International trade,knowledge diffusion,and growth

The international diffusion of knowledge is not a major topic in traditional trade theory, although it has a crucial direct and indirect impact on the development of open economics. In this article, the scale effects and the resource reallocation effects of the international transmission of knowledge are analyzed. Within a model, it is shown that free trade in goods can harm growth in an economy that is relatively well supplied with skilled labor if the international diffusion of knowledge is not intensive enough.     

Export and imperfect hedging

Abstract

This paper considers the effects of trade liberalization on child labor that arises out of subsistence needs. It argues that favorable income effects are most likely to reduce the need for child labor in the South, even when export goods have a necessity character. However, in very poor economies, aggregate hours of child labor can also increase as a result of more open trade. Although the poorest families are the ones who benefit the most from trade in a Heckscher – Ohlin setting, their income gains might not be high enough to make them withdraw their children from work, while adverse income effects can raise the incidence of child labor among the less poor. The paper provides empirical support for the argument by finding that in a country panel, increases in trade openness are associated with significantly smaller reductions in child labor among the poorest food exporters than among food exporters on average.     

全球化背景下中国零售企业的战略选择

目前,国际化已成为世界零售业的一大潮流。国际化是零售业优化资源配置,提高国际竞争力的重要手段;跨国经营是零售企业实现规模化经营的重要途径;国际市场商机无限,入世为我国零售企业“走出去”提供了契机;国内零售市场的对外开放迫使我国零售企业开拓国际市场。为促进我国零售企业的跨国发展,政府应从政策方面给予一定的扶持和指导,打破内外贸行业分工,简化“走出去”的审批手续;建立健全各种配套服务措施,加强宏观管理;给予政策扶持,鼓励零售企业向海外发展。而作为零售企业则应苦练基本功,提高自身素质,增强国际竞争能力;加强联合,扩大规模,培育大型商团;选择适销对路的经营商品范围,突出中国商品特色;正确选择投资的国家和地区,由近及远、由点及面地向外扩展;加速人才培养。     

珠三角地区对外贸易发展的国际比较

本文对1995-2005年珠三角地区与印度、东欧的对外贸易情况进行比较分析。我们将国际贸易商品在SITC三位数分类的基础上分为资源密集型、劳动密集型、资本密集型和技术密集型四大类产品,并从多项指标考察三个地区对外贸易结构和竞争力的差异与变化。研究表明珠三角地区对外贸易结构和竞争力相对印度有较大的领先优势,而这种领先优势主要来自技术密集型产品;与此同时,珠三角地区相对东欧在资本密集的重工业上还有一定的差距。     

中间产品贸易、技术溢出与发展中国家的工资差距:一个理论框架

中间产品贸易的技术溢出是国际贸易影响熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力之间工资差距的一个重要机制。本文构建了一个理论框架,从中间产品贸易及其技术溢出效应的角度解释发展中国家相对工资差距不断扩大的现实。发展中国家从技术前沿的发达国家进口资本和技术密集型的中间产品,一方面可以使发展中国家间接地分享国际先进的R&D资本;另一方面给发展中国家带来了技术学习和模仿的机会。由于资本与技能的互补性和技术学习的技能偏向性,中间产品进口使发展中国家增加了对熟练劳动力的相对需求,从而扩大了熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力之间的工资差距。     

劳动禀赋结构和技术效应结构——贸易与工资差距研究范式新探

在回顾文献基础上,本文梳理出贸易影响工资差距的机制,认为在劳动供给结构不变的前提下,工资差距决定于劳动需求结构变动,而劳动禀赋结构和技术效应结构是研究两者关系的重要范式。劳动禀赋结构模型是在两国生产两种产品且技术水平相同的框架下,贸易品由于劳动禀赋结构不同,导致单位成本产出水平变动,进而影响劳动需求结构和工资差距;而技术效应结构模型则是在两国生产一种产品且技术水平不同的框架下,贸易品由于技术效应结构不同,导致相对工资和劳动需求关系曲线变动,进而影响劳动需求结构和工资差距,而且直接效应和间接效应的传导机制有很大差别。     

Why does not everybody purchase fair trade products? The question of the fairness of fair trade products' consumption for consumers1

Current statistics show that more than three out of four people in France have heard about fair trade. However, fair trade goods are purchased in significantly higher proportions by executive class people, individuals with a postgraduate education, urban dwellers and high‐income earners. Why does not everybody purchase fair trade products? An important question follows: is fair trade not really fair for consumers? This paper seeks to gain deeper insight into what social features give rise to the consumption of fair trade goods using quantitative and qualitative data to verify the reasons for which fair trade goods are consumed by particular groups in society. It shows that the lack of access to information and financial resources can explain consumers' refusal to purchase fair trade products. But this explanation is incomplete, as the meaning given by consumers to their consumption appears to be a key‐factor to understand their behaviour: refusing to buy fair trade goods can be a deliberate choice.     

