European Integration and Production in the French Economy

Effects of greater European integration on the French economy are explored with an aggregate cost function. Input direct price elasticities are inelastic, but greatest (absolute value) for capital and lowest for imports. Cross-price elasticities suggest inputs are substitutes and are higher for domestic inputs than domestic input and imports pairs. As trade restrictions fall, effects on domestic input demand may increase as substitution elasticities rise. Inverse output supply price elasticities indicate domestic input prices are relatively important factors affecting consumption goods prices and import prices more important for investment goods. Thus, import price decreases may stimulate investment and growth. (JEL F14 , O10 , O12 )     

中国粮食供求变化趋势预测:基于区域化市场均衡模型

本文通过构建一个涉及 1 8种 (类 )主要农产品和 7个地区的中国农产品区域市场均衡模型并基于二种不同情景的模拟分析 ,从全国和地区二个层次上预测和分析了 2 0 0 6年和 2 0 1 0年我国稻谷、小麦和玉米三种粮食的供求形势。模型结果显示 ,未来几年我国粮食供求关系在总体上将保持基本稳定的发展态势 ,国内外粮价回升可使我国粮食生产在近期内取得恢复性增长。预计稻谷、小麦和玉米的总产量将超过 4亿吨 ,粮食自给率在 92 %左右 ,国内粮食产需缺口将维持在目前的 3 50 0万吨左右 ,其中小麦占五分之三 ,玉米将从目前基本平衡转变为净进口。这种供求变化趋势同时也具有明显的区域特征。华东和华南地区粮食缺口规模将不断扩大 ,东北和华北地区将呈现以玉米为主导的快速粮食生产增长态势且超过需求增长 ,中南地区将从短缺转向粮食基本自给 ,西南和西北地区将继续保持现有缺口规模。为现实中国粮食供求的长期稳定与均衡发展 ,本文最后提出了涉及耕地保护、跨省区粮食贸易、国际粮食安全合作、价格增产效应和政府决策科学化等五方面的政策建议     

Does devaluation improve trade balance in small island economies? The case of Fiji

A number of countries, mostly small and island economies manage fixed exchange and often devalue it as a stabilisation strategy. The current paper investigates the effectiveness of devaluation in improving trade balance with reference to Fiji. A small island economy has limited exportable and hence highly depends on imports for both consumption and production purposes. A devaluation, therefore, inflates domestic price and appreciates the real exchange immediately by raising importable consumption and discouraging imports used in domestic production. The paper applies various econometric models for empirical investigation of its impact and transmission mechanism. Strong long-run relationship found between real exchange rate and trade balance explains that appreciation of currency has been responsible for the rising trade deficit in the economy. Moreover, the devaluation did not demonstrate J-curve phenomenon. The effect of devaluation strongly contributed to the domestic inflation has been while quite weak on stimulating aggregate demand.     

Local Manufacturing Hurt by Depreciations in a Theoretical Model Reflecting the Australian Experience

