Does agricultural trade affect productivity? Evidence from Chilean farms

This paper analyzes the relationship between trade and agricultural productivity in Chile, a middle-income country with a recent noticeable history of agricultural trade. This study uses an agricultural commodity trade exposure index in a cross-sectional analysis of more than 70,000 farms to study the relationship between the trade exposure of agricultural commodities and the yields reported by these farms in the 1997 Chilean agricultural census. In order to capture both import and export exposure we subdivide farms in two groups, according to the Chilean case: farms producing only importables such as grains (traditional crops), and farms producing both traditional crops and non-traditional agricultural commodities (products more related to export markets). We exclude from our analysis farms producing only non-traditional products because the census only reports yields for traditional crops. We employ a switching regression model to analyze the effects of trade exposure on traditional crop yields for both groups of farms. Results show that the trade exposure index is positively related to farm yields for both groups, but with a larger effect on farmers producing both traditional and non-traditional commodities. These results are important because they suggest that spillovers from both importables and exportables produce gains in the productivity of traditional crops.     

Telecommunications and economic development – The 21st century: Making the evidence stronger

A review of the literature on the relation between telecommunications and economic development published since the turn of this century is undertaken. Two stages have been considered: until 2008, most contributions continued to examine the role of telecommunications taken together; since 2009, the impact of broadband –and, to a lesser extent, of mobile communications– dominates the research agenda. All in all, the role of telecommunications as a catalyst to leverage economic growth has been conclusively proven over the years. Taking into consideration the shortcomings of previous research, suggestions for future work are also provided.     

Oligopoly, open shop unions and trade liberalisation

In an international duopoly model, we investigate how trade liberalisation impacts on collective bargaining outcomes when workers are represented by open shop unions. We find that, with intermediate levels of union density, trade liberalisation may lead to higher negotiated wages even if no trade occurs in equilibrium. In addition, we show that union wages may be higher with free trade than in autarky.     

中国制造业贸易成本的测度

传统贸易成本的估计采用缺乏微观基础且基于对称性假设的理论模型,本文利用克服以上缺点的模型,估计了中国与主要贸易伙伴之间制造业各产业的贸易成本,结果显示:1997—2007年,中国与主要贸易伙伴的贸易成本在制造业各产业上都表现出不同程度的逐年下降趋势,在制造业所有的产业中,高技术型制成品贸易成本最低,下降幅度最大。在主要贸易伙伴中,中国与日本、韩国的贸易成本低于欧美国家。中国与欧美等发达国家之间存在较大的技术鸿沟,高技术产业仍处于国际产品内分工的低端环节。因此,国家亟待调整和出台国际贸易及相关支持政策,引导、促进中国制造业在国际产业价值链中加快升级,减少贸易成本。     

Can upgrading information infrastructure improve the innovation ability of companies? Empirical evidence from China

The development of information technology has become a new driving force for companies' innovation. Upgrading the information infrastructure lays a foundation for companies to use information technology to innovate; therefore, this study examines the impact of information infrastructure upgrading on companies' innovation ability and the intermediate mechanism. Using a sample of China's listed companies of A-share from 2011 to 2018, this study used the staggered difference-in-difference method to investigate the impact of information infrastructure upgrading on innovation input, innovation output and quality. The results show that upgrading information infrastructure has a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the innovation ability of companies. Companies' innovation input and output significantly increase, but innovation quality decreases. Additionally, further analysis indicates that financial constraints and managerial myopia are intermediary mechanisms for this effect. Our research results provide theoretical and empirical evidence for companies to enhance their innovation ability.     

Rethinking the global food crisis: The role of trade shocks

Although fundamental factors were clearly responsible for shifting the world to a higher food price equilibrium in the years leading up the 2008 food crisis, there is little doubt that when food prices peaked in June of 2008, they soared well above the new equilibrium price. Numerous arguments have been proposed to explain overshooting, including financial speculation, depreciation of the United States (US) dollar, low interest rates, and reductions in grain stocks. However, observations that international rice prices surged in response to export restrictions by India and Vietnam suggested that trade-related factors could be an important basis for overshooting, especially given the very tangible link between export volumes and export prices. In this paper, we revisit the trade story by closely examining monthly data from Thailand (the largest exporter of rice), and the United States (the largest exporter of wheat and maize and the third largest exporter of soybeans). In all cases except soybeans, we find that large surges in export volumes preceded the price surges. The presence of these large demand surges, together with back-of-the-envelope estimates of their price impacts, suggests that trade events played a much larger and more pervasive role than previously thought.     

美国技术性贸易壁垒对我国出口贸易的影响——基于贸易引力模型的实证研究

本文选取我国和美国GDP、人民币汇率、美国对华直接投资、金融危机、滞后一期的美国TBT通报量、滞后一期的我国对美国出口额构建贸易引力模型,实证分析美国技术性贸易壁垒对我国出口贸易的影响。结果表明,美国技术性贸易壁垒对我国出口贸易具有较强的负面影响,滞后一期的美国TBT通报量的对数每上升1个百分点,我国对美国出口额的对数就减少0.1775个百分点。最后从正面突破和侧面规避两个角度提出相关应对策略。     

Food safety regulation and trade in food products

Nations are becoming increasingly dependent upon internationally traded food products, often at the expense of traditional agricultural commodities. As the focus shifts to high value-added imports and exports, regulations targeting the food safety attributes of these products are increasingly cited as a source of potential non-tariff barriers to trade. To counter such concerns, various bilateral and multilateral efforts to demonstrate the integrity of the regulatory systems under which these foods are produced are taking centre stage. Little analysis of the relative efficacy of such rapprochement efforts exists. This paper therefore discusses the impacts food safety regulation can have on the growth in food trade by presenting a review of key regulatory rapprochement efforts targeting them. The GATT SPS Agreement in particular is discussed. Recent disputes centring on the impacts of food safety regulations are also reviewed to suggest how GATT commitments are being interpreted and enforced. This discussion highlights potential road-blocs to additional trade facilitation and evaluates if a ‘hard law’ system now exists.     