The possibility of reversing the trade pattern with internationally-diffused localized technical progress

This paper considers the impact of localized technical progress (gains in technology which are confined to specific capital—labor ratios) on the pattern of trade. It is shown, in the context of a two-sector model, that technological improvements which are localized to particular techniques can cause factor intensity reversals so that, even if production functions are internationally identical, the pattern of trade between nations may depend not only on relative factor endowments but also on the relative magnitudes of technical progress in each sector.     

我国贸易顺差的成因及变动趋势——基于东亚产品内国际分工的新视角

当前,大多数人认为我国贸易顺差来源于国内实际因素,而忽略了国际分工对贸易收支的作用以及贸易品的异质性问题。国际贸易可以分为一般贸易、加工贸易和其他贸易,当前我国贸易顺差主要来源于加工贸易。本文认为国际分工决定国际贸易,我国在东亚产品内国际分工的地位导致了我国加工贸易的大量顺差,并运用格兰杰因果检验验证了这个结论。当前全球经济危机导致我国出口和进口的同比增长率大幅下降,但只要东亚分工格局未变,我国大量外贸顺差的局面就不会改变。面临经济危机的冲击,从短期来看,我国应当实施鼓励出口的措施,例如人民币贬值、提高出口退税率和积极开拓新的世界市场等;而从长期来看,则应通过提高自主创新能力和推动产业升级来逐步扭转我国在东亚产品内分工中的不利地位。     

垂直专业化分工及我国的分工地位

垂直专业化分工是国际分工的深化,是同一产业或行业内同一产品的不同生产阶段之间的国际分工。基于比较优势的垂直专业化分工,其表现形式是包含中间产品的产业内贸易,其分工和贸易模式是可预测的。我国在全球垂直专业化分工中的地位是进口半制成品并加工装配成消费品,然后出口,其主要形式是加工贸易。     

Productivity, terms of trade and the ‘home market effect’

This paper analyzes the international transmission and welfare implications of productivity gains and changes in market size when macroeconomic adjustment occurs both along the intensive margin of trade (changes in the relative price of existing varieties of tradable goods) and the extensive margin (creation and destruction of varieties). We draw a distinction between productivity gains that enhance manufacturing efficiency and gains that lower the cost of firms' entry and of product differentiation. Countries with lower manufacturing costs have higher GDP but supply their products at lower international prices. Instead, countries with lower entry costs supply a larger array of goods at improved terms of trade. Output growth driven by demographic expansions, as well as government spending, is associated with an improvement in international relative prices and firms' entry. While trade liberalization may result in a smaller array of goods available to consumers, efficiency gains from deeper economic integration benefit consumers via lower goods prices. The international transmission mechanism and the welfare spillovers vary under different asset market structures, depending on trade costs, the elasticity of labor supply, and consumers' taste for varieties.     

Time structure of production and the theory of international trade

This paper reexamines aspects of international trade theory by taking account of the time required for transforming inputs into outputs. The discussion focuses explicitly upon the time structure of production, characterized by profiles of inputs and outputs over time. Each of the model's two consumer-good sectors has different flow-input flow-output technology, with which labor produces heterogeneous capital goods and final output. As shown by the analysis, intersectoral differences in the time structure of production have important implications for the impact of world trade on a country's employment of labor, accumulation of capital and level of income.     

国际产品内贸易对中国收入分配的效应研究——基于中国工业行业数据的经验分析

采用中国35个工业行业的面板数据,检验国际产品内贸易对中国行业内部熟练劳动力和非熟练劳动力收入分配的效应。研究表明:现阶段,与技术进步相比,国际产品内贸易并不是造成中国收入差距拉大的重要影响因素;同时,由于中国熟练劳动力要素禀赋的相对缺乏,国际产品内贸易发生的行业要素密集度不同,对收入分配的影响也不同,其中劳动密集型和资本密集型行业内不同性质劳动者的收入差距会缩小,而技术密集型及兼具资本密集型和技术密集型的行业内收入差距则会拉大。     

Who Uses Intermediaries in International Trade? Evidence from Firm‐level Survey Data

The present paper uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted in Turkey in 2005 to shed light on the firms that use intermediaries in international trade. It lends robust empirical support to recent theories which suggest that indirect exporters are mostly small firms that are not profitable enough to cover the high fixed costs of building an own distribution network abroad. Manufacturers who develop new products are more likely to use trade intermediaries, as are firms that produce low‐quality goods. In contrast, neither foreign ownership nor credit constraints are correlated with the choice of export mode. Moreover, firms that rely on trade intermediaries to sell their goods abroad also do so to source their foreign inputs, implying that the role of intermediaries in facilitating trade may be larger than previous studies suggest.     

