US–Brazilian cotton policies

Brazil filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the United States for providing cotton production and export subsidies, and the WTO ruled in favour of Brazil. Brazil threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs if the United States does not comply with the WTO rulings. After a prolonged litigation stretching from 2002 to 2010, both countries agreed to a negotiated settlement wherein the United States paid Brazilian cotton producers to compensate for any adverse effects. This study develops a political economic model to theoretically analyse US cotton policies, Brazil's threat of retaliatory tariffs and the negotiated settlement between the two countries. The theoretical results show that the volume of cotton output, supply price response, politicians' apathy for the public welfare, elasticities of excess supply/demand and the magnitude of US transfers play a crucial role in determining US policies. This study contributes to the literature by being the first to model political economic aspects of the complex system of trade and domestic policies in the cotton industry using a three-country framework, tariff retaliation and transfers between the countries.     

Outsourcing: Pros and cons

Overseas outsourcing of jobs is far more complicated than is generally understood. Pressures to outsource range from better-serving overseas markets to increasing the competitiveness of American business. Outsourcing—domestic and international—responds to management's desire to focus the firm's in-house activities on its core competence. A negative side to outsourcing results from companies doing so simply because “everybody is doing it.” They may be surprised by accompanying factors such as unexpected costs and complications, as well. Governmental policymakers need to realize that foreign companies outsource more business services to the United States than American firms send overseas.     

Foreign monetary shocks,differentiated products and international transmission: a two-country model with intra-industry trade

In this paper we study how the impact of a foreign monetary shock is transmitted between two monopolistically competitive economies engaging in intra-industry trade with differentiated products. Intra-industry trade is the only international link that works through the flexible exchange rate affecting national price levels and a product's internal and external relative prices. While national price levels are subject to purchasing power parity, the two relative prices are determined by the interaction between macro and micro variables. In this context, the exchange rate can insulate a national economy perfectly from a foreign monetary shock provided that monopolists adjust prices. Even if monopolists keep prices rigid, this shock only affects domestic real balances and aggregate demand, leaving domestic aggregate output unchanged because the real balances effect is just offset by the resulting unfavorable relative prices effects under the assumption of Spence-Dixit-Stiglitz preferences.     

美国城市化的区域差异与比较

美国区域经济，自东向西依次推进，具有明显的阶段性开发特征，脉络清晰且有规律可循。这在客观上形成了分时期、有重点开发的局面，美国区域经济结构在这种动态发展中得以保持相对均衡，保证了经济的持续稳定发展。     

Restaurant Marketing Strategies in the United States and Canada

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the similarities and differences in the marketing strategies implemented by family restaurants in Canada and the United States to meet the needs of their customers. A census of 101 restaurants in three contiguous regions of Quebec, Ontario and Northern New York was visited. Systematic observations using a detailed grid of variables were compiled for each establishment. More similarities than differences were found, indicating that similar marketing strategies could be used successfully by restaurants in the United States and Canada.     

Political economy of the US–Mexican tomato trade agreement

We develop a political economy model to analyse the US–Mexican tomato trade agreement by treating the minimum import price as a negotiated settlement. We incorporate the special characteristics of the US–Mexican tomato dispute, namely trade among large countries, the role of competing fresh and processed tomato lobbies, quota revenues accruing to Mexican producers, bargaining for a minimum import price rather than a tariff, and the role of the Canadian tomato market. We show the importance of the size of the lobby group's supply, the weight elected officials' place on national welfare, and the elasticities of export supply and import demand in determining the optimal price wedge. For the United States, larger fresh tomato or cherry–grape tomato supply intensifies the degree of protection awarded to US growers, while US processors work to mitigate this effect. From Mexico's perspective, larger Mexican fresh or cherry–grape output induces a push towards free trade due to the agreement's depressing effect on Mexican prices, while Mexican processors and quota revenues exacerbate the price wedge.     

New Dimensions of Financial Liberalization in Japan

This article contrasts the development of Japanese financial institutions over the past 50 years to that of the United States and compares the two countries’ household savings behavior. Although reform and liberalization is driving the Japanese financial sector to become more open and more sophisticated, there are powerful reasons for the Japanese system and Japanese asset-holding behavior to remain divergent from that of the United States. One major factor is that income and wealth in Japan are distributed much more evenly than in the United States. Since wealthy households are more sophisticated and better able to accommodate risk, the concentration of wealth in the United States means that, compared to Japan, there are more high income/high wealth households that are willing to take on risk from equity and bond holdings. In Japan, in contrast, there is a much heavier reliance on bank deposits. Even though financial institutions in the two countries are becoming more similar, the persistent differences in income distribution are likely to lead to persistent differences in asset holding and the composition of capital markets in the two countries. JEL Classification G2, O53     

Has the productivity of retail food stores really declined?

