世界贸易组织

世界贸易组织成立于１９９５年１月１日,是独立于联合国的永久性国际组织,截至今年１０月底有成员１３４个,现任总干事是新西兰的迈克尔·肯尼思·穆尔。世贸组织前身是成立于１９４７年的关税和贸易总协定。与关贸总协定相比,世贸组织涵盖货物贸易、服务贸易以及知识产权贸易,而关贸总协定只适用于商品货物贸易。世贸组织的基本原则和宗旨是：通过实施市场开放、非岐视和公平贸易等原则,达到推动实现世界贸易自由化的目标。世贸组织的总部设在瑞士的日内瓦。其基本职能有：管理和执行共同构成世贸组织的多边及诸边贸易协定;作为多边…     

何为WTO

ＷＴＯ(世界贸易组织)成立于１９９５年１月１日,是独立于联合国的永久性国际组织,截至１９９９年１０月底有成员１３４个,现任总干事是新西兰人迈克尔·肯尔思·穆尔。世贸组织前身是成立于１９４７年的关税和贸易总协定(ＧＡＴＴ)。与关贸总协定相比,世贸组织涵盖货物贸易、服务贸易以及知识产权贸易,而关贸总协定只适用于商品货物贸易。世贸组织的基本原则和宗旨是:通过实施市场开放、非歧视和公平贸易等原则,达到推动实现世界贸易自由化的目标。世贸组织的总部设在瑞士的日内瓦。其基本职能有:管理和执行共同构成世贸组织的多边及诸边贸…     

论多边环境协定与世贸组织规则的冲突与协调

多边环境协定与世贸组织规则的关系问题在近年的争论中获得了新进展。多边环境协定中的某些贸易限制条款确实与世贸组织规则发生冲突,如何协调和解决目前仍然悬而未决。无论世贸组织成员及其贸易部长还是各国学者都对该问题极为关注,并提出协调两者关系和解决两者间冲突的种种建议,试图保持多边环境协定缔约国和世贸组织成员在多边环境体制与多边贸易体制之间的利益平衡。     

披着WTO多边框架外衣的"狼--诠释新贸易保护主义

世界贸易组织成立以来,从表面上看,成员之间的贸易争端都可以通过世贸多边的争端解决机制获得公正的解决。但在事实上,向世贸争端解决机构递交争端本身可能成为新贸易保护主义的一种手段或是这种手段导致的直接结果。由于关贸总协定和世贸框架下货物贸易的关税已大幅度下降,基本上已不可能依靠高关税来保护一国的产业部门。而非关税壁垒措施     

货物贸易与服务贸易互补性的实证分析——兼论中美贸易不平衡的实质

加拿大Waterloo大学James R.Melvin 1989提出,当开展要素服务商品贸易时,出口服务的国家必然将在货物贸易上存在逆差。服务出口国在货物贸易上出现逆差,反映了服务部门的比较优势。这一实证结论说明现阶段中美两国政府及企业都不可能从根本上改变中美贸易不平衡的局面。并且,改变这种局面既不利于中国,也同样不利于美国经济的稳定发展。中国加入世贸组织后,中国政府开放本国服务市场应充分考虑到货物贸易与服务贸易的这个互补性特征,开放本国服务市场应当与货物贸易的开放力度相互协调。     

世贸组织框架下中国内地与港澳台经贸关系

根据关贸总协定和世贸组织的有关规定,香港与澳门已分别以单独关税区名义,使用“中国香港”和“中国澳门” 的名称成为世贸组织成员。台湾以“台湾、澎湖、金门、马祖单独关税区”名义申请加入关贸总协定、世贸组织也已进入第九个年头,基本结束与主要谈判方的谈判。根据“中先台后”的原则,一旦中国“入世”,台湾成为世贸组织成员将指日可待。届时,在世界最大的国际贸易组织——世贸组织中,将出现中国、中国香港、中国澳门、中国台湾共存,一国四席的局面。中国四方将接受统一国际贸易规则的管辖,并在国际贸易多边体系下处理相互间的经贸关系。在世贸组织框架下,四方经贸关系将会发生什么变化,前景如何,成为许多人关心的重要问题。     

TiSA金融服务规则研究

部分世贸组织成员目前正在谈判的TiSA是乌拉圭回合之后最重要的多边服务贸易谈判。TiSA不仅全面接受GATS的核心内容,还在若干重要领域形成内容更具体的多边服务贸易协议,进而构建一套与多边货物贸易体制一样完整的规则体系。在金融服务规则方面,TiSA在管制措施、数据处理、资本控制、金融产品和金融监管等方面均有突破,但其他协议的融入、国内管制、透明度和补贴等议题尚未解决。深入研究这些规则,这不仅是中国自贸区寻找"先行先试"现实版本的需要,更重要的是为中国参与下一轮国际竞争做好充分准备。     

