Regional trade agreements and trade in agri-food products: evidence for the European Union from gravity modeling using disaggregated data

The proliferation of regional trade agreements in recent years has intensified the debate on the desirability of these agreements in themselves and their coexistence with multilateral free trade under the WTO. This study contributes to this debate by analyzing trade creation and trade diversion effects of the European Union on trade flows of six major agri‐food products from 1985 to 2000. An extended gravity model is estimated employing pooled data and generalized least squares methods. The results show that the developments in the EU since the mid‐1980s have served to boost agri‐food trade significantly among the members. Some of the growth in intra‐EU trade in agri‐food products came at the expense of nonmembers as the EU reduced the degree of relative openness to trade with nonmembers during this period and diverted trade from the rest of the world into the intra‐EU channels.     

The Determinants of Employment in Foreign Firms in the UK Food Manufacturing Sector: A Note

This paper seeks to evaluate the factors that have given rise to the large presence of foreign firms in the UK food and drink manufacturing sector. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in food and drink manufacturing is very high – the second highest for any manufacturing sector in the UK economy. An empirical model is tested on 48 5‐digit sectors in the food industry and we find that brands, skills and a low propensity to export positively affect employment in EU‐owned firms. Alternatively, employment in non‐EU owned firms is affected by propensity to export factors and by the effective tariff rate.     

Capturing zero‐trade values in gravity equations of trade: an analysis of protectionism in agro‐food sectors

With significant improvements in its theoretical underpinnings, the gravity model has gained renewed interest in the agro‐food trade literature. Notwithstanding, there is a dearth of literature examining the relative trade restrictiveness of tariff barriers across a broad range of agro‐food sectors. This represents an important research gap, which this study sets out to fill. Furthermore, this research reconciles the application of zero‐inflated models with a sectorally disaggregated analysis. More specifically, employing a fully specified gravity equation, a Poisson estimator and variants of the Poisson model (Negative Binomial, Zero‐Inflated Poisson, and Zero‐Inflated Negative Binomial) provide statistically significant and theoretically consistent estimates, while allowing for the inclusion of zero‐trade values. A panel data model with fixed effects is also employed to improve the estimation of the parameters of interest. Estimation results reveal that in the vast majority of sectors examined, import tariffs are found to be statistically significant, whereas export refunds exhibit a statistically smaller role due to the nonsystematic nature of their application in world food markets. Model simulations of tariff barrier eliminations reveal limited trade gains, although there is encouraging evidence of “low” and “lower middle” per capita income country trade gains in wheat, red meat, dairy, sugar, and (particularly) rice markets.     

Foreign direct investment‐facilitated development: the case of the natural gas industry of Trinidad and Tobago

Since the last decade, governments in less‐developed countries have increasingly viewed foreign direct investment (FDI) as a catalyst for economic growth and transformation. The early literature argues that FDI‐facilitated development occurs when a less‐developed country assimilates, adapts and diffuses the positive externalities arising from the interaction of the multinational enterprise's (MNE) ownership advantage with its locational attributes. This paper, however, posits that FDI‐facilitated development is not an effortless process. It occurs only when host developing‐country governments implement intervention policies that are aimed at increasing indigenous technological capabilities. These policies enhance the absorptive capacity of host countries, allowing them to capture the spillovers arising from the MNE activities. The paper explores this for Trinidad and Tobago, a recipient of substantial FDI inflows in its natural gas industry for the last decade. It shows that FDI‐facilitated development only occurs when governments in less‐developed countries pursue credible intervention policies.     

Avian influenza,non‐tariff measures and the poultry exports of China

This paper focuses on the direct impact of avian influenza outbreaks and the impact of the consequent non‐tariff measures (NTMs) on the international poultry trade. Using monthly export data from China and its 122 poultry importing countries, a random‐effect gravity model has been adopted. Emphasising the agri‐food trade in a global value chain context, the research analysis distinguishes between ‘agri‐food goods’ (mostly uncooked poultry products) and ‘processed goods’ (mostly cooked poultry products). The results show that domestic avian influenza outbreaks have a significant negative impact on a country's poultry imports compared with such outbreaks in exporting countries. Moreover, NTMs induced by avian influenza reduce the uncooked poultry trade but temporarily increase the cooked poultry trade. However, with a time‐lag, the cooked poultry trade may soon face increasing NTMs. The results also imply that developing countries that attempt to export agri‐food products to developed countries should increase and enhance processed food production.     

