Trade Policy Reforms and the Structure of Protection in Vietnam

This paper examines the current state of the trade policy regime in Vietnam against the backdrop of market‐oriented policy reforms undertaken over the past one‐and‐a‐half decades. The core of the paper is an in‐depth analysis of the structure of protection, focusing on both incentives for import‐competing production and the bias in the incentive structure against export production compared to import‐competing production. It is found that, despite notable reform efforts, the structure of protection in Vietnam is still out of line with that of the major trading nations in the region, in terms of the level and the inter‐industry dispersion of nominal and effective protection rates. There is a clear anti‐export bias in the incentive structure, even though the degree of the bias has considerably declined over the years. There is no evidence to justify the existing protection structure on grounds of infant industry protection or employment generation.     

内外贸一体化中的对外贸易政策调整

由美国次级贷款问题引发的愈演愈烈的全球金融危机,将使中国经济发展面临国际市场需求紧缩和国内需求市场疲软的双重压力。从中长期来看,积极推进内外贸一体化发展,是缓解内外压力,保持经济持续较快发展的重要途径之一。为此,必须深入研究内外贸一体化的客观经济机制,促进国内外贸易政策的协调。     

India's Trade Policy Reforms and Industry Competitiveness in the 1980s

The paper proposes a method of measuring and analyzing competitiveness, and applies it to Indian manufacturing data of 1980/81, 1987/88 and 1991/92. The method consists of computing a unit cost ration and breaking it down into various components, ditinguishing between comparative advantage measured at shadow prices, and competitive advantage measured at market prices. The difference, equal to the sum of all price ditortions, may enhance or diminish competitiveness, depending on whether the distortions are cost‐increasing or ‐decreasing. The study reviews first the limited trade reforms of the 1980s and examines whether they have led to increased competitiveness. Although the present study is limited to less than the full potential of the method, due to lack of adequate data, it demonstrates, that the policy changes of the 1980s have failed to enhance the competitiveness of the industrial sector as a whole, while some industries have undergone substantive changes. In three industry case studies the results are compared with the findings of earlir studies.     

对外贸易、环境污染与政策调整

我国改革开放以来实行的以出口导向为主的外贸发展战略是基于自然资源、劳动力、环境标准等方面的比较优势,虽然极大地促进了经济增长,但同时也带来了严重的环境污染。本文认为在核算比较优势时未考虑环境成本是导致污染的重要原因,并在此基础上提出了调整我国出口导向产业政策的几点建议。     

Small Firm Behaviour in Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the behaviour of small firms in Sri Lanka using a countrywide cross-sectional survey. The 73 responding firms provide information on whether certain variables: the firm's utilisation of assets; labour; technology; family savings; and access to bank financing, vary with four firm-specific factors: industry; family ownership; size; and whether the firm's manager was also an owner of the firm. Sampled small firms are mostly family owned and owner managed although a significant number of family owned firms are managed by non-family managers. Most firm's under-utilise assets, use existing rather than the latest technology, and are reliant upon family savings. Statistical analysis provides evidence of significant cross-sectional variation in small firm practice. The results are explained in terms of the cost of acquiring new technology, asymmetries and opacity in financial information, and the non-value maximising behaviour of firm owners who are also firm managers.     

Social marketing to eliminate leprosy in Sri Lanka

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which, if untreated, can lead to permanent and progressive nerve damage and thus to deformities of the limbs, eyes, and face. People with leprosy have long been ostracized by society. The clinical signs of leprosy include insensitive skin lesions and thickened peripheral nerves. Untreated infectious leprosy cases are the main source of infection, transmitting the disease through nasal secretions. People with low cell-mediated immunity are at risk of developing clinically active leprosy irrespective of gender, age, or social class. The World Health Organization (WHO) has, since 1982, recommended multiple drug therapy (MDT) against leprosy, an approach capable of curing the disease within 1 year and interrupting its transmission. According to WHO, leprosy is currently a public health problem in 55 countries and more than 20% of the estimated 1.15 million cases of leprosy worldwide remain undetected. Although Sri Lanka was the first country in South Asia to provide MDT to all registered leprosy patients, first making it available in 1984, the disease continues to be transmitted due to the large number of undetected cases in the country. An ongoing social marketing program was therefore launched in 1990 by the local health ministry and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development to eliminate leprosy from Sri Lanka. The program encourages people with suspicious skin lesions to seek diagnosis and care, teaches health care providers to recognize leprosy and refer cases for treatment, and helps the general public to understand that leprosy is just a normal disease. The socially marketed product is MDT, provided free-of-charge by the Novartis Foundation to all leprosy patients.     

Doing business in…Sri Lanka

Having a well‐developed human resource base and a relatively well‐developed capital market infrastructure, Sri Lanka offers a liberal and dynamic investment environment. Over the years, macrostability has been achieved and considerable reforms have been implemented, contributing to a healthy economic growth. This article provides useful information on the business environment and is intended to help foreign businessmen and investors to develop a good grasp of essential background knowledge for being successful in Sri Lanka. It reviews the Sri Lankan political structure, climate, and economy. Sri Lanka's infrastructure, legal framework, and sociocultural set‐up, as well as market structure and potential, are also analyzed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Carbon Border Adjustment and Other Trade Policy Approaches for Climate Protection

Intereconomics - The idea of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is crucial to level the playing field between domestic producers and foreign suppliers of carbon-intensive products.     