谈我国加入WTO对企业经济的影响

世界贸易组织(WTO)成立四年多来,成员已扩大到133个,其影响日益扩大,如今的世贸组织已远非当年的关贸总协定可比,它所管辖的范围不断延伸,已比原来的货物贸易扩展至服务贸易及与贸易有关的投资、知识产权领域,甚至还涉及金融、信息、环境、劳工等方面.因此,世贸组织不仅在国际贸易领域,而且在整个世界经济领域起着越来越重要的作用.     

建立与世贸组织接轨的对外贸易法律制度

为了给中国加入世贸组织后创造一个良好的法律环境 ,我们应该深入研究世贸组织关于多边货物贸易协定的有关规定 ,修改和完善中国的外贸立法 ,使我国尽快地建立起与世贸组织全面接轨的对外贸易法律制度。     

最惠国待遇原则的经济学分析及应用策略

最惠国待遇原则是整个关贸总协定的基础,它本质上意味着一成员平等地对待其他成员,在不同成员之间实施非歧视待遇。最惠国待遇原则对规范成员方之间的货物贸易,对推动国际贸易的扩大和发展起了重要作用。用博异论对其作经济学分析并结合我国当前实际指出如何利用其规则和例外。     

Imports and Exports at the Level of the Firm: Evidence from Belgium

This paper explores a newly available panel dataset merging balance sheet and international trade transaction data for Belgium. Both imports and exports appear to be highly concentrated among few firms and seem to have become more so over time. Focusing on manufacturing, we find that facts previously reported in the literature as applying only to exports actually apply to imports too. We note that the number of trading firms diminishes as the number of export destinations or import origins increases. The same is true if we consider the number of products traded. Our results generally point to a process of self‐selection in both export and import markets. Also, the productivity advantage of exporters reported in the literature may be overstated because imports were not considered. We find that firms that both import and export are the most productive, followed, in descending order, by importers only, exporters only and non‐traders. Our results also show the existence of fixed costs of imports, which appear to be of similar magnitude as those of exports.     

Import Churning and Export Performance of Multi‐product Firms

This paper analyses the impact of churning in the imported varieties of capital and intermediate inputs on firm export scope and productivity. Using detailed data on imports and exports at the firm‐product‐market level, we document substantial churning in both imports and exports for Slovenian manufacturing firms in the period 1994–2008. On average, a firm changes about one‐quarter of imported and exported product‐markets every year, while gross churning in terms of added and dropped product‐markets is almost three times higher. A substantial share of this product churning is due to simultaneous imports and exports of firms in identical varieties within the same CN‐8 product code (so called pass‐on‐trade). We find that churning in imported varieties is far more important than reduction in tariffs or declines in import prices for firms’ productivity growth and increased export product scope. We also find gross churning has a bigger impact on firm productivity improvements by a factor of more than 10 in comparison with net churning. Both adding and dropping of imported input varieties thus seem to be of utmost importance for firms aiming to optimise their input mix towards their most valuable inputs. These effects are further enhanced when excluding simultaneous trade in identical varieties, suggesting that pass‐on‐trade has less favourable effects on firms’ long‐run performance than regular trade.     

中印贸易合作的潜力及实现路径研究——基于随机前沿引力模型

在分析中印双边贸易结合度、相似度、互补性的基础上,利用随机前沿引力模型测算中国对印度的进口和出口效率,以及中印双边的贸易潜力,提出了中印贸易合作的实现路径。研究发现:中印双边贸易额稳步增加,但印度对华出口增长乏力,中方贸易顺差逐年扩大;中印两国贸易关系紧密,贸易产品互补性较强,且在两国主要出口市场的竞争性较弱;中国对印度的出口效率小于进口效率,出口和进口贸易潜力最大值分别为794亿美元、177亿美元;互相削减关税增加了两国的总经济效应,且印度的收益大于中国;印度加入上合组织促进了其与中国的贸易增长。建议中国扩大对印度的投资,增加从印度进口,积极推动RCEP尽快达成协议。     

Some Surprising Facts About the Concentration of Trade Across Commodities and Trading Partners

The present paper documents unexplained concentration in trade. Bernard et al. (Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, 2009, University of Chicago Press) have documented concentration at the level of the firm and in exports. Taking a step forward, we document trade volume concentration at the level of nations and in both exports and imports. Firm level concentration has been relatively easy to explain in terms of models of heterogeneous‐firm models with entry costs in both the domestic and foreign markets. But as we shall see, the concentration at the level of the nation, especially in imports if not exports, turns out to be far more difficult to explain.     