The model is motivated by data showing that the Australian production of local manufactures is hurt by depreciations and invigorated by appreciations. The paper briefly presents such evidence and then proceeds to a theoretical analysis. The model aims to capture short‐to‐medium run exchange rate effects in an economy with goods and services aggregated into four commodities: (i) imports; (ii) local manufactures; (iii) services; and (iv) rural goods (agricultural, pastoral, forestry, fishing and mining products). With the exception of rural goods, each commodity comprises consumer goods as well as inputs into the other sectors. Rural goods enter consumption only indirectly after processing by the manufacturing sector. Exports are exclusively rural goods. The model has a Keynesian flavour in that the production of local manufactures and services is not constrained by the availability of resources and of labour. Variable inputs per unit of output are assumed to be constant. There are also fixed inputs. Variable inputs are imports in the case of the import sector; rural goods and imports in the case of the local manufacturing sector; and labour in the case of the services sector. The prices of imports, local manufactures and services are set by constant mark‐up factors on variable costs. This assumption is based on a picture of imperfect competition with constant elasticity of demand at the firm level. The extreme capital intensity of rural goods production is taken into account by modelling total production of rural goods as an exogenous parameter. The price of rural goods is determined in the export market. It falls with increasing exports. The economy is not assumed to be small in its export market. The domestic consumption demand schedule is modelled as predetermined in the sense that in the time span under consideration the relationship between quantities consumed and nominal prices is not affected by the exchange rate. The nominal wage rate is assumed to be predetermined in the same sense. No specific functional form is imposed on the consumption demand schedule: the analysis is based on general assumptions, mainly non‐inferiority and gross substitutability. In view of gross substitutability, there is a competitive relationship between imports and local manufactures. Adepreciation raises the price of imports and ceteris paribus such an increase raises the consumption of manufactures. However, the analysis shows that this enhancing influence of a depreciation on manufacturing is weaker than other causal channels that work in the opposite direction. An increase in the price of imports (and exportables) raises variable costs and thereby the price of local manufactures. This leads to a decrease in the output of local manufactures. In the course of the analysis, it is first shown that a uniquely determined equilibrium exists for every exchange rate above a lower bound. Then the effects of a change in the exchange rate are investigated. In most cases the results are unambiguous. In particular this is true for the output and the price of local manufactures. Other conclusions are that a depreciation increases exports and the amount of services provided. In some cases unequivocal results can be obtained only with the help of further assumptions. This concerns the domestic price of rural goods, the balance of trade in domestic prices and import penetration.     

Can China’s meat imports be sustainable? A case study of mad cow disease

Rising demand and constrained domestic production have challenged the meat consumption in China. To fill the gap between domestic demand and supply, China imports an increasing volume of meat products from the international market. However, outbreaks of animal diseases can jeopardize China’s ability to meet its need for consumable meat. This article investigates the impact of animal disease outbreaks on the sustainability of China’s meat imports by using the episode of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United States in 2003 as a case study. Our results show that China’s meat imports are becoming more diversified and sustainable. The outbreak did have significant negative impacts on beef imports from the United States. During the epidemic, not only was China able to increase beef imports from other major exporters, but it also increased imports of other animal products such as edible offal and pork. Our findings indicate that international trade can serve as a reliable source to meet China’s soaring meat consumption.     

我国棉花国际贸易“贱卖贵买”现象研究

通过对 1 978年以来世界上 1 0个最大棉花贸易实体进出口数据进行比较分析 ,发现我国棉花贸易具有极为反常的“贱卖贵买”特征 :即通常在国际棉价较低时处于棉花净出口国地位并出口较多 ,而在棉价较高时却处于净进口国地位并进口较多。上述“贱卖贵买”现象与国内长期维系棉花流通垄断和价格管制体制存在内在联系。改变传统棉改思路 ,成功地进行棉花流通市场化改革 ,是根治棉花贸易“贱卖贵买”问题的必要条件     

A Partial Equilibrium Analysis of Trade with Decreasing Transport Costs

Decreasing transport costs are incorporated in the standard partial equilibrium analysis of trade by allowing the divergence—introduced by transport costs—between export and import price to decrease with the volume of trade. When the excess demand (supply) curve is steeper than the long run average cost curve for imports (exports), we observe that an import (export) tariff raises (lowers) the domestic price by an amount exceeding the tariff. Further, when the excess demand (Supply) curve is less steep than the long run average cost curve for imports (exports), the possibility exists that an import (export) tariff may lower (raise) the domestic price. These results lead to the important conclusion that tariffs cannot be used as measures of nominal protection across industries. [F10]     

Crop failure,price regulation,and emergency imports of Japan's rice sector in 1993

In 1993, an extraordinarily cool summer in Japan brought about low rice yields, which caused considerable disturbances to the rice markets. Japan imported a large amount of rice as an emergency measure. Two controversies about Japan's rice policies were raised, particularly in that period. The first centred on the effectiveness of the price regulation policies in stabilizing rice prices and farmers’?incomes. The second involved the newspapers’?arguments that the emergency imports harmed other countries, especially developing countries. These controversies were examined with a world trade computable general equilibrium model.     

Are shocks to the terms of trade shocks to productivity?

