Do oil tariffs lower wages?

An oil tariff has potential to alter the pattern of production and income distribution across productive factors. This paper use a general equilibrium model of production and trade with inputs of capital, labor, and international energy to examine the effects of an oil tariff. Under a range of conditions, higher energy prices created by oil tariffs would lower the ratio of wages to capital rents, and production of labor intensive goods would fall. This paper concentrates on the potential of oil tariffs to alter patterns of production and income distribution.     

Tariff and Quota Reform with International Capital Mobility

In a small, open economy with a convex production set, international capital mobility raises the cost of tariff protection on one subset of imports if there are irremovable quotas on another. Given irremovable quotas on one subset of imports, free trade is the optimal policy toward all other imports, with or without international capital mobility. Further, in the scalar case, international capital mobility reduces the optimal implicit excess tariff on the quota-constrained import if an irremovable tariff is in place on the other import.     

Trade Liberalization and Union Wages in a Differentiated Bertrand Duopoly

In a framework of a unionized international Bertrand duopoly with differentiated products, this article analyzes national labor market interdependencies and the consequences of trade liberalization for union wages. The analysis suggests that national wages are likely to be strategic complements (substitutes) if products are ordinary substitutes (complements). Under the assumption of linear demand, it is shown that bilateral trade liberalization always leads to higher union set wages and union utilities, regardless of the nature of product rivalry. An analysis of the consequences of unilateral tariff reductions shows that foreign tariff reductions always give rise to higher union wages and utilities, whereas the impact of unilateral domestic tariff reductions depends on the nature of product rivalry.     

The impact of international agreements on domestic policy: An analysis of tariff policy in African countries

This paper estimates a fixed effects tariff model to study the impact of the tariff reform provisions of international agreements on domestic tariffs, using a sample of eight Sub-Saharan African countries. The structure of the model explaining domestic tariff changed from the preagreement period to the postagreement period. However, the results indicate that for the most part, efforts by governments to adhere to tariff agreements failed in all but a few countries. Even for the countries in which the agreements appeared to be successful, the significance of the results is relatively weak.     

Free trade zones,tariffs and the real exchange rate

This article examines the consequences of changes in final and intermediate good tariffs on structural adjustment, urban unemployment, and the real exchange rate in the presence of a free trade zone (FTZ) and foreign capital in the host country. The location of the FTZ and the disaggregation of the economy allows us to examine the consequences of a tariff change on regional incomes. It is shown that as a consequence of a tariff change the urban and rural incomes need not necessarily move in the same direction (hence the potential for rural and urban conflict in policy making). It is also shown that an increase in the tariff on an immediate good may result in both export promotion and an increase in welfare. Such expansion is a nonconventional result, since raising barriers to trade normally leads to a contradiction in the volume of the trade. The interconnection between the real exchange rate and intermediate good tariff is also explored in this article. It is shown that a policy of imposing tariffs on these goods may result in the appreciation of the real exchange rate.     

开放经济输入型通货膨胀问题研究——基于中国数据的实证检验

本文基于通货膨胀国际传导理论,指出开放条件下输入型通胀传导路径主要包括:进口价格路径、国际金融衍生品价格路径以及贸易顺差引致货币供给路径。通过选取2005-2010年期间月度数据,运用误差修正模型、格兰杰因果检验、方差分解等计量方法,对输入型通胀因素与国内物价波动之间互动关系进行实证检验。结果发现:国际金融衍生品价格、进口价格主要改变生产厂商的生产要素价格,最终表现为PPI的变动。由于虚拟部门集聚资金对货币供给量的分流作用,以及PPI与CPI之间传导不通畅等原因,输入型通胀因素对CPI波动的影响程度被大大削弱。     

Trade liberalization and the wage gap: the role of vertical linkages and fixed costs

This paper studies the labor market impacts of trade liberalization, and specifically tariff reductions, with a focus on the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers in presence of vertical linkages in the fixed costs of production. To that purpose, we develop and empirically test a monopolistic competition model with variable elasticity of substitution and labor differentiated by skill level, where skilled workers are the residual claimants of savings on imported inputs. Consistently with the model predictions, we find that a 10% reduction in tariffs implies on average a 3.8% increase in the wage gap. In addition, the same level of tariff reduction is expected to lower unskilled employment in domestic production by 3.3%, which is partially offset by an expansion of unskilled employment in the export segment of production. These results are obtained matching detailed international trade data with World Input–Output Tables and EU KLEMS data on country-sector wage by skill level on 17 OECD countries from 1996 to 2005.     

