Exchange rate pass-through and product heterogeneity: Does quality matter on the import side?

This paper investigates theoretically and empirically the heterogeneous response of exporters to real exchange rate fluctuations due to the quality of imported inputs and exported output. We develop a model where the production of high-quality products requires high-quality inputs sold in monopolistically competitive foreign markets. The model predicts that exporters using imported inputs have low exchange rate pass-through, but this effect is weaker for firms shipping high-quality goods. This is due to the heterogeneous price adjustments of foreign suppliers selling inputs of different quality. We test the predictions of the model using Italian firm-level trade data for the period 2000–2006. The empirical analysis shows that the imports of intermediates have a significantly weaker effect in reducing the exchange rate pass-through into the export price of high-quality varieties. By showing that the import price of high-quality inputs is less sensitive to exchange rate variations, we provide evidence supporting the theoretical hypothesis that the pricing power of input suppliers weakens the import channel.     

Quality of Imports Relative to Exports,and the Transmission of Sustained Growth through the Terms of Trade

Abstract

This paper shows that an economy can import sustained growth, in spite of not possessing mechanisms to absorb foreign knowledge. To do that, it develops a two-country model of exogenous growth with investment-specific technological change. In autarky, one country sustainably grows while the other economy remains stagnant. In the trade situation, the quality-adjusted terms of trade become increasingly favourable to the second economy, which results in the transmission of growth. The continuous improvement in the quality of imported capital goods relative to exported consumption goods is the reason why this occurs. Moreover, this mechanism leads to convergence in per capita income if trade involves incomplete specialisation.     

A theory on the role of wholesalers in international trade based on economies of scope

This paper offers a theoretical foundation for the existence of wholesalers and other intermediaries in international trade and analyzes their role in an economy with heterogeneous manufacturing firms and fixed costs of exporting. Wholesalers are assumed to possess a technology such that they can buy manufacturing goods domestically and sell in foreign markets and they can, unlike manufacturers, export more than one good. A wholesaler therefore faces an additional fixed cost, which increases in the number of goods it handles. The presence of wholesale firms leads to productivity sorting. The most productive firms export on their own by paying a fixed cost, but a range of firms with intermediate productivity levels export through international wholesalers. A higher fixed cost of exporting to a destination means that wholesalers handle: (i) a higher share of total export volumes to this destination and (ii) a higher share of the exported product scope (i.e., the number of exported products) to this destination. A higher fixed cost of exporting gives wholesalers a larger role, since these can spread the fixed cost across more than one good. The wholesale technology therefore exhibits economies of scope. An empirical analysis using Swedish firm‐level data supports the main assumption and predictions of the model.     

Determinants of domestic and import prices in Canadian manufacturing industries

This paper examines the determinants of the prices of domestic and imported goods in the domestic market using time-series data for a broad sample of Canadian manufacturing industries. It is found that the costs of both goods are the fundamental determinants of their prices, that the pass-through of costs into prices depends on the levels of domestic and import costs, real income per capita and concentration, and that factors which increase the sensitivity of both prices to domestic costs also reduce their sensitivity to import costs. In addition, it appears that the way in which prices are determined differs between industries with low versus high advertising-sales ratios.     

论种类偏向型进口刺激政策

本文基于贸易品种类增长的福利内涵,提出一个全新的概念:"种类偏向型进口刺激政策",即刺激进口的政策重点应该是增加进口产品的种类,而不是单纯地扩大现有进口产品的规模。实施种类偏向型进口刺激政策,通过进口产品种类的增加来扩大进口规模,不仅能从根本上缓解外部失衡问题,更为重要的是,种类偏向型进口刺激政策将能充分发挥进口对于改善国内消费者福利、促进制造业生产率进步以及改善贸易条件的政策功能,使进口由"为出口而进口"的扭曲状态向常态回归。     

Local Manufacturing Hurt by Depreciations in a Theoretical Model Reflecting the Australian Experience

The model is motivated by data showing that the Australian production of local manufactures is hurt by depreciations and invigorated by appreciations. The paper briefly presents such evidence and then proceeds to a theoretical analysis. The model aims to capture short‐to‐medium run exchange rate effects in an economy with goods and services aggregated into four commodities: (i) imports; (ii) local manufactures; (iii) services; and (iv) rural goods (agricultural, pastoral, forestry, fishing and mining products). With the exception of rural goods, each commodity comprises consumer goods as well as inputs into the other sectors. Rural goods enter consumption only indirectly after processing by the manufacturing sector. Exports are exclusively rural goods. The model has a Keynesian flavour in that the production of local manufactures and services is not constrained by the availability of resources and of labour. Variable inputs per unit of output are assumed to be constant. There are also fixed inputs. Variable inputs are imports in the case of the import sector; rural goods and imports in the case of the local manufacturing sector; and labour in the case of the services sector. The prices of imports, local manufactures and services are set by constant mark‐up factors on variable costs. This assumption is based on a picture of imperfect competition with constant elasticity of demand at the firm level. The extreme capital intensity of rural goods production is taken into account by modelling total production of rural goods as an exogenous parameter. The price of rural goods is determined in the export market. It falls with increasing exports. The economy is not assumed to be small in its export market. The domestic consumption demand schedule is modelled as predetermined in the sense that in the time span under consideration the relationship between quantities consumed and nominal prices is not affected by the exchange rate. The nominal wage rate is assumed to be predetermined in the same sense. No specific functional form is imposed on the consumption demand schedule: the analysis is based on general assumptions, mainly non‐inferiority and gross substitutability. In view of gross substitutability, there is a competitive relationship between imports and local manufactures. Adepreciation raises the price of imports and ceteris paribus such an increase raises the consumption of manufactures. However, the analysis shows that this enhancing influence of a depreciation on manufacturing is weaker than other causal channels that work in the opposite direction. An increase in the price of imports (and exportables) raises variable costs and thereby the price of local manufactures. This leads to a decrease in the output of local manufactures. In the course of the analysis, it is first shown that a uniquely determined equilibrium exists for every exchange rate above a lower bound. Then the effects of a change in the exchange rate are investigated. In most cases the results are unambiguous. In particular this is true for the output and the price of local manufactures. Other conclusions are that a depreciation increases exports and the amount of services provided. In some cases unequivocal results can be obtained only with the help of further assumptions. This concerns the domestic price of rural goods, the balance of trade in domestic prices and import penetration.     

