The role of processing trade in exporters' responses to exchange rate: Evidence from China

Processing trade is an important exporting mode for many countries developed by the export-oriented industrialisation such as 1960s Japan, 1990s Korea and 2000s China. Exporters who rely on processing trade for foreign profits do not enjoy much market power, and hence care more about exchange rate changes. We develop a model to illustrate how processing trade affects exporters' responses to exchange rate fluctuations. The model suggests that the elasticity of export price with respect to exchange rate for processing-trade exporters is greater than that of the ordinary-trade exporters, while the elasticity of export quantity of processing-trade exporters is smaller compared to their ordinary-trade counterparts. Most developing countries' governments offer processing-trade exporters better tax/tariff reduction policy to encourage exporting, which grants processing-trade exporters additional advantage to adjust more on export price and less on quantity when facing changes in exchange rate and therefore causes their different responses to exchange rate fluctuations. We find strong empirical supports by studying the data from China, which is the largest developing country and biggest processing-trade exporter.     

人民币汇率与中美贸易失衡的关联性实证分析

近年来,中关贸易规模发展迅速,但双边贸易不平衡问题日益突出,成为中美贸易摩擦的焦点所在,人民币汇率问题被认为是导致中关贸易不平衡的主要原因。然而通过大量数据分析和探讨中关贸易不平衡与人民币汇率的关系,发现人民币汇率并非导致中美贸易不平衡的主要原因,而美国国内经济失衡,对华出口管制,两国统计口径的差异,美国对华的直接投资才是中关贸易失衡的主要原因。     

The J-Curve: Evidence from Industry-Level Data Between the U.S. and Indonesia

Empirical studies on the impact of currency devaluation or depreciation on the trade balance still continue to occupy the literature. These studies have evolved from using aggregate to disaggregated data. The findings, however, have been mixed. Previous research using aggregate trade flows of Indonesia with the rest of the world or bilateral data between Indonesia and the U.S. as one of its major trading partners found no significant relation between rupiah-dollar rate and Indonesia’s bilateral trade balances. In this article, we disaggregate the trade flows between Indonesia and the U.S. by commodity and show that the trade balances of at least nine out of 23 industries react to exchange rate changes favorably in the long run.     

美国储蓄不足和全球储蓄过剩是美国贸易逆差产生的根本原因

美国贸易逆差以及主要由贸易逆差造成的经常帐户赤字已成为世界经济关注的热点问题。对美国贸易逆差产生原因的解释众多,本文以主流经济学分析框架得出美国储蓄不足是美国贸易逆差的根本原因的结论。美国国内储蓄不足导致外国资本的流入。外国资本一方面为美国提供了购买力,补充了美国的储蓄,另一方面,美国可用外国提供的购买力进口产品,满足自己的需求。美国的贸易逆差是其储蓄不足的结果。从全球视角出发,其他国家的储蓄增加,为美国补充了储蓄,为美国贸易逆差的产生提供了外部条件。认识美国贸易逆差产生的原因,可以更有利地支撑美国贸易逆差与中国对其贸易顺差没有根本联系的观点,及人民币汇率问题不是美国贸易逆差根本原因的观点。     

The effect of exchange rate uncertainty on the prices and volume of international trade

By specifying a model of differential risk-bearing by import demand and export supply sides of the market for traded goods, the theoretical impact of exchange risk on both equilibrium prices and quantities is analyzed. For several empirical cases of 1965–1975 U.S. and German trade it is found that exchange rate uncertainty has had a significant impact on prices but no significant effect on the volume of trade. These price effects support previous survey results on the currency denomination of export contracts, namely that with the exception of some U.S. imports, most trade is largely denominated in the exporter's currency.     

人民币汇率政策国际压力分析:以日元升值教训为视角

表面看,美中人民币汇率争端与当年美日汇率争端同出一辙,都是因为两国存在长期贸易顺差所致,但深入分析,就会发现美国对中国汇率压力要远远小于当年其对日本的压力。这是因为,中美贸易具有很强的互补性;中国入世承诺为缓解中美贸易不平衡提供了相应的法律保障;中国在汇率政策上享有更大的自主权等。日元升值后由于日本内外经济政策处置失当导致其长期经济衰退,中国应吸取其教训,对于美国要求人民币升值的压力,除在国际法层面提出抗辩外,还要从经济结构、发展模式方面进行适当的调整,以减缓相应压力。     

人民币汇率升值下纺织品贸易摩擦应对措施

人民币汇率机制调整以来,我国与欧美等国家和地区的纺织品贸易摩擦并没有因此而缓和.我国一直采取的自愿出口限制、出口税等措施,在人民币汇率升值后应适当调整.当前,发展纺织产业的产业内贸易,即积极采取自愿进口扩大措施,并鼓励纺织品企业向发达国家跨国并购,不但有利于缓解贸易摩擦,而且在汇率升值的契机下更有利于我国纺织产业保持比较优势,形成竞争优势.     