碳关税对我国产业国际竞争力的影响及对策分析

近年来,随着经济的发展,也出现了越来越多的气候变化问题,一些发达国家以应对此问题为理由提出对本国进口的碳排放量较大的产品征收一种特别的关税——二氧化碳排放关税,即碳关税。虽然我国现在反对征收碳关税,但是考虑到发达国家在国际经济秩序中所处的主导地位,掌控着绝对的话语权,而我们发展中国家之间对碳关税又缺乏统一协调的立场和一致的观点,因此发达国家极有可能在未来单方面实施征收碳关税的政策。碳关税的开征将毋庸置疑的对我国的出口产业造成严重冲击,因此,我国应当未雨绸缪,积极应对碳关税。总体上看,我国在国内征收碳税可能是一种比较有效的应对发达国家碳关税的方法。     

基于碳税性能的实物期权模型分析

本文首先综述国内外关于碳税及碳关税定义、性质特征及作用功能等方面的研究文献,回顾有关实物期权理论在税收筹划中的理论研究,对碳税及国际碳关税设计中蕴含的实物期权思想及其存在的条件因素进行了分析,并运用实物期权理论描述了结构期权、程序期权的作用过程,构建了碳税及碳关税设计方案转换中存在的转换实物期权模型。最后,针对复杂多变的政治因素和自然环境,提出了碳税及碳关税设计筹划的合理建议。本文主要的创新点在于首次把实物期权模型引入到碳税及碳关税设计中。     

Investment During the Great Depression: Uncertainty and the Role of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff

The political process that led to the Smoot-Hawley tariff likely generated significant business uncertainty. Recent investment theory suggests that increased cash-flow uncertainty can depress investment. We use cross-sectional net investment data to estimate an investment model augmented by two measures of international exposure (imported inputs and export markets). The exposure variables allow us to test whether trade regime uncertainty played a significant macroeconomic role in the early years of the Great Depression. International exposure proves important in explaining investment behavior at the start of the downturn (1929) but not in later years (1930-1933).     

The welfare effects of the antebellum tariff: A general equilibrium analysis

In this paper a general equilibrium model of the United States in 1859 is developed and solved using the Scarf algorithm. Such a formulation allows the U. S. equilibrium to be computed for differing parameter specifications, so that the comparative static effects of policies involving even very complex interactions within the economy may be analyzed. In this case, the general equilibrium effects of the tariff in the United States are examined by comparing the actual, or initial, equilibrium with a hypothetical equilibrium in which the tariff has been eliminated. We find that the South was in fact injured by the tariff; the price of cotton and the return to slaveholding would have both risen significantly with its elimination. The principal beneficiary of the tariff was free labor. Removal of the tariff would have produced a decrease in the real wage and a slight fall in the return to capital. Overall, real income in the United States would have declined by 1.07 to 1.09% as a result of tariff elimination, or by between $44 and $45 million in current prices. Alternative parameter specifications may produce different results, ranging from the Metzler paradox in the case of very inelastic substitution in R.O.W. consumer demand to cases of increases in real income with tariff elimination in the cases of elastic substitution in either R.O.W. or U. S. consumer demand. A final caveat in judging the results should be inserted here. Factor endowments for 1859 are taken as fixed. The comparative static results here answer the question: What would have the 1859 United States been like if the tariff had been eliminated, allowing time for full adjustment? No dynamic effects are taken into account, such as adjustments in factor supplies. Consequently, the 1859 United States that had consistently followed a free trade policy would have looked quite different from the one that pursued a policy of protection and then eliminated the tariff, which we consider here.     

How Does the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Affect the Restructuring of Global Value Chains?

This paper quantifies the way in which the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) affects the restructuring of global value chains (GVCs). It incorporates an input– output structure into a general equilibrium model, highlighting important differences between intermediates and final goods. Using tariff reduction schedules for the RCEP agreement and Asian Development Bank Multi-Region Input–Output database, it evaluates the impact of the RCEP's tariff cuts on vertical specialization and the GVC position index of members. It shows that the RCEP significantly increased vertical specialization and the weighted average number of stages for members for primary factors of production and final consumption, which led to more complex and longer production chains. This was mainly due to the trade creation in intermediates imported from member countries and those outside it. This is an important finding, distinct from traditional trade models without an input–output structure.     

Home-product bias, capital mobility, and macroeconomic volatility

This paper uses a dynamic general equilibrium two-country optimizingmodel to analyse the consequences of international capital mobilityfor macroeconomic volatility. To this end, the dynamic macroeconomiceffects of a monetary policy, a fiscal policy, and a labor supplyshock are analysed. Simulations are used to analyse the implicationsof changes in the degree of capital mobility for the propagationof shocks. The simulation results obtained for a bond economyare compared with the simulation results obtained for a complete-marketeconomy. It is shown that allowing for a home-product bias inpreferences has a number of interesting implications for theway changes in international capital mobility and in the structureof international financial markets affect how shocks propagatethrough an open economy.     

