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.     

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.     

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。     

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。     

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。     

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。     

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)     

2012贸管新政全解读

2012年,国家进出口贸易管制政策做了新一轮调整,共涉及13个部委联合公告和15个进出口监管证件管理目录。主动调整商品目录＂主动调整商品目录＂是指管制商品范围有变化的目录。进口许可证增设起重运输设备类商品,并将6种商品由工程机械类划分至起重运输设备类,分别为龙门式起重机（编码8426193000）、门式装卸桥（编码8426194100）、集装箱装卸桥（编码8426194200）、有轨巷道堆垛机（编码8427101000）,     

对外贸易依存度与现阶段我国贸易战略调整

针对目前我国外贸依存度是否合理的争论,本文从概念本身出发,一方面对有关我国外贸依存度较高原因进行综述,另一方面对外贸依存度指标本身存在的定义缺陷给予说明.并在对外贸依存度与外贸贡献率不一致性的论证中指出,近年来,我国粗放式贸易增长不断强化的倾向,不利于我国经济增长方式的转变和经济质量的提高,因此贸易战略调整势在必行,外贸增长方式转变必须提到议事日程.     

Economic Roots of Political Conflict: The Case of Sri Lanka

The escalation of political conflicts in many developing countries and their impact on economic development have been topical issues in recent development literature. The overwhelming emphasis on ‘ethnic conflicts’ in the literature has, however, precluded analysts from looking at political conflicts beyond their ethnic dimension, in the wider context of the development process. In particular, because of the preoccupation with ethnic roots as the prime source of these conflicts, reverse causation, running from economic policy to political conflict, has been virtually ignored in the debate. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap through an in‐depth case study of the ‘twin political conflict’ in Sri Lanka – the Tamil separatist war in the North and the Sinhala youth uprising in the South – with emphasis on its economic roots. The findings suggest that fundamental contradictions in the national development policy in the restrictive trade regime of Sri Lanka were at the heart of the country's twin political conflict.     

Seeking Legitimacy Through CSR: Institutional Pressures and Corporate Responses of Multinationals in Sri Lanka

Ethical debate exists on the effect of gender diversity of the top management teams (TMTs) on organizations. This study aims to contribute to this debate by analyzing the effects of gender diversity of TMTs on the relationship between knowledge combination capability and organizations’ innovative performance. We use a sample of 205 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) belonging to the sector of Spanish technology-based firms (TBFs). Our results indicate that gender diversity positively moderates the relationship between knowledge combination capability and innovation performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed—among them, ways to contribute to more equal gender distribution and to the benefits of gender diversity in top management positions.