International trade is frequently thought of as a production technology in which the inputs are exports and the outputs are imports. Exports are transformed into imports at the rate of the price of exports relative to the price of imports: the reciprocal of the terms of trade. Cast this way, a change in the terms of trade acts as a productivity shock. Or does it? In this paper, we show that this line of reasoning cannot work in standard models. Starting with a simple model and then generalizing, we show that changes in the terms of trade have no first-order effect on productivity when output is measured as chain-weighted real GDP. The terms of trade do affect real income and consumption in a country, and we show how measures of real income change with the terms of trade at business cycle frequencies and during financial crises.     

US Ethanol Trade Policy: Pollution Reduction or Domestic Protection

To mitigate dependence on fossil fuel and reduce pollution, the US government has undertaken several policies—an import tariff, tax credit, and mandate—to augment domestic ethanol production and increase ethanol in the fuel supply. This study uses a general equilibrium model to analyze the effects of the US ethanol import tariff on welfare by internalizing the externality and incorporating US fuel and ethanol policies and to determine the optimal tariff. The results show that because of the environmental benefits of imported ethanol, the adverse effects of domestic ethanol on the environment, the need for the imported ethanol to boost the blended gasoline production, and the economy‐wide interactions of various markets, the optimal trade policy may call for subsidizing rather than taxing ethanol imports.     

The Welfare Cost of Autarky: Evidence from the Jeffersonian Trade Embargo, 1807–09

The United States came close to complete autarky in 1808 as a result of a self‐imposed embargo on international shipping from December 1807 to March 1809. Monthly prices of exported and imported goods reveal the embargo's striking effect on commodity markets and allow a calculation of its welfare effects. A simple general‐equilibrium calculation suggests that the embargo cost about 5 percent of America's 1807 GNP, at a time when the trade share was about 13 percent (domestic exports and shipping earnings). The welfare cost was lower than the trade share because the embargo did not completely eliminate trade and because domestic producers successfully shifted production toward previously imported manufactured goods.     

EFFECTS OF CHINESE CURRENCY REVALUATION ON WORLD FIBER MARKETS

A partial equilibrium model is used to analyze effects of Chinese currency revaluation on world fiber markets. Unique characteristics of this model include incorporation of a regional supply response of cotton, substitutability between cotton and manmade fibers, and linkage between raw fiber and textile sectors. Simulation results show renminbi revaluation is likely to increase China's fiber imports and lower domestic cotton prices. Internationally, the world cotton price, polyester price, and cotton trade are expected to increase. A scenario modeling currency devaluation in China is run to test the stability of the model and ascertain its accordance with economic theory . ( JEL F17, F42, F47, O2)     

我国农产品零售价的影响因素之实证分析

近年来我国居民消费价格指数连连攀升,让百姓叫苦不已,生活成本上升。而其中以食品类消费价格指数对物价的贡献率为主。这跟农产品价格的节节高涨有着必然的联系。本文试图追本溯源,分析农产品价格上升的根源,选取了1995-2012年度数据作为样本,实证分析了影响农产品零售价的影响因素。回归结果表明农产品的零售价主要决定因素是农产品的生产成本,其他因素诸如城镇居民收入的变化对农产品价格影响不显著,这点也符合农产品作为必需品;其收入价格缺乏弹性的特性;国际食品市场价格也会对农产品价格造成一定的影响;可耕地面积的减少和城镇人口的上升,反而会激发出农业生产方式的改良,生产效率的提高,从而与农产品价格的变化的方向相反;货币供应量代表了市场的流动性,流动性过高,会促对农产品价格上升产生一定影响。     

The Bank of England and Parliament were monetarily adroit during the Napoleonic Wars

