EFFICIENT POLICY IN A PREDATORY ECONOMY: TO HIM WHO HATH SHALL BE GIVEN?*

Trade subject to predation generates externalities within and between markets. Efficient tax, infrastructure, and enforcement policies internalize the net externality—more trade implies fewer predators but drawn to trade at rising cost. The balance is positive (negative) as enforcement is weak (strong). Dual economies pair weak Periphery and strong Core enforcement markets. Efficient taxation and infrastructure promote the Core at the expense of the Periphery. Efficient enforcement promotes both. Tolerance (intolerance) of smuggling is efficient when Core enforcement is weak (strong). Tolerance of informal market Mafias that provide enforcement and infrastructure is efficient when Core enforcement is strong.     

Winners and losers in the commodity lottery: The impact of terms of trade growth and volatility in the Periphery 1870–1939

Most countries in the periphery specialized in the export of just a handful of primary products for most of their history. Some of these commodities have been more price volatile than others, and those with more volatility have grown much more slowly relative to the industrial leaders and to other primary product exporters. This fact helps explain the growth puzzle noted by Easterly, Kremer, Pritchett and Summers more than a decade ago: that the contending fundamental determinants of growth—institutions, geography and culture—exhibit far more persistence than do the growth rates they are supposed to explain. Using a new panel database for 35 countries, this paper estimates the impact of terms of trade volatility and secular change on country performance between 1870 and 1939. Volatility was much more important for growth than was secular change and accounts for a substantial degree of the divergence in incomes within the sample of small, commodity-dependent ‘Periphery’ nations as well as under-performance of the Periphery as a whole relative to such nations as the US and Western Europe, or ‘Core’. One channel of impact seems to be the adverse effect of volatility on foreign investment. It appears that the terms of trade effects were asymmetric between Core and Periphery.     

Globalization and income inequality: A panel data econometric approach for the EU27 countries

This paper investigates the relationship between income inequality and globalization, measured with both trade and financial variables. We estimate an econometric model using appropriate panel data techniques for the EU-27 countries over the period 1995–2009. The analysis is also performed at subgroups of countries within the EU27, such as the Core, Periphery, High Technology, and the New EU Member countries. Overall, the results suggest that trade openness exerts an equalizing effect, while financial globalization through FDI, capital account openness and stock market capitalization has been the driving force of inequality in the EU-27 since 1995. The highest contribution to inequality stems from FDI. Although the trade impact remained robust, disparities were observed in the financial globalization effects within a certain group or among country groups. The recent financial crisis led to a significant rise in inequality only in the EU-periphery and the New Member states. The impact from the other control variables was either minor or insignificant.     

The impacts of Renminbi appreciation on trade flows and reserve accumulation in a monetary trade model

Given the rapidly growing reserves in Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan) and the pressures from trading partners to revalue, there is a need to examine commercial policy in more than a pure barter model. Here we evaluate the joint impacts of exchange rate appreciation on trade flows and country surpluses using a general equilibrium trade model with a simple monetary structure in which the trade surplus is endogenously determined in the exchange rate setting country and the exchange rate is exogenous. We illustrate its application to the Chinese case using calibration to 2005 data. Our results, while elasticity dependent, suggest that the impacts of Renminbi (RMB) revaluation on the surplus are proportionally larger than on trade flows, and that changes in trade flows can be substantial. Different treatments of China's processing trade have small impact on changes in China's trade flow under RMB appreciation, but significant impacts on the change in the surplus. Results are elasticity dependent; larger substitution elasticities in preferences yield larger effects on trade flows and the surplus.     

Trade Liberalization and Environmental Regulation on International Transportation

Incorporating pollution emissions from international transportation into a model of strategic trade and environmental policies, we investigate the effect of trade liberalization and environmental regulation on national welfare and the environment. Our model includes imperfectly competitive markets for international transportation and final products. We find that trade liberalization may reduce each country's welfare unless some level of environmental regulation on international transportation is in place. When international trade is liberalized initially, a mutual increase in the common emission tax rates may improve each country's welfare. However, when international trade is highly protected initially, imposing an emission tax may reduce welfare.     

DOES THE GRAVITY MODEL EXPLAIN SOUTH KOREA'S TRADE FLOWS?*

This paper applies the gravity model to explain South Korea's bilateral trade flows and to extract practical trade policy applications. A trade structure and an Asian‐Pacific trade network are included in the gravity equation to characterize the peculiarity of South Korea's trade patterns. The empirical result shows that South Korea's trade follows a Heckscher–Ohlin model more than an increasing returns or a product differentiation model. South Korea has large unrealized trade potentials with Japan and China, suggesting that they are desirable partners for an FTA. North–South Korean trade will expand markedly if bilateral relation normalizes and North Korea participates in APEC.     

