Impact of Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Trade Flows: Evidence from Commodity Trade between the United States and the United Kingdom

Previous studies that investigated the impact of exchange rate volatility on the trade flows employed aggregate trade data and standard estimation techniques. They provided mixed results. In this paper we use disaggregated import and export data for 177 commodities traded between the United States and the United Kingdom to investigate whether volatility of the real bilateral dollar–pound exchange rate has any detrimental effect on trade flows at the commodity level. Additionally, we employ the bounds testing approach to cointegration and error‐correction modelling that is suitable for the models used mostly because it does not require pre‐unit‐root testing and variables in the model could be stationary, non‐stationary or a combination of the two. In most trade flow models estimated, we found a negative effect of exchange rate volatility on commodity trade.     

Buyer-seller relationships in international trade: Evidence from U.S. States' exports and business-class travel

International trade has become increasingly dependent on the transmission of complex information, often realized via face-to-face communication. This paper provides novel evidence for the importance of in-person business meetings in international trade. Interactions among trade partners entail a fixed cost of trade, but at the same time they generate relationship capital, which adds bilateral specific value to the traded products. Differences in the face-to-face communication intensity of traded goods, bilateral travel costs and foreign market size determine the optimal amount of interaction between trade partners. Using U.S. state level data on international business-class air travel as a measure of in-person business meetings, I find robust evidence that the demand for business-class air travel is directly related to volume and composition of exports in differentiated products. I also find that trade flows in R&D intensive manufactures and goods facing contractual frictions are most dependent on face-to-face meetings. The econometric identification exploits the cross-state variation in bilateral exports and business-class air travelers by foreign country and time period, circumventing any spurious correlation induced by cross-country differences driving aggregate travel and trade patterns.     

Evidence on Orcutt's hypothesis using Turkish–US commodity trade

Many of the studies that have tested the Orcutt's hypothesis in trade have used aggregate trade data between one country and rest of the world. Since these studies suffer from aggregation bias, three recent studies have employed data at commodity level and have found relatively more support for the hypothesis. In this paper we test the hypothesis using commodity level data from 54 industries that trade between Turkey and the US. We find support for the notion that trade flows respond to exchange rate changes faster than to relative price changes in one-third of the industries, supporting Orcutt's conjecture.     

Pattern and Determinants of United States' Intra-Industry Trade

This study identifies country and industry-level determinants of intra-industry trade and its components, vertical (VIIT) and horizontal (HIIT) intra-industry trade, in bilateral U.S. trade. Unlike studies for other countries, U.S. intra-industry trade is found to be dominated by HIIT rather than VIIT. This finding is important because HIIT tends to have relatively low factor adjustment costs relative to VIIT. Industry specialization takes place within, rather than across, product lines within the same industry. Two new variables contribute to our understanding of intra-industry trade. Country-level product differentiation and the interaction between technological innovation and foreign direct investment are found to be important determinants of both HIIT and VIIT. Distance, foreign direct investment flows, scale economies, and seller concentration affect HIIT but not VIIT. Other influences exert similar influences on components of intra-industry trade.     

AN ERROR CORRECTION ANALYSIS OF U.S.-MEXICO TRADE FLOWS

Abstract

Estimation of bilateral trade elasticities is less well documented than is the case for aggregate trade flows. This study estimates bilateral trade equations for Mexico and the United States. The empirical analysis is carried out using an error correction approach that allows imports and exports to adjust over time to changes in the independent variables that affect the demand for them. Results obtained indicate that imports and exports between the two neighbors react heterogeneously to variations in domestic prices, foreign prices, and currency values. Lag structures between the two trade equations also differ from each other.     

Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?

For over 40 years, the gravity equation has been a workhorse for cross-country empirical analyses of international trade flows and — in particular — the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on trade flows. However, the gravity equation is subject to the same econometric critique as earlier cross-industry studies of U.S. tariff and nontariff barriers and U.S. multilateral imports: trade policy is not an exogenous variable. We address econometrically the endogeneity of FTAs. Although instrumental-variable and control-function approaches do not adjust for endogeneity well, a panel approach does. Accounting econometrically for the FTA variable's endogeneity yields striking empirical results: the effect of FTAs on trade flows is quintupled. We find that, on average, an FTA approximately doubles two members' bilateral trade after 10 years.     