Despite the fact that other factors of production have been substituted for labor, and that scanner technology has come into widespread use, the BLS index of labor productivity for retail food stores has been declining for sometime. The purpose of this paper is to study this puzzling decline in measured productivity. The results indicate that the decline in the BLS index is due to changes in services offered by retail food stores that are not incorporated into the index, and that productivity increased if these services are accounted for.     

A Preliminary Test of an Index for International Consumer Behavior

ABSTRACT

Marketers need to understand both the similarities and differences among groups of consumers to ascertain which aspects of the marketing mix to globalize and which to localize. The purpose of this research is to begin to bridge the knowledge gap by testing a tool to measure cultural environment, the International Consumer Behavior Scale (ICBS). The ICBS is applied in Russia and the United States in an effort to ascertain potential similarities and differences in consumption based on culture. In this research, the authors assess the usability of the ICBS cultural scale developed by Samli (1995), offer a preliminary understanding of two diverse cultures, and discuss managerial implications of this knowledge.     

Comparing EthicalIdeologies AcrossCultures

Using measures developed by Singhapakdi et al. (1996, Journal of Business ethics 15, 1131–1140) the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR) is measured among MBA students in the United States, Malaysia and Ukraine revealing a stockholder view and two stakeholder views. Relativism and Idealism are also measured. The scores of MBA students are compared among each other and with those of the U.S. managers who were part of the original study. Managers' scores tend to be significantly higher on the Stockholder and Stakeholder II views, and much lower on Relativism than the MBA students. The Malaysian MBA students scored higher than did the American MBA students on Relativism, Idealism and the Stockholder view. The Ukrainian MBA students' scores on the three PRESOR factors are generally similar to those of the American MBAs, while they had the highest scores of any group on the Relativism scale. Overall, the patterns of responses, as much as the significant differences on specific scales, support the notion that culture, however defined, affects both values and ethics. Several directions for future research are identified.'     

动荡中的全球经济

目前,欧美的经济形势并不乐观。美国经济泡沫破裂之后,至今仍然没有恢复,增速非常缓慢,失业率居高不下,贫富不均现象越来越严重,很多美国人将失去自己的房屋。欧洲经济衰退的危机和风险也非常严重,前景也比较悲观,且目前欧洲普遍采用财政紧缩政策,会产生负面影响。而新兴市场特别是中国很有可能保持增长,当然为保增长,中国必须转变发展方式,实现经济增长的转型。文章认为,美国最严重的问题并不是金融和赤字问题,而是没有增量的需求问题,是严重的失业问题。为更好地应对危机,恢复经济,应充分发挥政府的作用,正确处理储蓄及储备之间的关系,让市场更加高效、稳定运行。文章指出,2012年全球经济增长的水平和稳定性将比2011年进一步提升,但长期来看,全球经济的稳定性在一定程度上取决于国际社会是否有能力对全球货币和经济系统进行相应的改革。当今世界,需要一个全新的经济政策、经济秩序来更好地反映经济力量再平衡的过程。新兴市场将在全球治理以及全球机构重组的过程中发挥重要作用。中国应在创建新的全球经济秩序和推动全球货币与经济体系改革方面发挥更为积极的作用,要在关注全球经济动荡的同时,更多关注全球变暖问题。     

美国对华反补贴政策的演变与内在动因分析

2006年11月21日,美国对我国的出口产品发起了首例反补贴调查,2007年2月2日,美国商务部又就我国的补贴问题向世界贸易组织提起了申诉。本文从考察美国对华反补贴政策立场的演变入手,着重分析了美国对华实施反补贴调查的内在动因,并就我国应采取的相关对策与措施,提出了一些建议。     

美国、日本商业发展比较

当今全球经济发达的美国和日本商业在其发展进程中,有与众不同的特色,积累了丰富的经验,对之进行分析具有重要的意义。在分别分析了美国、日本商业发展的历史经验和经营特色的基础上,简析了两国商业发展的异同点。