中国与G-7的双边服务贸易成本的测度与决定因素——基于改进引力模型的应用

对中国双边服务贸易成本的测度和对其决定因素的探寻可以更好地为服务贸易流动提供解释,对中国服务贸易开放有重要的政策启示。笔者基于改进的引力模型,测度了1999年～2007年间中国与G-7的双边服务贸易成本,并利用面板数据对其进行分解,以此寻求影响中国对外服务贸易成本的因素。结果表明:中国与G-7的双边服务贸易成本总体呈下降趋势,并且在加入WTO后有加速的迹象;空间距离与服务贸易壁垒是双边服务贸易成本存在的主因,与贸易国的人均收入之差及共同的海陆边界有助于降低双边服务贸易成本,共同的贸易集团对于两国服务贸易成本的影响并不明显。     

国际经济格局变动中的区域主义发展新趋势

本文研究指出全球化再造过程中新区域主义的特点和发展趋势,以及由此引发的学术界研究方法的巨大变革和对世界经济格局变动的影响,通过对美墨加协定、下一代欧盟复苏计划、东亚一体化RCEP协定的研究,论证了区域主义和全球化之间的关系,研究RTA本身与WTO是否一致,梳理并分析区域贸易协定是全球自由贸易的绊脚石还是垫脚石的争论,得出北美和欧盟的区域主义是全球化的“绊脚石”,更多是替代作用且具有防御性,而东亚的区域主义则是全球化的“垫脚石”,发挥互补作用且具有开拓性,RCEP在内容上是WTO的升级版,在范围上是WTO的降级版,中国未来在WTO改革、全球治理和人类命运共同体构建方面将担负更大的使命,通过新区域主义的形式推进全球化治理与改革,从“外围”走向“中心”。     

Microeconomic analysis on the growth of trade volume in China: 1978–2007

The gravity equation is usually employed by researchers in the field of international trade to explain the growth of a country’s imports and exports volume, especially the manufactured goods. But in China, variables in the model, such as exchange rate, tariff, transportation cost, and spatial distance etc., are not sufficient to explain the riddle of China’s growth in trade volume. In fact, this growth in China’s trade volume is owing to the disintegration of production in the process of economic globalization, to the multinational corporations’ (MNC) vertical outsourcing of their manufacturing processes and procedures, and to the timely readjustment of Chinese enterprises on their strategies of participating in the international intra-product specialization. In this paper we establish an equilibrium model of intra-product specialization dominated by MNCs, and do some empirical tests on the growth in trade volume in China by using the variables including technological conditions of trade, similarity of economies, policy conditions of trade, disintegration of production and level of per capita capital equipment. The empirical results support our basic judgments.     

产业内贸易中的企业行为与贸易政策——基于古诺双寡头垄断模型的分析

20世纪60年代以后,学者研究发现,传统的贸易理论无法解释大量工业化国家之间的贸易,从而使产业内贸易的研究成为国际贸易的核心问题之一。本文建立古诺双寡头垄断模型对同质产品产业内贸易中的企业行为与贸易政策进行了博弈分析,通过研究发现：寡头垄断企业之间即使在比较优势和报酬递增都不存在的条件下也会互相向对方市场销售商品;追求社会福利最大化的政府很容易陷入贸易保护的囚徒困境,从而导致双方社会福利恶化。本文认为,政府之间应该加强交往,深化合作,通过谈判解决贸易争端,避免陷入贸易保护的囚徒困境。     

Making Sense of the Comparative Advantage Gains from Trade: Comment on Batra

This paper addresses Ravi Batra’s (2002 ) criticism of the basic comparative advantage gains‐from‐trade model. While Batra’s criticism is based on the selection view interpretation of real income, the gains from trade can only be properly understood from the options view interpretation of real income. I also show how a recent empirical implementation of the gains‐from‐trade model defies Batra’s claim that “the consumption gain . . . is not subject to measurement” (2002, p. 642).     

我国水产品进口贸易波动研究

随着我国人民生活水平及消费水平的提高,对水产品的需求不断增加。因此,本文首先对1995~2017年我国水产品进口贸易现状进行分析,并应用CMS模型对我国水产品进口贸易波动进行实证分析,探索水产品进口贸易增长成因,检验水产品进口与世界进口规模间的关系,据此为促进我国水产品进口贸易的可持续发展提出相关建议。研究结果表明：世界经济的发展及我国较强的进口引力是促进我国水产品进口贸易增长的关键因素,而进口产品结构及市场分布的不合理阻碍了我国水产品进口贸易的增长。因此,应协调世界经济发展,优化水产品进口贸易品种结构及市场结构,加强国际交流与协作,进而推进水产品进口贸易及国内产业的可持续发展。     

Trade liberalisation,market competition and wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector

Economic reforms of the late 1980s have contributed to rapid economic growth in China. While the overall standard of living has improved, economic growth has also resulted in an increase in income inequality. Rising income inequality can increase social tensions that can impede further economic growth. By making use of firm level panel data, this paper focuses on the impact of increased market competition and trade liberalisation on skilled–unskilled wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector. A theoretical model is used to argue that trade liberalisation and market competition can affect skilled–unskilled wage inequality. Based on this result, an econometric model is specified. The empirical analysis presented in this paper shows that increased trade liberalisation has contributed to an increase in skilled–unskilled wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector. However, increase in market competition has the opposite effect.     