Drivers of vertical intra‐industry trade: the case of the Hungarian agri‐food sector

This article investigates the drivers of vertical intra‐industry trade (VIIT) in Hungarian agri‐food trade with the European Union (EU). It identifies three possible ways to measure intra‐industry trade (IIT) flows (GHM, FF, and N methods) and defines six hypotheses to test for the drivers of VIIT with three panel data models (static, dynamic, and FEVD). The results suggest that factor endowments are negatively, while economic size is positively and significantly related to VIIT. Distance and VIIT were found to be negatively related as is commonly the case in the standard gravity model. It was also found that VIIT is greater if a New Member State (NMS) is exporting agri‐food produce to an NMS, while EU accession has ambiguously influenced the share of VIIT. In general, it seems that our results are independent from model estimations and interestingly they do not differ considerably as we a priori expected. Moreover, our results seem surprisingly robust across various measurements of ITT.     

The effects of Mongolia's booming mining industry on its agricultural sector: A test for Dutch disease

Dutch disease occurs when currency strengthening associated with a booming sector of an economy crowds out a lagging trade‐dependent sector. In this study, a Keynesian‐style model is specified to deduce hypotheses about how increased foreign direct investment (FDI) aimed at Mongolia's mining sector affects its agricultural sector. A key finding is that while econometric results suggest the increased FDI strengthened Mongolia's currency, its adverse effect on Mongolia's trade‐sensitive agricultural sector is not sufficiently strong to cause the sector to decline. Although Dutch disease was not detected, the posited mechanism clearly is important. Specifically, when currency strengthening is ignored the reduced‐form elasticity of agricultural value‐added with respect to FDI is 2.7 times larger than when currency strengthening is taken into account (0.103 vs. 0.038). Also, FDI‐induced currency strengthening causes the Keynesian multiplier to drop from 2.40 to 2.00 and the FDI multiplier to drop from 3.05 to 1.89.     

The determinants of outward foreign direct investment: a firm‐level analysis of Indian manufacturing

This paper analyses the determinants of the overseas direct investment activity of Indian manufacturing enterprises. In general, several firm‐specific characteristics such as age, size, R&D intensity, skill intensity and export orientation are observed to be important explanatory factors in the outward foreign direct investment (O‐FDI) activity of Indian firms. The impact of age and size on O‐FDI has been observed to be non‐linear. The product differentiation activities and the productivity of firms are other useful factors in overseas production expansion in certain industries. The study reveals that the performance of these firm‐specific variables is subject to sectoral dynamics. Internationalization of production activities of Indian firms has been observed to be partly fuelled by policy liberalization during the 1990s.     

The Heterogeneous Effects of Standards on Agricultural Trade Flows

This article uses a theory‐based translog gravity model to investigate the heterogeneous effects of food standards on aggregate agricultural trade. We revisit the ‘standards‐as‐barriers‐to‐trade’ debate with a distinctive twist. In contrast to existing works, we show that standards reduce trade but even more so for countries that trade smaller volumes. Our identification strategy exploits the within‐country variation in specific trade concerns. We confirm that stricter importer standards are indeed trade‐restrictive. However, the estimated trade cost elasticity varies depending on how intensively two countries trade. Specifically, it decreases in magnitude with an increasing import share of the exporter in the importing country's total imports. The reason is simple but intuitive; bigger trading partners find it more profitable to invest in meeting the costs of importer‐specific standards. This work is novel in showing that the standards–trade debate misses out on an important heterogeneity driven by existing import shares. Liberalising non‐tariff measures will favour smaller trading partners more than well‐established ones.     

Determinants of Food Industry Performance: Survey Data and Regressions for Denmark

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of firms’ performance in the agri‐food sector by using recent survey data for Denmark. Treating sales per employee as a proxy for value added, we estimate several bootstrapped regression models to draw conclusions on the marginal effects of potential performance determinants such as the form and nature of ownership, stage of the food chain and commodity sector, new product development, staff quality, firms’ competitive stance, and elements of firms’ strategy. To draw robust inferences we apply, besides the ordinary heteroscedasticity‐corrected Tobit maximum likelihood estimator, a non‐parametric least absolute deviations estimator (LAD/CLAD) based on a quantile regression procedure. The results indicate that we cannot reject the hypothesis of no influence of dominant orientation on value added. Rather, firms’ focus on human capital, stage and commodity sector better explains their value addition. We reject the hypothesis that regional networks have no influence on value added. Location in Århus, emphasis on human capital and the negative influence of outsourcing on value added all provide supporting evidence. We reject the hypothesis of no influence of foreign direct investment (FDI), and moreover propose that FDI has targeted the Danish domestic market as a source of value added.     

