The factor content of regional bilateral trade: The role of technology and demand

The Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model in its strict form has been strongly rejected by the data. Relaxing some assumptions of the standard HOV model is key to find improvements in its performance. We apply the Davis and Weinstein (2001) methodology to analyse the validity of the HOV model using regions rather than countries. Surprisingly, our results using data for 17 Spanish regions are similar to theirs with international data for OECD countries. Accounting for technological differences improves the predictive capacity of the factor proportions model and including trade costs and geography reduces significantly the missing trade problem. However, relaxing the assumption of factor price equalisation does not improve the performance of the HOV model in a regional setting.     

International Trade as Determined by Income and Income Distribution

Abstract

In standard trade theory, consumption is normally assumed to be homothetic. Consequently, income and its distribution have no role in determining international trade patterns. This paper examines the assumption and its implications. The assumption of homothetic preferences is rejected at the 1% level. It further demonstrates that the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model modified by allowing for non-homothetic taste improves the performance of HOV prediction and explains some of the trade puzzles and paradoxes.     

Development-related biases in factor productivities and the HOV model of trade

Abstract .  Past empirical failures of the basic Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) model related to the inability of data to meet its restrictive assumptions. Trefler (1993) tried to resuscitate HOV by introducing a simple Hicks-neutral (HN) factor-productivity adjustment. In this paper, we re-examine this question by estimating factor-specific productivities from the individual technology data of multiple developed and developing countries. We find evidence of factor-augmenting technological differences. Further, the ratios of factor productivities are strongly correlated with corresponding factor endowments. This systematic bias implies that the ability of HOV to explain North-South factor trade depends on both relative factor abundance and factor-augmenting productivity gaps.     

The Empirics of Comparative Advantage: Overcoming the Tyranny of Nonrefutability

I assess the empirical evidence on comparative advantage. I argue that the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) relationship is not a refutable general‐equilibrium proposition. Consequently, the empirical Heckscher–Ohlin literature has been suffering from the tyranny of nonrefutability. The trade‐governing principle of comparative advantage, the Ricardo–Haberler–Deardorff (RHD) theorem, yields a refutable general‐equilibrium prediction about the pattern of international trade and allows for a theory‐based assessment of the magnitude of the gains from trade. The recent experimental evidence on Japan's nineteenth‐century opening‐up to world trade provides a strong case for the hypothesis that comparative advantage governed Japan's international trade in its early trading years. The aggregate gains from that trade are estimated to be no larger than 9% of Japan's GDP.     

美国需求端产业结构的变化及对中国的启示

对产业结构演化的研究都是从供给端计算的产业结构,本文构造了从需求端计算的产业结构并依此对美国需求端产业结构的演化进行了实证分析。研究表明,当年价所计算的美国需求端三次产业结构的变化小于供给端产业结构的变化;1970年以来美国第二产业的变化差异中近40%可以用外贸因素来解释。进而本文采取不变价计算了美国产业结构的变化,研究表明,自1970年以来按不变价计算的美国需求端的产业结构变化很小,且美国第三产业比例提升中有31%可以用不同产业价格因素变化来解释,44%可以用国际贸易来解释,仅有25%可以用第三产业收入弹性的变化来解释,因而收入弹性不是美国第三产业比例提升的重要原因。美国能够维持经常账户的逆差,将第三产业作为动力产业的根本原因在于美元的霸权地位。相比较而言,中国一直以来处于国际收支“双顺差”的状态,中国的具体国情和国家实力均无法满足大规模输出人民币使之成为其他国家储备货币的条件。     

Marshall's Scissors: The Gains and Losses from Trade

In a Ricardian two‐factor endowment model with Cobb–Douglas tastes and many goods, this paper describesthe interaction of the demand and supply sides to determine the gains and losses from trade. If the abundant factor has a sufficiently rich profile of comparative advantages, trade causesthe proportionate gain to the abundant factor to be smaller than the proportionate loss to the scarce factor. However, if the abundant factor has sufficiently skewed comparative advantages toward the best goods, then the opposite will hold. Some examples suggest that these patterns may have something to do with the selection of trade regimes. In the usual one‐factor Ricardian model the gains from trade to a country are enhanced by higher demand shares for imports, but such gains from trade from imports to a country is not the case in a factor endowment model.     

Estimating the HOV Model with Technology Differences Using Disaggregated Labor Skills for the United States and the United Kingdom

The paper develops a version of the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) theorem of parametric technological differences for application to US and UK data on the factor contents of trade, output, and consumption. A matched set of input–output tables, consumption and trade vectors, and labor occupations is constructed. The data allow estimation of factor-specific and industry-specific productivity differences for incorporation into a second-stage econometric approach to assessing the HOV model. The data support a general model with technical differences and measurement error. The implied ratio of US-to-UK expenditure levels exceeds the ratio based on published GNP data.     