Protectionism in the European Union: Implications for Latin America

In the course of the 1990s EU exports to Latin American countries have grown considerably. At the same time, however, EU imports have increasingly favoured eastern Europe and the emerging Asian markets. Latin America continues to lose presence in European markets. What are the reasons for this? Is European protectionism the root of the problem?     

PROMOTING EFFORTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE IMPACT OF IMPORT PROMOTION OFFICES

Increasing exports from developing countries is widely regarded as an important part of a development and growth strategy. A major problem confronting exporters from developing countries is the many market barriers they typically face when attempting to enter markets in developed countries. Different institutions have been established to alleviate this problem, including export promotion offices (EPOs) in various developing countries and import promotion offices (IPOs) in several developed countries. The present study explores the impact of IPOs on exports from developing to developed countries by examin ing the actual pattern of imports into OECD countries over the period 1988 to 1993. Four specific product groups are selected and a model pertaining to explain the pattern of imports is presented. The results show that, even after controlling for a number of economic and policy variables, the share of imports originating in developing coun tries is indeed positively influenced by the presence of an IPO in the importing country. Thus, the results suggest that the establishment of an IPO may have a positive impact on the share of imports originat ing in developing countries.     

Trade and Urbanisation

Insights from economics of geography suggest that greater urbanisation should lead to an increased level of trade. Larger exporting markets should also provide incentives for agglomeration. Using a novel instrumental variables approach, this study provides empirical evidence that suggests that within country urbanisation has a strong positive impact on exports of the modern sector, while exports too have a positive impact on urbanisation. Consistent with model predictions, urbanisation is also associated with a decline in exports and increase in imports in the primary sector.     

International trade in services: A portrait of importers and exporters

We provide a novel set of stylized facts on firms engaging in international trade in services, using unique data on firm-level exports and imports from the world's second largest services exporter, the United Kingdom (UK). We show that only a fraction of UK firms engage in international trade in services, that trade participation varies widely across industries and that service traders are different from non-traders in terms of size, productivity and other firm characteristics. We also provide detailed evidence on the trading patterns of service exporters and importers, such as the number of markets served, the value of exports and imports per market and the share of individual markets in overall sales. We interpret these facts in the light of existing theories of international trade in services and goods. Our results demonstrate that firm-level heterogeneity is a key feature of services trade. Also, we find many similarities between services and goods trade at the firm level and conclude that existing heterogeneous firm models for goods trade will be a good starting point for explaining trade in services as well.     

Action! Local CCPITs!

Zhejiang Province China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT） Zhejiang sub-council visited and researched nearly a hundred companies in 9 cities and 31 counties. It found that the impact of financial crisis is far from over, and still spreading. In January this year, Zhejiang＇s exports continued to decline with 10.7% down, while imports decreased by 36.8%. At the same time, the decline in the export of processing trade is greater than the general decline in trade. For a considerable period of time, it is rather difficult to reverse the decline in processing trade exports.     

An explicit partial‐equilibrium model to justify the Generalized Marshall‐Lerner condition (GML)

Robinson's derivation of the Marshall‐Lerner condition (ML) is more general in that she considers a situation where initially the trade balance is not in equilibrium with the incorporation of the supply curves of exporters. This paper examines a partial equilibrium analysis of a country's imports and exports markets within a theoretical model which considers both the demand and supply sides in these two internationally traded‐goods markets. The aim here is to show explicitly how the Generalized Marshall‐Lerner condition (GML) of Robinson can be obtained. We examined the two effects of the nominal depreciation of the domestic currency on the trade balance: the volume effect and the value effect and how they counterbalance each other. We found that the standard Marshall‐Lerner condition (ML) was not sufficient when the trade balance was initially in deficit and it was also not necessary if the trade balance showed an initial surplus. Moreover, this study provides a new interpretation for Robinson’ sufficiency condition where the trade balance must improve following a nominal depreciation of domestic currency when the elasticity of foreign demand exceeds the ratio of imports to exports. This paper also examines the situation of a small open economy which could not influence the world prices where the foreign demand for exports and the foreign supply of exports are infinitely large. Finally, there is a discussion on two policy implications for exchange rate regulation: the amount of devaluation that is necessary to improve a given trade imbalance as a governments intervention and additional support for the slow improvement of the trade balance in the short run after a devaluation policy known as the J‐Curve effect.