Does agricultural official development assistance facilitate foreign direct investment in agriculture: Evidence from 63 developing countries

Although past studies have separately explored the direct impact of agriculture official development assistance (ODA) and foreign development investment (FDI) on agricultural production, the nexus between these two elements is often neglected. This article aims to understand the linkage between agricultural ODA and FDI, using data from 63 developing countries from 1991 to 2019. Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimations reveal that agricultural ODA considerably promotes FDI in the agriculture, fishery and forestry sectors (FDI_aff) by approximately 0.5%, while its impact on FDI in the food, beverages and tobacco industries (FDI_fbt) is overall insignificant. Geographical and ecological conditions play a decisive role in accounting for FDI in agriculture. While coastal and land-rich countries receive a significantly higher amount of FDI_aff and FDI_fbt, tropical countries are evidently more attractive destinations for FDI_fbt. The empirical analysis also shows that a peaceful social environment encourages FDI_aff. Well-established legal systems and reductions in corruption facilitate FDI_aff, whereas the impact of overall institutional quality on agricultural FDI is insignificant. Results suggest that donors prioritise agricultural initiatives with higher positive spillover effects, such as programmes supporting food crop production and agricultural research.     

基于GIS的江苏沿海地区经济差异研究

江苏沿海地区存在着较为显著的县(市)域经济发展差异,并且有着进一步扩大的趋势。在GIS技术支持下,本文引入空间分析中的区域重心模型,利用人口、经济(GDP)、外资(FDI)等主要重心的时空偏离,对1996年以来江苏省沿海地区经济之间的空间差异进行了实证分析。     

Determinants of food security in Southern Ethiopia at the household level

In the early 1980s, a paradigm shift occurred in the field of food security, following Amartya Sens (1981) claims that food insecurity is more of a demand concern, affecting the poor's access to food, than a supply concern, affecting availability of food at the national level. Despite the wide acceptance of Sen's thinking, many controversies including the relative importance of supply‐side versus demand‐side variables in causing and solving food insecurity have remained in academic and policy circles. This study develops a recursive household food security model within the framework of consumer demand and production theories following Singh et al. (1986) , and parses out the relative importance of supply‐side versus demand‐side variables in determining household food security in southern Ethiopia. Based on results of a test of full/reduced model and the magnitude of changes in conditional probabilities of food security, we conclude that the supply‐side variables are more powerful determinants of food security than the demand‐side variables.     

Explaining National Border Effects in the QUAD Food Trade

Using a ‘structural’ gravity‐like model, this paper first provides estimates of bilateral ‘border effects’ in food trade among the QUAD countries (the US, Canada, Japan and the EU) at the ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification) four‐digit level (18 food sectors). It then investigates the underlying reasons for border effect, assessing the role played by policy barriers (tariffs, non‐tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) and domestic support) with respect to barriers unrelated to trade policy, such as information‐related costs, cultural proximity and preferences. In contrast to several previous findings, our results show that policy trade barriers, especially in the form of NTBs, are part of the story in explaining national border effects. Interestingly, in all country pair combinations, NTBs significantly dominate the trade reduction effect induced by tariffs. However, results show that elements linked to information‐related costs and consumer preferences matter a great deal in explaining the magnitude of border effects. These findings have implications for the economic and welfare‐related significance of national borders.     

Food Regime Analysis in a Post‐Neoliberal Era: Argentina and the Expansion of Transgenic Soybeans

This paper uses the food regime literature to analyse the political and economic relations promoting the expansion of soybeans in Argentina following the post‐neoliberal turn in the early 2000s. Continuities of the agrarian expansion from the neoliberal to post‐neoliberal model highlight the state's role in supporting a neoliberal food regime. Neoregulation in the post‐neoliberal agenda continues to favour increased production of transgenic food over ecological and human‐health considerations. Moreover, the emergence of new corporate and transnational actors has contributed to a new form of corporate‐agrarian governance premised on biotechnology. First, a food regime lens is used to describe the expansion of transgenic soybeans in Argentina, followed by an analysis of planning documents to show the state's position in reproducing neoliberal discourses and policies favouring the expansion of agriculture. The conclusion discusses the utility of food regime analysis for explaining the new forms of agricultural governance in Argentina.     