International Trade and the Value of Time

I discuss a generalized Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model in which consumption requires time as well as money (as in Becker's theory of the allocation of time) and the amount of work that a worker can do per unit of time—her “ability”—varies from country to country. High ability implies high income per hour, which implies a high value of time and, therefore, high consumption of the good that is more “time‐saving.” Therefore, if domestic production of this good is not commensurately high, it would have to be imported. In this way, I demonstrate that international differences in worker ability constitute an independent source of gains from trade. The model is able to explain several observed features of North–South trade that are not explained by the HOV model. The theoretical possibility of a Leontief paradox‐type trade pattern is also demonstrated.     

THE INFLATION AND SUPPLY SIDE CONSEQUENCES OF DEMAND SIDE SHOCKS*

This paper outlines a small general equilibrium model derived under the assumptions of imperfect competition and non-constant returns to scale Cobb-Douglas technology. The model is used to simulate the short-run supply side effects of a demand shock. The simulation results reveal that demand shocks lower prices and result in positive supply side effects, which in turn strengthen the positive demand side effects on unemployment.     

The Torrens–Ricardo Principle of Comparative Advantage: an Extension*

The Torrens–Ricardo Principle of Comparative Advantage rests on the special assumptions that, both in autarky and under free trade, all countries can produce all commodities and that, in autarkic equilibrium, each country consumes all producible commodities, at least incipiently. We reformulate the Principle to accommodate alternative assumptions. In our reformulation the emphasis is on marginal rates of substitution, not on the traditional marginal rates of transformation in production. It is shown in effect that, in existing formulations, the supply side is assigned a role that it can rarely sustain.     

Endowments,Specialization, and Policy

The paper explores the relationship between industry shares in production and their determinants including factor endowments, technology, and government policies, in a GDP–function framework. We use a new international panel dataset on production and trade compiled by the World Bank. As an intermediate step we calculate Hicks‐neutral productivity indices that vary across industries, time, and countries. We find that own‐TFP is robustly associated with industry shares across time and countries and that, after correcting for these productivity differences, output shares are related to factor endowments (Rybczynski effects) in a plausible way. Once Rybczynski effects are controlled for, we find little evidence of demand‐side policies (import tariffs) affecting the allocation of resources; we find, however, more role for supply‐side policies as the relative size of capital‐intensive industries is positively associated with infrastructure–capital endowments.     

The Coexistence of High Unemployment and Good Economic Performance in Large Open Developing Countries

The Harris–Todaro labor reallocation mechanism is embedded into a North–South trade model and a theoretical model is provided to explain the coexistence of high unemployment and good economic performance as large developing countries become more open to trade. The relative improvement in the total factor productivity of the Southern manufacturing sector is conjectured to give rise to this phenomenon. Although it induces an increase in the demand for labor in the Southern urban areas, this increase in demand is outweighed by an increase in supply brought by the reallocation of labor from rural to urban areas. The final result is higher unemployment. The model is supported by some empirical evidence.     

#br# 异质性消费者、异质性厂商与异质性匹配内生贸易——一个贸易理论的新范式*

异质性消费者与异质性厂商的异质性匹配从需求与供给两方面诱致贸易活动产生,基于消费者异质性假定与厂商异质性假定所构建的异质性匹配内生贸易模型,是在新贸易理论与新新贸易理论基础上的综合性拓展和研究新范式引入的逻辑起点。本文的主要贡献在于,在消费者异质性与厂商异质性假定条件下构建国内国际均衡模型,从异质性消费者与异质性厂商的异质性匹配角度对贸易活动进行内生性解释,把产业内贸易与跨国公司内贸易纳入到统一的贸易理论分析框架之中,基于贸易理论新范式对跨国公司产生、产业内贸易与跨国公司内部贸易、企业跨国投资、企业跨国并购与合并、跨国企业贸易联盟的形成进行内生解释,把一个异质性匹配新范式引入贸易理论研究并对当代主流贸易理论进行新拓展。     

Supply shocks and the interdependence of macroeconomic stability under flexible exchange rates

This paper analyzes the effects of a change in the monetary policy of a large economy on the macroeconomic stability of a small open economy with high dependence on imported intermediate goods. The analysis is carried out using the Taylor framework where the money supply rule is specified by the degree of monetary accommodation of price shocks. A supply shock to the large country is transmitted as both demand and supply shocks to the small country. A shift toward less monetary accommodation by the large country is shown to increase both price and output instability in the small country through the supply side linkage, while it may enhance price or output stability through the demand side linkage. Simulation results for Germany and Japan suggest that the supply side effect on price stability is important and that the effect on output stability depends crucially on the importance of trade in goods between the large country and the country in question.     