Consumer information,labelling and international trade in agri-food products

The focus of the World Trade Organization is establishing limits on governments’ ability to impose trade barriers in response to producers’ requests for protection. In recent years, however, requests for protection from imports has increasingly come from consumers over issues ranging from animal welfare concerns, employment of child labour, the use of growth hormones, differing environmental standards and GM foods. The current international trade regime is ill-suited to deal with consumer-based protectionism. This paper develops a model that explicitly incorporates consumer concerns into an international trade model and compares the result with the standard treatment. Further, using the model incorporating consumer concerns, a labelling policy for imports is compared to an import embargo. The labelling policy is found to be superior to an embargo. Implications are drawn for future trade negotiations pertaining to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade.     

基于兼并成本和协同效应的横向并购研究

进入新世纪后,中国企业的并购活动越来越频繁。本文基于SSR模型,引入兼并成本和协同效应,研究并购厂商的并购动机以及并购行为对社会福利的影响,分析协同效应与兼并成本之间的关系。得出结论:当协同效应使厂商增加的利润大于兼并成本时,并购厂商总是愿意并购;并购后,福利在消费者和非并购厂商之间转移。当协同效应和兼并成本满足一定条件时,横向并购才可以增加社会福利。     

基于速度经济的敏捷企业组织结构选择

文章首先通过对速度经济的现实出发引出敏捷企业,进而对敏捷企业的内涵的特点进行了阐述。其次构建了企业组织选择的交易成本模型和组织成本模型,为企业组织选择进行理论铺垫。再次分析了敏捷企业的组织成本。最后,提出了敏捷企业的可行性组织结构。     

对外贸易与中国制造业发展：基于可计算一般均衡（CGE）模型的模拟分析

运用CGE模型模拟分析了对外贸易对我国制造业主要行业的产出、收益及投资水平的作用效果。分析结果显示,制造业产出、收益和投资变化率与对外贸易变化率呈正相关;除了金属行业的收益增长率在贸易小幅增长时,其行业的收益率高于贸易的增长率以外,其余行业的贸易的增长率均大于各行业收益增长率,低于投资增长率;而贸易的小幅增长对于纺织业、金属行业、炼焦、煤气和石油加工业的收益水平的提升更有利;贸易的高度增长对于具有增长潜力的机械行业更有利;对于食品制造业、化学行业、非金属矿物制品业来讲贸易的适度增长对行业发展更有利。由此提出在大力发展制造业贸易的同时,要针对各行业对贸易的不同敏感程度,合理的调整产业政策,发挥技术创新能力,以此提升制造业的贸易利得。     

Fruit and vegetable access to EU markets: Dissecting tariffs faced by Mediterranean countries

This paper analyzes the access of Eastern and Southern Mediterranean countries to the EU fruit and vegetables market and provides a measure of the level of preferences from which they benefit. To take into account the complexity of EU protection in the F&V sector, in particular the seasonality of protection and the Entry Price System, we conducted our analysis at a very disaggregated level (eight digits of the nomenclature, monthly data). We showed that, on average, Mediterranean countries do have significant preferences compared to other countries exporting to the EU. However, the magnitude of the preferences differs among countries; Morocco has the highest preference, while Syria and Israel have the lowest. We simulated a multilateral reduction in the MFN tariffs (as planned in the Doha Round) and showed that this would reduce the heterogeneity within the zone by more strongly eroding the preferences of the most advantaged countries. The classification of Entry Price products as sensitive products would either benefit or have no effect on most Mediterranean countries.     

贸易成本、本地关联与产业集群迁移

本文着重分析在劳动力成本上升和人民币升值的背景下,沿海产业集群迁移的影响因素、可能的迁移倾向和应对策略。由于产业集群的本地关联性和对国际市场的依赖程度不同,生产和贸易成本上升对这些集群区位再选择的影响也不同。由跨国公司主导的一些高技术产业加工贸易集群向沿海中小城市或低成本国家迁移的倾向会越来越明显;而数量众多的传统产业集群,随着出口增长率的下降和内需的提升,向中西部地区扩散或迁移的速度将会加快。东部沿海地区应积极扩散一些已丧失优势的劳动密集型产业,同时抓住世界服务业转移的机会实现产业升级;中西部地区要着力创造有利于承接沿海产业转移的软硬环境,尤其是降低物流成本和交易成本。开展区域合作,减少企业迁移的不确定性,是促进产业理性转移和区域协调发展不可忽视的环节。     

Agricultural market integration in the OECD: A gravity-border effect approach

This paper uses the border effect estimate from a gravity model to assess the level of agricultural market trade integration among 22 OECD countries for the 1994–2003 period. Empirical analysis confirms that the use of a gravity equation derived from theory, in the estimation of border effect, matters. A representative estimate of the border effect shows that crossing a national border within the OECD induces an average trade-reduction effect of a factor 13. This average value masks differences that are quite substantial in market integration, with value for intra-EU trade being higher while that for trade between the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is lower. The data show a process of strong integration in all the country-trade combinations involving CEECs. However, quite surprisingly, the intra-CEEC and OECD-CEEC integration processes are almost twice as strong as those in the EU-CEEC combination. Finally, the equivalent tariffs implied by the estimated border effects are not implausible compared to the actual range of direct protection measures.