Trade Elasticity,Gravity and Trade Liberalisation: Evidence from the Food Industry

We present an econometric investigation of the trade effect produced by the elimination of tariffs in 18 food sectors for a large sample of developing and developed countries. The standard CES monopolistic competition trade model and the gravity equation were used to estimate trade substitution elasticities, exploring their sensitivity to different estimation methods. Using these elasticities, we simulate the trade effect of the elimination of tariffs, dealing with the problem of uncertainty in the estimated values. Results point to a significant variation in the elasticities estimated by different econometric methods, suggesting that the Poisson pseudo‐maximum‐likelihood estimator significantly inflates their magnitude. Simulation results indicate that trade liberalisation will strongly increase food exports especially from high income and emerging countries, leading to a general loss of market share by developing countries. The simulated trade flows obtained from the econometric approach are quite close to current evidence based on computable general equilibrium models.     

Food price increases and net food importing countries: lessons from the recent past

Recent increases in food and other commodity prices have highlighted concerns that many poor countries are net food importers and higher food prices would worsen their trade balances. In this article, we analyze the changes in food trade balances associated with the 32% increase in food prices from 2000/2001 to 2004/2005. We find a small deterioration in food trade balances of low‐income countries and an improvement in middle‐income countries. The deterioration is most severe for countries in conflict and small island states, so attention should be placed first on these countries and on a few very‐low‐income countries that are also vulnerable. Because low‐income countries as a group had much lower agricultural GDP growth rates than middle‐income countries, the answers to food vulnerability in low‐income countries should probably be addressed within the context of incentives for agricultural production.     

中国粮食生产与消费的区域格局演变

[目的]当前中国各地区资源禀赋、社会经济、政策等因素存在较大差异,粮食供求区域性和品种性矛盾将成为未来一个时期内中国粮食必须面临的现实情况,必须进一步了解中国粮食生产和粮食消费的格局演变状态,探索在新形势下保障国家粮食安全的新思路。[方法]以省级行政区为单位,选择不同样本数据(省级粮食产量、消费量),通过空间经济学重心模型对2000~2014年全国稻谷、玉米和小麦的生产和消费的重心进行测算,同时运用地理信息系统(GIS)对3种作物的生产和消费重心运行轨迹进行描绘并对其生产重心和消费重心的耦合性进行测算。[结果]粮食生产和粮食消费的空间匹配性在不断下降,空间布局和粮食利益矛盾进一步加深,区域利益矛盾激化,给新时期粮食储备、粮食调配、粮食多样化供给等方面带来挑战。[结论]需要各区域主体明确责任,完善粮食流通体系,实现省际合作,建立区域粮食利益协调机制,实现区域粮食的合理配置,有效保障粮食安全。     

Social Organization,Civic Responsibility and Collective Action: Game Theory Models of Community Participation in Development Projects

This paper assesses the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries crowds in or crowds out domestic investment. The core of the paper is the development of a theoretical model for investment that includes a FDI variable and its estimation and testing with panel data for the period 1971–2000 and the three decades involved. The model is run for 12 countries in each of three developing regions (Africa, Asia and Latin America). The results indicate that, in all three developing regions, FDI has, at best, left domestic investment unchanged, and that there are several sub-periods for specific regions where FDI displaces domestic investment. In particular, there seems to be crowding out of domestic investment by FDI in Latin America. If these results are in fact correct, they suggests the need for policies to make FDI more effective in enhancing domestic investment in developing countries. The conclusion is that the effects of FDI on domestic investment are by no means always favourable, that simplistic policies towards FDI are unlikely to be optimal and, foremost, that more attention needs to be paid to economic policies that foster the domestic component of total investment.     

Estimating Price Elasticities of Food Trade Functions: How Relevant is the CES‐based Gravity Approach?

The main objective of this article is to examine econometric estimates of price elasticities of food trade functions. We investigate the relevance of the prominent gravity approach. This approach is based on the assumptions of symmetric, monotone, homothetic, Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) preferences. We test all these assumptions using intra‐European trade in cheese. In general, the assumptions made on preferences by the gravity approach are not supported by our dataset. The bias induced in the estimated price elasticities is ambiguous.