differences in economic growth levels in different regions of China. Our study provides a constructive step in understanding cognitive and non-cognitive abilities and HCQI in China, which could help guide education investment policy in China and its provinces.     

中国国际贸易中的碳排放计算及评估--基于中澳2002-2009年数据的分析

国际贸易引起的碳排放日益受到重视,量化计算、分析进出口贸易导致的碳排放及其变动原因,是贸易发展方式转变的一项基础性工作。文章采用国际标准,以中澳贸易为例,首次计算双边贸易导致的CO2排放量,应用分解分析方法,进一步从规模效应、结构效应和技术效应等方面分析碳排放变化的原因。在此基础上,提出扩大资源类商品进口、限制高排放商品出口、以技术进步降低商品生产的碳排放强度等政策建议。     

产业地理与贸易决策——理解中美贸易战的微观逻辑

2018年开始,美国对华发起规模空前的贸易战,具体内容主要包括“关税战”和“技术战”两个方面。贸易战在美国国内引发了明显的利益分化,利益受损方及其在政治体系中的代表力量成为特朗普政府与中国达成贸易协议以在某种程度上减弱贸易战烈度甚至结束贸易战的主要动力。由于美国的产业呈现高度的地理集聚特征,在中美贸易战中利益受到损失的产业最终会通过它们所在选区的政治代言人来表达自身的利益诉求,因此,理解美国产业地理政治的基本特征是理解中美贸易战进程中两国变换采取攻守策略的逻辑基础。作者认为,以产业集中分布为特征的产业地理和以选区为中心的政治地理是理解美国社会利益和政策偏好向联邦政府传导的两把“钥匙”,它们共同构成了塑造联邦政府对华贸易政策的微观利益基础和核心动力机制。由于受损者比获益者更有动力站出来表达利益诉求以影响政府决策,作者在实证部分集中关注美国对华货物出口行业的产业地理政治,分析中美贸易战中美国国内潜在的反对力量,进而为有针对性地制定对美反制措施提出政策建议。     

Spatial Concentration of Innovation Activities in China and the Role of Mega‐economic Zones

This paper analyzes the development of spatial concentration of various innovation activities in China from 2000 to 2015 by using a generalized Theil index based on a balanced provincial dataset. It tracks concentration development back to the developing heterogeneity within and between regions in general and the mega‐economic zones in particular. Results show that innovation activities tend to be distributed unequally across provinces in China, with more pronounced unequal distribution of innovation outcomes than innovation inputs. Over the research period, the innovation activities considered became more and more equally distributed across provinces. The between‐region inequality of innovation activities has, however, not yet significantly improved, despite the implementation of Chinese regional policies to encourage more equal regional development. Instead, more equal distribution of innovation activities within mega‐economic zones is observed.     

The pressure of economic growth and the issuance of Urban Investment Bonds: Based on panel data from 2005 to 2011 in China

This paper explores the motivations behind the issuance of Urban Investment Bonds (UIBs) to stimulate local economies in China after the 2008 global financial crisis. Based on panel data from 2005 to 2011, we find that pressure to achieve economic growth has a positive effect on the issuance of UIBs, while fiscal pressure has the opposite effect on UIB issuance. We also find that the tenure of municipal party secretary, the revenue of land-use right transfer and fiscal pressure will change the impact of economic growth pressure on UIB issuance. These results are consistent with a pattern in which China's local government officials are influenced by the central government's assessment of local economic growth performance and have promotion-related incentives to maintain and develop the local economy.     

论ECFA对两岸经贸关系的影响——基于双边自由贸易理论的分析

签订FTA对小规模经济体而言,在降低进入成本同时,带来贸易转移效应,并利用大型经济体的资源实现自身产业链的优化,避免被边缘化的危机,提高经济水平和自身福利。本文从理论上分析了ECFA签订的必要性,并结合台湾实际,提出政策建议。     

Social networks,rule of law and economic growth in China: The elusive pursuit of the right combination of private and public ordering

Social networks have always been an integral part of every society. However, they are different and play a more prominent role in Asian societies. In particular, it will be argued that the relationship of private ordering, networks of relationships, and informal law to formal law are necessary in addition to rule of law for a sustained economic growth. This is evident in how various Asian countries escaped the financial crisis that crippled the region. Rather than an analysis of several different Asian societies, China will be the main focus.