Intra-Industry Specialization in United States–China Trade

Frictions in U.S.–China bilateral trade relations have intensified in recent years. Changes in intra-industry specialization indicators are used to assess factor adjustment pressures that may have been experienced by U.S. and Chinese industries from recent growth in bilateral trade. Many industries experienced large increases in intra-industry trade over the 2000–10 period. Only 14 of 62 U.S. industries may have experienced factor adjustment pressures. Most U.S. industries gained from growth in U.S.–China trade. Nine Chinese industries may have faced factor adjustment pressures. The United States should refrain from using trade remedy measures to address bilateral trade frictions and focus instead on improving trade relations.     

The Benefits of Free Trade to U.S. Consumers

Much of the literature concerning trade liberalization focuses on estimating the effect of increased trade on aggregate economic indicators, such as the growth in GDP per capita. Although there is a general recognition that trade benefits consumers, there is little research that estimates the direct impact of increased trade on U.S. consumers. We take broad measures of the economic impact of trade liberalization from three authoritative studies and apply economic principles to estimate the impact of increased trade on the income of U.S. households. We find, for example, that U.S. households gained about $2,500 in 2002 from increased trade, or the equivalent of almost six percent of the median household income in that year. We believe these results should be given weight in the ongoing debate regarding the effect of globalization.JEL Classification F130,F140     

Product quality and the direction of trade

A substantial amount of theoretical work predicts that quality plays an important role as a determinant of the global patterns of bilateral trade. This paper develops an empirical framework to estimate the empirical relevance of this prediction. In particular, it identifies the effect of quality operating on the demand side through the relationship between per capita income and aggregate demand for quality. The model yields predictions for bilateral flows at the sectoral level and is estimated using cross-sectional data for bilateral trade among 60 countries in 1995. The empirical results confirm the theoretical prediction: rich countries tend to import relatively more from countries that produce high-quality goods.     

Convergence of shocks and trade in the enlarged European Union

This paper explores the relation between trade flows and cross-country symmetry of supply and demand shocks using data from the EU-27 countries. Increased bilateral trade intensity is found to have a positive impact on the correlation of both demand and supply shocks. Intra-industry trade is found to be positively linked to correlations of supply-side shocks but negatively linked to correlations of demand shocks. Our results thus provide support for the argument that aggregate demand spillovers and intra-industry trade, rather than specialization, dominate in the process through which trade flows affect the cross-country transmission of shocks in Europe. At the same time, our estimates suggest that monetary-policy convergence in Europe (the circulation of the euro), while having increased symmetry of supply-side shocks, has had no direct favourable impact on symmetry of demand shocks. By contrast, the process of fiscal-policy convergence is found to have resulted in more correlated demand shocks across the EU member states.     

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。     

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.     

中美产业内贸易研究

本文对中美工业制成品产业内贸易的发展及特征进行了实证研究,发现中美双边贸易中工业制成品产业内贸易所占比重有所提高,其中,机械和运输设备产业内贸易所占比重最高;垂直产业内贸易是中美产业内贸易的主要形式;市场容量扩大、跨国公司价值链管理的需要以及一体化生产体系的构筑均有利于促进双边产业内贸易的发展,中国关税税率的大幅削减对产业内贸易发展的促进作用并不明显,规模经济和贸易障碍对其则尚存消极影响。     

人民币升值能否减少美中贸易逆差

美中持续的贸易逆差使人民币遭受了巨大的升值压力。1985年至2009年月度数据的计量结果表明,美中贸易逆差与人民币汇率之间不存在长期稳定的协整关系,但2005年7月汇改之后两者之间的协整关系开始出现,格兰杰因果关系检验的结果表明,中美贸易差额会引起人民币兑美元汇率的变化,但人民币汇率的变化却不会引起中美贸易差额的变化,因此人民币汇率仍然并非导致中美贸易差额的真正原因。除此之外,对美中商品分类贸易顺差和逆差的进一步分析显示,造成美中贸易逆差的真正原因是中国在劳动密集型和资源易耗性产业上所发挥的比较优势,而美国在土地密集型等产业上的顺差则表明美国可以通过发挥其在土地及高新技术等产业上的比较优势来缩减美中贸易逆差。     