产业政策、集聚经济与异质性企业贸易方式升级

外资企业为主体的加工贸易是我国外贸出口蓬勃发展的重要组成部分。本文关注渐进式开放战略下,以政策引导为主要推力的产业集聚对出口企业贸易方式的影响。对产业集聚进行多指标、多层次的度量后,以大样本的企业面板数据进行实证研究,发现产业集聚并未促进企业由加工贸易向产业链分工位置更高的一般贸易转型,产业政策加剧了集聚对贸易方式升级的阻碍作用。由政府制定主导产业目录,通过招商引资吸引企业在开发区内大量集聚的发展方式,虽然对区域经济增长和外贸发展起到了巨大的推动作用,但却不利于集聚正外部性的发挥。促进我国对外贸易竞争力提升和可持续发展,需要从根本上改变对外资的依赖和产业政策的过度干预,为国内企业创造参与国际竞争的良好环境和自发集聚条件。     

Dynamics of capital account and current account in Sri Lanka

This paper enquires the dynamics of current account and capital account in Sri Lanka for the period 2001:Q1 to 2016:Q1 and also examines the role of some policy variables such as exchange rate and interest rate in this dynamics. Estimated autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration followed by error correction representation of the ARDL model have found that current account is caused by capital account and exchange rate, where capital account causes to produce a deficit in current account. In the dynamic adjustment of current account due to exchange rate, an evidence of J-curve phenomenon is noticed. Capital account is neither caused by current account nor by exchange rate but interest rate has a positive impact on it. Robustness of these findings is testified by the vector autoregression model, Wald test of Granger causality followed by an impulse response analysis and a variance decomposition analysis. These analyses, in addition, establish a negative impact of interest rate on current account. With the best of knowledge this is the first study that reveals the dynamics of current and capital account of Sri Lanka. Such a dynamics is critical from the policy perspective. Policy makers should caution before capital account liberalization.     

管理贸易政策调整与经贸可持续发展问题探讨——基于青岛市管理贸易政策的研究

管理贸易政策是各贸易主体参与国际分工中为追求最大化贸易利益而实施的政策。随着各国政府宏观调控的加强,管理贸易政策成为一个国家或地区经贸可持续发展的重要支撑之一。青岛是典型的以对外贸易拉动经济增长的城市,通过研究青岛市经贸发展中存在的问题,探讨通过管理贸易政策调整寻求实现经贸可持续发展的路径,为地方经济提供具体政策建议同时对我国类似的地区经贸发展提供可借鉴的经验。     

Determinants of Speed of Adjustment (SOA) toward Optimum Capital Structure: Evidence from Listed Firms in Sri Lanka

This research article aims at examining the determinants of speed of adjustment (SOA) toward the optimum capital structure (OCS). Particularly, this study focuses the impact of firm-specific factors and corporate governance factors on the capital structure adjustment in the Sri Lankan context. The methodology utilizes the benefits of the partial (stock) adjustment model, namely, two-step panel framework using generalised method of moments (GMM) to determine the SOA to OCS. The results indicate that Sri Lankan firms are found to have an OCS and do rapidly adjust toward their target structures. Further this study reveals that profitability, size, tangibility, nondebt tax shields, and governance factors such as directors’ compensation and CEO duality significantly affect the SOA to OCS. The past studies in the emerging market context hardly go into corporate governance factors, leaving a large space for research in the area of capital structure. This study of the listed firms in Sri Lanka contributes to the literature, by examining the determinants of SOA to OCS decision.     

推进高水平对外开放与普惠制改革:成功应对贸易纠纷的根本路径

本文针对西方国家对中国"双反"调查的各种影响进行分析和总结,并在企业、行业和国家层级如何制定和实施应对策略的相关研究成果基础上,阐述了以下观点:推进中国高水平对外开放与普惠制改革是成功应对贸易纠纷的根本路径。     

Public-Sector Accounting and E-Governance in Developing Countries: Case of Sri Lanka

This article analyzes how new public financial management system should address the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector and the emerging accrual basis accounting with e-governance for greater e-transparency on public-sector accounting in Sri Lanka. Despite the setting up of e-framework in 1983, the Sri Lankan public-sector accountancy environment during the last two decades raises concerns about efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the e-framework. The findings provide evidence of the importance of the economy and efficiency in the usage of public funds to provide more convenient access to government accounting information for citizens in Sri Lanka.     

EU Trade Policy in Light of the New Industrial Strategy for Europe

Intereconomics - EU trade policy, which is essential to a prosperous European economy and industry, has an important role to play in tackling the major challenges of our times relating to worsening...     

Malaysian Trade Policy and the 2001 WTO Trade Policy Review

The purpose of this paper is two–fold; to examine developments in trade and investment policy regimes in Malaysia following the on–set of the financial crisis, using the Trade Policy Review Malaysia: 2001 of the WTO as a reference point; and to evaluate the Review in terms of the objectives of the WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism as set out in the Marrakesh Agreement. It is found that, by and large Malaysia has managed to come out of the crisis without compromising on its long–standing commitment to maintaining a relatively open trade and investment policy regime by the regional standards. However, there are some disturbing post–crisis developments, which deserve scrutiny in a future Review. These include increase in the degree of dispersion of tariff rates because of high tariff peaks relating to a few product lines, increased reliance on non–automatic import licensing to regulate imports of a significant number of products which directly compete with domestic production by public sector enterprises, and unexplained delays in meeting commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)