产品内贸易、分工与产业结构升级关系研究

由跨国公司主导的国际产品内分工是一种新兴的国际产业分工方式,产品内贸易是其贸易形式.在跨国公司产品内分工与贸易条件下,产业结构升级不再仅仅局限于由劳动密集型向资本、技术密集型转变,还包含同一生产价值链内部劳动密集型环节向资本、技术密集型环节的转变.改革开放以来,产品内贸易促使我国对外贸易取得了重要成果,也使我国产业发展面临被“边缘化”的风险.为进一步提升我国产业结构,推动产业结构的合理化与高级化,必须优化产业组织结构,提升企业能力;发挥产业集群的辐射带动作用,加快产业整体升级;提升产业技术结构,发挥技术的带动作用.     

Human capital and FDI: Development process of the developing country in an overlapping generation model

We construct an overlapping generation model with human capital accumulation to analyze the effect of human capital level on foreign direct investment (FDI) in a small open developing country. In particular, we assume that manufactured goods have the human capital intensive technology and young agents choose whether to work or to educate themselves. When the human capital level in the developing country is sufficiently small, manufactured goods firms do not conduct FDI and the economy in the developing country is trapped in poverty. If the government of the developing country levies a tariff on the imports of manufactured goods, manufacturers conduct FDI, and the economy in the developing country can escape from the poverty trap.     

On unit prices and their use in the analysis of the international specialization pattern within heterogeneous industries

The existence of factor intensity reversals between industrial countries has sometimes been attributed to differences in intra-industry specialisation. The industries studied are in fact quite heterogeneous. Consequently the relationships between the specialisation pattern of individual countries and differences in technology between industries may be obscured. In this paper a new method is presented with which specialisation of engineering trade can be studied in great detail. The method rests on the hypothesis that so called (metric) ton prices can be used as a proxy variable for differences in technology in a cross-section of engineering products. This hypothesis is further specified and tested in the paper for a cross-section of engineering products consisting of 40 subindustries of the Swedish engineering industry. If the outcome of the test can be assumed to hold both for a lower level of commodity aggregation and for other countries as well, the new method can be used to test different trade theories (including the factor proportions theory) on the engineering trade of industrial countries. It uses among other variables three variables constructed from the ton prices in engineering exports of OECD-Europe.The results of this paper carry major implications also on the construction and earlier use of price indices of engineering products. The results seem to imply that ton prices fo not measure product prices of engineering goods but rather the technology used in converting tons of metals into units of engineering goods. The price indices used in studies estimating price elasticities in foreign trade or production functions on time series data rest, however, im part on such an assumption.     

Non-competitive imports and gains from trade

The paper argues for the explicit inclusion in international trade models of goods which cannot be produced in the importing country. Non-competitive goods require a product-requisite factor which is not universally available. International trade in these goods generates much greater per-unit gains from trade than trade in ordinary goods which can be produced in both (all) countries. Omission of these goods from models of international trade leads to the possibility of a gross underestimation of the difference between autarkic and with-trade income levels. The omission of these goods also neglects some dimensions of policy which are important in the real world, such as sanctions.     

Weak links in the chain of comparative advantage

This paper examines the proposition that trade in many commodities can be explained by a chain of comparative advantage. It is first shown, in a two-country, two-factor model, that trade accords with the ranking of goods by factor intensity if there are unequal factor prices, free trade, and only final goods. This result continues to hold if either trade impediments or intermediate products are introduced. However, if both are present, the chain proposition breaks down. Finally, with many countries, it is shown that trade impediments alone can invalidate the chain proposition.     

Trade liberalization and the evolution of skill earnings differentials in Brazil

Skilled labor earnings differentials decreased during the trade liberalization implemented in Brazil from 1988 to 1995. This paper investigates the role of trade liberalization in explaining these relative earnings movements. We perform several independent empirical exercises that check the traditional trade transmission mechanism, using disaggregated data on tariffs, prices, earnings, employment and skill intensity. We find that: i) employment shifted from skilled to unskilled intensive sectors, and each sector increased its relative share of skilled labor; ii) relative prices fell in skill-intensive sectors; iii) tariff changes across sectors were not related to skill intensities, but the pass-through from tariffs to prices was larger in skill-intensive sectors; iv) the decline in skilled earnings differentials mandated by the price variation predicted by trade was even larger than the observed one. The results are compatible with trade liberalization accounting for the observed relative earnings changes in Brazil. They also highlight the importance of considering the effects of differentiated pass-through from tariffs to prices.