对外开放与中国经济增长关系的实证研究

Based on an adjusted Solow economic growth model, using econometric tools such as cointegration test and Granger causality test, taking the economic factors such as foreign trade and foreign investment into account, this paper makes regression analysis on the effect of economic opening on China’s economic growth by using the data from 1985 to 2004. The analysis indicates that the domestic capital input is still the primary element that promotes China’s economic growth, by contrast, the effect of foreign trade and foreign investment is faint. It is a bidirectional causality between foreign trade and economic growth, and the adjusting velocity of trade is larger than the foreign direct investment on the balance of the China’s long-time economic growth.      

贸易自由化是如何影响我国出口产品质量的？*--基于贸易政策不确定性下降的视角

传统理论认为贸易自由化会促进出口产品的质量升级,但我国加入W TO后的情况却并非如此。文章基于贸易政策不确定性的视角,利用我国加入W TO前后美国对我国产品进行关税调整这一自然实验,通过倍差法分析了贸易自由化对我国出口产品质量的影响。研究表明：（1）在贸易自由化的过程中,贸易政策不确定性的下降会拉低我国的出口产品质量,且这一结论在改变质量测度方法、控制成本效应以及使用不同的产品属性、贸易对象和样本的情况下依然稳健;（2）贸易政策不确定性主要是通过广延边际上的质量调整降低了我国出口产品的总体质量,即在贸易政策不确定性下降幅度越大的产品中,有越多的生产低质量产品的企业进入出口市场;（3）在集约边际上,存续企业并未针对贸易政策不确定性的下降做出及时的产品质量调整,从而无法改变我国的产品质量在短期内下降的趋势。文章为我国如何在推行贸易自由化的同时实现出口产品质量升级提供了启示。     

Slow Growth,Trade Liberalisation and the Mexican Disease: A medium-term macroeconomic model with an application to Mexico

The purpose of this paper is to analyse Mexico's medium-term macroeconomic outlook, from the vantage point of the country's recent development. The analysis is carried out within a formal model for the determination of the rates of employment and inflation under conditions of external and internal balance. In equilibrium, the real wage and the rates of employment and inflation depend inter alia on the level of labour productivity, the ratio of foreign debt to domestic output, and the foreign trade regime. Econometric tests based on Mexican data support the model's basic postulates and, in addition, reveal the presence of structural change, linked to trade reform, in the trade balance and the manufactures' productivity growth equations. The macroeconomic implications of such parameter changes are discussed with the help of the analytical model developed.     

Per capita income and the extensive margin of bilateral trade

This paper quantitatively explores the role of demand in explaining the positive correlation between an importer's per capita income and the extensive margin of bilateral trade. The theoretical mechanism is based on agents that increase the set of goods they consume with income. This affects the structure of a country's import demand and therewith the extensive margin of trade. We formalize this intuition by incorporating preferences that allow for binding non‐negativity constraints into an otherwise standard Ricardian multi‐country model. We quantify the model and find that the behaviour of the model's extensive margin of trade is consistent with the data.     

Interest Groups, Trade Liberalization, and Environmental Standards

In considering a country that imposes a minimum standard on an imported polluting good, which generates negative consumption externalities, we construct a common-agency model, in which a domestic environmental group and a foreign industrial lobby can influence the formation of the minimum standard by providing political contributions to the government. This paper investigates the effects of trade liberalization on the political equilibrium environmental standard, the pattern of trade, environmental disutility, and social welfare. We find that trade liberalization tightens the minimum standard, decreases imports of the polluting good, and reduces environmental disutilities. The importing country’s social welfare, however, does not necessarily increase with trade liberalization. The weaker the environmental group’s lobbying efficiency, or the stronger the foreign firm’s lobbying efficiency, the more likely it is that trade liberalization will enhance the importing country’s welfare.     

Are distance effects really a puzzle?

Given the distance proxies for trade costs, the onset of globalization implies that geographical distance would matter less for trade. However, year-on-year regressions of a log-linearized gravity model estimated by the ordinary least squares (OLS) method usually suggest that the negative impact of distance on trade is rising since the 1950s during the late 20th century. These seemingly counter-intuitive results may occur due to the omission of the extensive margin as well as the neglect of the Jensen's inequality. This paper investigates these two potential solutions but that only the second seems to work. After considering Jensen's inequality, the distance effects declined over the period 1950–1999. In addition, this paper proposes a simple theoretical model to identify trade costs. The empirical results also show a declining trend of trade costs over the same time period.     

A spatial equilibrium analysis of trade policy reforms on the world wheat market

Since a few countries produce most of the world's wheat, and consumption is widespread across the world, wheat is one of the most commonly traded agricultural commodities. In recent years, the wheat market has been going through difficult phases as wheat prices are depressed. The fall in wheat prices is attributed to a supply glut and restrictive trade barriers. This study develops a large-scale spatial equilibrium trade model for wheat to analyse the effects of removing trade barriers (tariffs and subsidies) on each country's/region's price, supply, demand, trade, welfare, and bilateral trade flows. The results show that trade liberalization leads to an increase (decrease) in prices in the exporting (importing) countries. Production and exports increase in the exporting country, and consumption and imports increase in the importing country. Consequently, the volume of trade also increases. The welfare of most countries rises, and thus, world welfare also rises.