Trade liberalization induced profitability enhancement? The impact of intermediate input imports on firm profitability

Using the detailed data on production and transaction of Chinese manufacturing firms, we investigate how the input tariff liberalization affects firm profitability and explore the underlying channels of this effect. We find that input tariff reduction significantly increases firms’ profitability. Our finding is robust to a variety of specifications. We further find that the quality upgrading of imported intermediate inputs and the reduction of inventory costs are the main reasons for the profit-enhancing effect of input tariff reduction. Our study has important policy implications for the economic growth in the long run and the economic recovery during the epidemic of COVID-19.     

HAS SOUTH AFRICA LIBERALISED ITS TRADE?

This paper uses new tariff data to re‐evaluate the extent to which South Africa has liberalised its trade from the late 1980s. The paper finds that significant progress has been made in simplifying South Africa's tariff structure and reducing tariff protection, but further progress can be made in removing tariff peaks, reducing tariff dispersion, and lowering the anti‐export bias arising from protection. Further, although protection has fallen, the decline has been no faster than in other lower‐middle‐income economies. The paper also finds that estimates of the level of nominal and effective protection, and their rate of change, are sensitive to the choice of tariff measure (collection duties or scheduled tariff rates) and Input‐Output or Supply‐Use table, but that the sectoral structure of protection is largely unaffected.     

Imported Capital Goods and Manufacturing Productivity: Evidence from Botswana's Manufacturing Sector

This article examines the effects of imported capital goods on manufacturing productivity growth in Botswana. Despite consistent efforts aimed at diversification, Botswana's economy has remained heavily dependent on diamond exports, and the country's productivity remains a point of concern. The ability to apply foreign technologies to increase productivity and spur diversification is limited by the foreign exchange gap. This study uses an imported input growth model to analyse how the importation of capital goods contributes to enabling productivity growth and export diversification. With a panel of 340 manufacturing firms, the study also analyses the effects of imported capital goods on firm productivity growth and skills development. The results show that imported machines and equipment have increase manufacturing productivity after 1‐2 years following the investment. Additionally, foreign‐owned firms were found to enjoy more productivity growth than their domestic counterparts.     

资本积累下的动态关税模型——基于互补品贸易的分析

本文是对Calzolari and Lambertini(2007)的模型的一个拓展,尝试性地对在考虑到资本积累下的互补产品进行了动态关税分析。该模型建立在Bertrand-Ramsey竞争的微分对策之上(differential game)。分析表明,该模型同样存在两种稳态:"需求驱动"的稳态和Ramsey的"黄金律"稳态。在"需求驱动"的稳态下,如果只考虑本国厂商的利益且税率足够高,政府就会征税,但降低了本国的总福利;在Ramsey的"黄金律"稳态下,征税提高本国总福利,政府也会征税,前提是对方不征收关税。     

Estimating the Euler Equation for Aggregate Investment with Endogenous Capital Depreciation

This article looks at the empirical consequences of introducing endogenous capital depreciation in the standard neoclassical model with quadratic adjustment costs. To this end, we formulate an empirical specification that accommodates capital maintenance and utilization in the Euler equations for aggregate investment. The empirical estimates with data from the Canadian Survey on Capital and Repair Expenditures show that, in contrast to the existing literature, the performance of the Euler equations is improved when we account for the impact of variable capital depreciation.     

Measuring the usage of preferential tariffs in the world

The preference utilization ratio, i.e., the share of preferential imports out of total imports, has been a popular indicator for measuring the usage of preferential tariffs vis-à-vis tariffs on a most-favored-nation basis. A crucial shortcoming of this measure is the data requirements, particularly for data on imports classified by tariff schemes, which are not available in most countries. This study proposes another measure for preference utilization, termed the “tariff exemption ratio.” This measure is a good proxy for the value of offered preferences by each importing country to the rest of the world. Importantly, it can be computed by employing only publicly available data, such as those provided by the World Development Indicators, for its computations. We can thus calculate this measure for many countries for an international comparison. Our finding is that tariff exemption ratios differ widely across countries.     

重庆市鼓励外商投资优惠政策

1)Tariff Policy 1. The imported machinery, equipment and capital construction materialsneeded by the construction of the infrastructure of the economic andtechnological development zone shall be exempt from the imported dutyand the integrated industrial and commerical tax. The imported machinery, equipment and capital construction materialsneeded by the construction of the izifrastructure of the internationalcommunications and international airport connected with,though notwithin the economic and lechnological development aone,being regardedse the infrasturcture of the developent zone, shall also be exempt fromthe import duty and the integrated industrial and commerical tax.