Movies and the Mystery of the Missing Trade: Is Hollywood Good for U.S. Exporters?

Research has shown that consumers have a preference for goods based on the origin of production. This is important because it suggests that, in some cases, even lowering trade barriers may not significantly increase trade flows. In particular, flows may be lower than are predicted by trade theories such as Heckscher-Ohlin. Despite evidence that home consumption bias exists in many countries, it is only recently that research has begun to examine the sources of this bias.

This article fills a gap in the literature by testing a model that addresses the source of this consumption bias. The paper's model incorporates consumers' exposure to foreign products and culture through media imports and tourist visits as factors affecting consumers' preferences for foreign products. Using panel data from 19 countries, the article's results support the hypothesis that lagged exports of U.S. movies have a positive impact on other U.S. exports. Some evidence is also found of a positive effect of tourist visits on U.S. exports.

Since U.S. media exports may generate demand for other U.S. goods and services, opening up foreign media markets should receive a higher priority in U.S. trade negotiations. Another interesting implication of the paper is that overall U.S. export losses resulting from media piracy may be lower than previously calculated, as the consumption of pirated media products may increase demand for other U.S. exports.     

Implications of the introduction of the Euro for the Mediterranean countries

The Mediterranean peripheral countries cannot afford to be passive viewers of the fundamental changes that are taking place in Europe after the introduction of the Euro. The new developments pose formidable challenges and opportunities. It will be argued that no single group of developing countries will be more affected by these changes than the Mediterranean countries given their geographical proximity to the region and their long historical record of extensive and large economic interactions (trade, finance, and migration). This article examines the implications of the introduction of the single currency in Europe on Mediterranean central bank reserves and foreign external liabilities, trade and capital flow, and exchange rate policies. It is shown that since most Mediterranean trade is with the EU, Mediterranean central banks will be necessitated to hold major portions of their foreign exchange reserves in Euros. Also, a Mediterranean currency peg to the Euro, or to a basket of currencies where the Euro is allocated, will be important in reducing financial and trade transaction costs. It will also be hypothesized that Mediterranean foreign debts will eventually have to be converted to Euros. Finally, parallels between this region and the U.S–Caribbean region will be drawn to reinforce the argument that trade and capital dependence will eventually lead to a pegging of the Mediterranean currencies to the Euro. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The emergence of regional business cycle in Africa—a reality or myth? A Bayesian dynamic factor model analysis

This paper examines the evolution and the underlying forces of the business cycle co-movements among seven African (A-7) countries over the period 1970–2016. These countries accounted for over 60% of regional GDP, have abundant natural resources, access to the global capital market and widely viewed as potential drivers of regional (or “African”) business cycle. We model the national business cycle using real output, consumption and investment. We employ a dynamic factor model to decompose fluctuations in these macro-variables into a regional, country-specific and idiosyncratic components using Bayesian methods. We also analyse the relative importance of some notable drivers of business cycle fluctuations found in the literature. We find that the idiosyncratic component is dominating cyclical fluctuations in the A-7 countries, while country-specific and regional factors play a negligible role suggesting the inexistence of a common regional cycle despite deepening intra-African trade. Among the driving variables, the terms-of-trade shocks exert greater influence on the A-7 business cycle, while exchange rate movements and changes in money supply explain sizeable fluctuations in consumption and investment in most of the A-7 countries. Shocks associated with changes in relative domestic oil prices, monetary and fiscal policies cause large output fluctuations.     

中美贸易逆差探源与对策分析

中美贸易逆差的原因与美国的出口管制制度、美国偏低的储蓄率、中美两国不同的产业结构、不一致的统计标准、中国大量吸收外国直接投资等有关。中国可以通过政策鼓励从美国进口、完善公平贸易政策、转变贸易增长方式、扩大国内需求等方式正确处理中美贸易不平衡问题。     

中美贸易收支的人民币汇率弹性及政策启示

金融危机之后,中美贸易顺差成为美国贸易保护主义的主要借口,人民币升值的压力日益增加。此背景下,准确测度中美贸易收支的人民币汇率弹性,关系"后危机时代"中国对外贸易政策以及汇率政策的选择。实证分析表明,中国对美国出口的人民币汇率富有弹性,而对美国进口与人民币汇率不相关。因此,对中国政府来说,应该顶住外部压力,尽可能保持人民币汇率的稳定,促进贸易、就业和经济增长;对美国来说,人民币汇率不是其贸易逆差的根源,人民币升值的结果只能产生贸易转移效应,并不能缓解其逆差状况,过度和偏激地施压人民币升值实非明智之举。     

摆脱“美元陷阱”路径论析

经济活动严重依赖于美元致使我国对外贸易和国际储备安全受制于美国的战略黑箱,宏观调控的独立性受到掣肘,汇率政策面临二难选择。出于自身狭隘利益的考量,美国当局不可能自愿改变我行我素的行事风格,所以跳出“美元陷阱”不能奢望于美国当局的良心发现,只有唯一路径———“去美元化”———在美元之外构建一种新的国际支付手段为我所用。构建这种新的国际支付手段的应然路径是联合主要大宗矿产资源大国构建共同货币。     