需求和供给方视角下远程医疗采用元分析

远程医疗的需求方和供给方均是远程医疗的使用者,但需求方的决策属于选择性创新决策,而供给方的决策属于可能性创新决策.为探索这两种创新决策采用影响因素的差异性,本文从需求方和供给方共有因素、需求方特有因素、供给方特有因素3个角度构建了远程医疗采用概念模型,并收集了21项研究进行元分析.结果表明:①需求方独有的影响因素有:感知易用性、社会影响、便利条件、感知收益、感知障碍、行为线索;供给方独有的影响因素有:高层管理支持;②态度、感知有用性、绩效期望、努力期望为需求方和供给方共有的影响因素;③相比远程医疗的供给方,绩效期望、努力期望、社会影响和便利条件对需求方的影响更大.     

我国集装箱港口吞吐能力供需平衡研究

受国际金融危机、国内经济结构调整等因素的影响,我国集装箱运输的供给和需求关系不断发展变化.基于状态空间模型对我国集装箱运输的需求进行预测,并从定性的角度分析我国CDP、外贸进出口额以及集装箱化率这三个因素对预测结果的影响,对定量预测结果进行了修正.然后,对我国集装箱港口规划的吞吐能力进行总结分析,并且指出我国集装箱港口吞吐能力的适应性问题.基于以上分析,对我国集装箱港口吞吐能力的供需平衡状况进行定量地评价,得出供大于求的结论,并阐述了可能造成的严重后果.最后,针对我国集装箱吞吐能力严重过剩的问题提出对策建议.     

Bottom‐up world climate policies: Preserving fossil fuel deposits vs. capping fuel consumption

The policy of purchasing fossil fuel deposits for preservation is an alternative to the demand‐side climate policies that predominate in practice and in professional studies. This paper analyzes the deposit purchase approach and compares it to the standard demand‐side policy in a model with international trade and non‐cooperative governments that account for the effects of their policies on equilibrium prices. We investigate how the two regimes differ with respect to their equilibrium allocations and, in particular, with respect to the countries’ mitigation effort and welfare. If countries are symmetric, mitigation is stronger in the demand‐side than in the supply‐side regime and the transition from the latter to the former is welfare enhancing for all countries. If countries have different endowments of deposits in a two‐country economy, the country with higher extraction costs does not purchase deposits for preservation, and the country with lower extraction costs is better off with the supply‐side than with the demand‐side policy. Finally, we consider the case of combined policies and find surprisingly that no equilibrium in pure strategies exists, when heterogeneous countries apply both policy instruments.     

基于供求关系的生猪契约定价博弈分析

从生猪产业链上养殖主体与工贸企业之间的供求关系出发,基于供求关系的情景差异,以生猪契约价格为研究对象,运用商品供求理论和博弈论方法,分析养殖主体和工贸企业之间围绕生猪购销价格的博弈过程,得到了信息获取与处理能力影响契约价格形成、养殖主体的决策心理规律、工贸企业价格降幅方案和谈判成功率、专业化合作组织有助于增强养殖主体的价格订单谈判力等结论,为我国生猪产业健康发展提供了理论依据和方法支撑。     

Foreign Trade of Manufactures and Men and Women’s Employment and Earnings in Germany and Japan

Using factor content analysis, this paper provides estimates of the effects of manufacturing trade expansion on men and women's employment in Germany and Japan, with breakdowns by world, OECD, and non-OECD trade. Evidence is found that foreign trade expansion had a more negative effect on women's than men's manufacturing employment in Japan and a roughly equal effect in Germany, with the difference between the countries driven by non-OECD trade. In spite of this, demand shifted away from women's manufacturing employment in Germany after the early-1970s, for both the manufacturing sector as a whole and for manufacturing industries with high female shares of employment, while no such labor demand shifts occurred in Japan. In the face of these differences in labor demand and of very similar increases in female labor supply, male-female hourly wage differences narrowed in Germany and widened in Japan, for both manufacturing and non-agricultural employees. It is concluded that shifts in neither labor supply nor labor demand fit with observed trends of male-female wage differences in Germany and Japan.     

Tax incidence in a two good model

In a two consumer, two commodity economy with an excise tax on one good, analysis is done of the effects of lump sum transfers between consumers and of an increase in the excise tax, proceeds being returned as a lump sum. Changes in price, incomes, and utilities are calculated in terms of demand and supply derivatives and changes in profit shares going to the two consumers. Analysis complements that of Harberger by concentrating on the demand side and considering only a reduced form of supply responses. Some of the analysis parallels consideration of the classical transfer problem in international trade.