产品内分工视角下中美贸易失衡中的贸易利益研究

中美双边贸易中中方的巨额贸易顺差是否使中方获得了同样的贸易利益,一直是中美两国争论的焦点问题之一。本文在产品内分工框架内,构建了双边贸易利益分配的理论模型,使用面板协整对1997-2009年中美双边8个主要制造业部门的贸易利得进行实证分析。结果表明,美国依靠比较优势和垄断优势占据了产品价值链两端高附加值环节,而中国承担低附加值的中间环节;中美贸易失衡背后的利益流向并没有与贸易差额一致,中国在中美产品内贸易中获利微薄。因此,我国应该努力提升产业结构,提高自主创新能力,力求锁定在附加值高的环节,以赢得更多的国际贸易利益。     

人民币实际有效汇率调整及其波动率与中美贸易收支

基于1995年1月至2007年9月的月度数据,分析了人民币实际有效汇率与中美贸易收支的关系。结果显示,人民币汇率波动率增加有助于缩小中美贸易收支顺差,人民币汇率升值无论长期或是短期,都不能解决中美双边贸易收支失衡问题。美国经济增长引致的进口需求是中美贸易顺差和我国收入增长的重要原因,在当前经济形势下,要警惕美国经济下滑导致我国的出口下降,进而使我国经济出现"硬着陆"的风险。     

Comparative cost advantage and trade performance: a panel data approach

This article examines the relationship of the components of labor cost—unit cost, productivity, compensation—to the structure of U.S. trade flows in manufacturing industries for the period 1967-1982. Earlier cross-sectional models do not account for differential trade barriers among industries while time series studies do not include changes in either trade barriers or exchange rates. This study addresses these problems by using a panel data model with fixed time effects. Because this model had limited success in estimating the labor compensation parameter, a panel data model with individual industry effects was also estimated.     

Per capita income,market access costs,and trade volumes

There is strong empirical evidence that countries with lower per capita income tend to have smaller trade volumes even after controlling for aggregate income. Furthermore, poorer countries do not just trade less, but have a lower number of trading partners. In this paper, I construct and estimate a general equilibrium model of trade that captures both these features of the trade data. The key element of the model is an association between trade costs (both variable and fixed) and countries' development levels, which can account for the effect of per capita income on trade volumes and explain many zeros in bilateral trade flows. I find that market access costs play an important role in fitting the model to the data. In a counterfactual analysis, I find that removing the asymmetries in trade costs raises welfare in all countries with an average percentage change equal to 29% and larger gains for smaller and poorer countries. Real income inequality falls by 43%.     

Exporting out of poverty: Provincial poverty in Vietnam and U.S. market access

Can a developing country reduce poverty by gaining increased market access to a large, rich country? The 2001 U.S.–Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) provides an excellent opportunity to examine this question as, unlike other bilateral trade agreements, the U.S. tariff cuts were not influenced by Vietnamese industries. Using variation in the structure of the labor force across provinces prior to the trade agreement, I construct provincial measures of U.S. tariffs. To address concerns over confounding trends between changes in provincial poverty and changes in provincial tariffs I follow two approaches: controlling for trends based on observable initial conditions and differencing away time invariant trends using pre-BTA data. I find that provinces that were more exposed to the U.S. tariff cuts experienced faster decreases in poverty between 2002 and 2004. Additionally, I document that the movement of workers across provinces is limited in scale, particularly for those with low levels of education. Finally, I show that the most exposed provinces experienced faster wage growth for workers with low levels of education, but not for highly educated workers.     

Flexible exchange rates and international trade: An empirical investigation of bilateral flows

This paper investigates the alleged adverse effect of floating exchange rates on international trade. A simple model is constructed to test the relationship between exchange rate variability and bilateral trade flows between the United States and three of its major trading partners: Canada, Japan and Germany. Using data from 1960 to 1983 to encompass both “stable” and floating rate regimes, it is shown that while exchange rate variability is considerably higher in the floating period, there is no evidence that this greater variability has had a negative impact on trade flows.