Abstract

With the connivance of Parliament, was the Bank of England's over issue of banknotes inflationary? The inflation stemmed from military subsidy and Peninsula campaign payments, as well as food imports, far in excess of Britain's export earnings to cover these capital transfers (particularly when crimped by the Continental Blockade), and not merely from domestic credit over issue. Neither domestic money creation nor the fiscal theory of the price level best explains the imbalance in Britain's international accounts during the Napoleonic Wars. This deficit stemmed from domestic production shortfalls in essentials (above all food production) and contractual obligations such as military spending/subsidies relative to the pound's international purchasing power which emanated from the ability of Britain to sell exports and replace imports with domestic output (raise food production internally). These types of highly inelastic transactions tended to operate independently of domestic money creation, fiscal policy (taxes) or price developments (inflation). This article tracks England's bullion debate, which concerned whether gold prices rose (and hence sterling's exchange rate fell) because military capital transfers overwhelmed the balance of payments, or because the Bank of England over issued paper money after the gold cover was removed in 1797. The issues herein are not antiquated because the primary issues in monetary debates for two centuries have concerned the cause of inflation and deflation, and whether the domestic money supply or the balance of payments is responsible. Determining actual causation is critical for the proper solution: monetary deflation, or domestic and international restructuring of trade and investment.     

Between a cap and a higher price: Modelling the price of dairy quotas under price ceiling legislation

This paper considers various policy alternatives to price ceiling legislation in the market for production quotas in the dairy farming sector in Quebec. I develop a model of farmers’ demand for quotas and estimate a structural parameter that is required for the counterfactual experiments. Using my econometric results and the modelled equilibrium price, I estimate the price of dairy quotas over the period 1993–2011. The counterfactual experiments indicate that the price of quotas could be reduced to the ceiling price through a 4.16% expansion of the aggregate supply of quotas, or through moderate trade liberalization of Canadian dairy products.     

ON THE BIASES IN FOREIGN TRADE INDICES*

Starting out from the observation that both imports and exports may be viewed as the difference between domestic consumption (use) and production, static standard theory of biases in consumption and production indices is brought to bear upon trade indices: Laspeyres tends to overrate when applied to imports and to underrate when applied to exports; for Paasche, the opposite holds true. Hence, terms of trade tend to be underrated (exaggerated) when based upon Laspeyres (Paasche) price indices. The problem of extending these conclusions to the case of changes in production frontiers and preference maps is discussed. When homotheticity is absent, correlation between price and quantity relatives may upset the simple conclusions. This is of special importance in the large-country situation. Dynamics further complicate the situation. A cobweb mechanism in exports may thus reverse the static results.     

中国大米进口波动成因分析：基于1992～2012年的数据

大米对中国粮食安全举足轻重,由于主张“坚持立足于基本靠国内保障粮食供给”,中国必须关注大米进口波动状况。基于1992～2012年的数据,本文利用CMS模型对中国大米进口波动成因分析的结果表明,由国内开放政策、人均收入、人均大米消费量和大米价格等宏观经济因素所决定的进口引力效应对中国大米进口波动所产生影响最大。与此同时。世界大米贸易的总体供求水平以及市场分布变化对中国大米进口波动也产生一定程度的影响。     

基于协整和脉冲响应的中国煤炭贸易量变化对其价格影响研究

煤炭价格的变化受整体供求平衡以及各种政策的影响而发生波动,但是有学者认为中国煤炭的贸易状况也会对其价格产生影响,本文收集了2000年至2009年煤炭进口和出口的数额以及2000年至2009年煤炭的价格,采用协整检验和脉冲响应方法对其进行分析,得出结论如下:第一,煤炭价格与煤炭进出口额之间存在长期均衡关系,但煤炭价格对煤炭进出口额的带动作用较强,而煤炭进出口额对煤炭价格的促进作用则较弱。第二,煤炭出口额在煤炭价格冲击下的响应效应有5年的滞后期,并且非常持久。第三,煤炭进口额和出口额之间长期并不存在关联,但是在短期内存在正相关性,据此分析结果,本文提出了对应的政策建议。     

Vertical Price Control and Parallel Imports: Theory and Evidence

The paper analyzes parallel imports, or goods traded without the authorization of a trademark owner. Parallel imports have multiple causes, including vertical price control, which the authors model. A manufacturer selling its product through an independent agent sets the wholesale price sufficiently low to induce a desired retail price abroad. This permits the agent to sell the product profitably in the originating market. Combined social surplus decreases and then increases in the cost of parallel trade. Restricting parallel imports benefits the manufacturer, but could raise or reduce global surplus. The econometric analysis indicates that the vertical‐control explanation of parallel imports is important.     

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.