国际金融危机与“购买美国货”条款

美国爆发的金融危机给全球金融和经济贸易带来极大的影响,为此,各国纷纷出台应对当前金融危机、刺激经济复苏的政策和措施,美国更是如此。2009年2月17日,美国总统奥巴马签署了《2009年美国复兴与再投资法》,①使之正式成为法律生效,奥巴马"新政"由此也正式启航。然而,美国应对金融危机、刺激经济复苏方案出台前后,不仅在美国国内引起激烈争论,而且在全球范围内也引起轩然大波,矛盾的焦点主要集中在该法的"购买美国货"条款上。带有明显贸易保护主义的"购买美国货"条款出台,使世界上贸易保护主义进一步抬头和泛滥,各国在应对金融和经济危机的同时,不得不与贸易保护主义作斗争。     

从人民币升值对区域贸易结构的影响看全球经济失衡

通过对美国贸易逆差的区域贸易结构及人民币升值和以泰国、菲律宾和马来西亚为代表的其他亚洲国家出口的关系的分析,得出结论:亚洲国家,尤其是中国不应该为美国贸易逆差承担主要责任,亚洲国家应团结起来指明当前全球经济失衡的根本原因以维护亚洲国家的整体利益.     

中美贸易收支与人民币汇率关系

本文基于1994~2005年的年度数据,通过协整分析和Granger因果检验发现,人民币汇率升值对中美贸易收支从长期看有一定影响,但不是中美贸易收支失衡的主要原因,美国经济发展状况以及国内政策才是导致中美贸易收支顺差的主要原因。在当前经济形势下,中美贸易顺差依然是我国经济发展的重要引擎之一。所以,我们一方面要警惕美国经济下滑导致我国的出口下降,另一方面可以利用人民币当前小幅上涨的契机,调整我国经济结构,加快产业升级的步伐。     

美国技术壁垒对我国机电产品出口的影响

本文利用扩展的贸易引力模型,分析我国和美国经济发展水平、人民币兑美元汇率以及美国机电行业技术壁垒各因素变动对我国机电产品出口的影响。分析结果表明美国技术壁垒与我国机电产品出口显著相关,美国技术壁垒的提高会对我国机电产品出口产生小幅抑制作用,美国GDP是影响我国机电产品出口的最主要因素。     

Do falling iceberg costs explain recent U.S. export growth?

We study empirically and theoretically the growth of U.S. manufacturing exports from 1987 to 2007. We use plant-level data on exporters' export intensity to identify the changes in iceberg costs over this period. Given this change in iceberg costs, we find that a GE model with heterogeneous establishments and dynamic exporting decision from a sunk cost of starting to export is consistent with both aggregate U.S. export growth and the changes in the number and size of U.S. exporters. The model also captures the gradual response of U.S. exports to the cut in iceberg costs. A model with a static exporting decision generates substantially less trade growth and misses out on the timing of export growth. We also study the interplay between changes in the structure of manufacturing and trade. We find that the growth in trade contributed little to the contraction in U.S. manufacturing while changes in the structure of manufacturing from changes in sectoral productivity, capital intensity, idiosyncratic shocks, and corporate taxation reduced U.S. export growth by as much as 10%.     

Migration of skilled workers and innovation: A European Perspective

We study empirically and theoretically the growth of U.S. manufacturing exports from 1987 to 2007. We use plant-level data on exporters' export intensity to identify the changes in iceberg costs over this period. Given this change in iceberg costs, we find that a GE model with heterogeneous establishments and dynamic exporting decision from a sunk cost of starting to export is consistent with both aggregate U.S. export growth and the changes in the number and size of U.S. exporters. The model also captures the gradual response of U.S. exports to the cut in iceberg costs. A model with a static exporting decision generates substantially less trade growth and misses out on the timing of export growth. We also study the interplay between changes in the structure of manufacturing and trade. We find that the growth in trade contributed little to the contraction in U.S. manufacturing while changes in the structure of manufacturing from changes in sectoral productivity, capital intensity, idiosyncratic shocks, and corporate taxation reduced U.S. export growth by as much as 10%.     

How do fiscal and technology shocks affect real exchange rates?: New evidence for the United States

Using vector autoregressions on U.S. time series relative to an aggregate of industrialized countries, this paper provides new evidence on the dynamic effects of government spending and technology shocks on the real exchange rate and the terms of trade. To achieve identification, we derive robust restrictions on the sign of several impulse responses from a two-country general equilibrium model. We find that both the real exchange rate and the terms of trade—whose responses are left unrestricted—depreciate in response to expansionary government spending shocks and appreciate in response to positive technology shocks.