中国服务业FDI与服务贸易进口的替代关系

分析了我国服务业FDI的利用现状和服务贸易进口现状。运用需求理论选择研究变量,采用1997—2011年的时间数据,通过进行协整检验、构建脉冲响应函数和进行方差分解分析,对服务业FDI与服务贸易进口的替代关系进行了分析。结果显示:服务业FDI与服务贸易进口之间存在长期均衡关系;长期内,服务业FDI与服务贸易进口之间存在替代关系,且服务业FDI对服务贸易进口的贡献率最大;货物贸易进口与服务贸易进口之间存在互补关系,且货物贸易进口对服务贸易进口的贡献率较小。     

Asymmetric trade protection leading not to productivity but to export share change

This article revisits a classical theme in economics, that is, the relationship between trade protection and economic performance, with an improved treatment of the endogeneity of tariffs and with consideration of alternative performance criteria. This paper also considers the effects of asymmetric protection, such as higher tariffs on consumer goods and lower tariffs on producer goods. Using sectoral data on Korean manufacturing during the period from 1967 to 1993, this study finds that the effect of trade protection by tariff tends to show up not in terms of total factor productivity but in terms of revealed comparative advantage and export shares of sectors. Such an effect tends to be greater in consumer goods, which are the main targets of promotion by higher tariffs. This study verifies the potentially positive role of tariffs under certain conditions, especially under discipline from world markets.     

Exchange rate pass-through and its determinants in Canadian manufacturing industries

In this paper the pass-through of exchange rate changes into the real prices of domestically produced and imported goods in Canadian manufacturing industries is examined through industry estimates of the pass-through elasticities and a cross-section analysis of their determinants. We find that the domestic pass-through elasticity increases with the effect of the exchange rate on domestic costs of production, the export share, the elasticity of substitution between imports and domestic goods, and the domestic advertising intensity. The import elasticity increases with the elasticity of substitution and the rate of price protection and decreases with advertising intensity. JEL Classification: L60, F14
Les effets de changements dans le taux de change sur les prix réels dans les industries manufacturières canadiennes. Ce mémoire examine les effets des changements dans le taux de change sur les prix réels des biens produits au Canada ou importés pour les industries manufacturières canadiennes en construisant des estimés par secteur des élasticités de transfert et en examinant leurs déterminants dans une analyse trasnversale. On montre que l'élasticité de transfert domestique s'accroît à proportion que l'effet du taux de change sur les coûts internes de production, la part des exportations, l'élasticité de substitution entre importations et biens domestiques, et l'intensité de publicité au plan interne sont importants. L'élasticité des importations s'accroît avec l'élasticité de substitution et le taux de protection des prix, et décroît avec le niveau d'intensité de la publicité.     

扩大进口背景下中国进口对世界经济的影响——制造业就业的视角

伴随着中国经济的快速增长，中国在成为世界第一大出口国的同时也成为世界第二大进口国。以往对中国贸易的研究多是从供给端出发，然而从需求端来看，中国进口对世界经济的影响又有几何？本文在扩大进口战略背景下从全球制造业就业的视角对中国进口与世界经济的关系进行了实证分析，研究发现，通过对中国出口，相关国家的制造业就业实现正增长，但是两者关系会在不同贸易商品、经济发展程度和时间样本之间存在差异。在此基础上，本文进一步从就业创造和就业破坏等方面展开了机制分析。本文的研究表明，中国通过“世界市场”的角色在一定程度上降低了全球失业率，但同时也需警惕“进口竞争”对我国经济的影响。     

创意产品出口、模仿威胁与知识产权保护

本文从理论上分析了知识产权保护对创意产品出口的影响,并以此建立计量模型,利用美国2006-2010年的创意产品出口的面板数据进行实证分析。结果表明,进口国的知识产权保护增强有利于创意产品出口,而且在考虑模仿威胁的情况下,这种正效应依然显著。知识产权保护在创意产品贸易中的正效应大于在货物贸易中的正效应。创意产品对知识产权保护更敏感。     

我国服务贸易进口与制造业出口竞争力关系研究

在统计我国服务贸易进口额和制造业11个重点行业出口额的基础上,以面板数据结合多元回归方法实证服务贸易进口与我国制造业出口竞争力关系。结果显示：①总体上我国服务贸易进口增长有利于制造业出口竞争力的提升;②不同部门服务贸易进口的增长对制造业出口竞争力提升的影响程度存在着较大差异;③服务贸易进口对不同部门制造业出口竞争力的影响也不一样。最后就我国制造业应该如何利用服务贸易进口来提高其出口竞争力提出了针对性的政策建议。     

Trends in Disaggregated Import and Export Prices in Europe: Implications for the Trade and Wages Debate

We consider carefully the evidence from traded prices (as proxied by unit values) concerning the transmission of the effects of globalisation to domestic labour markets. Using standard index number techniques we decompose changes in sectoral import and export unit values into movements due to changes in pure prices of the initial bundle of goods imported or exported and changes due to upgrading of that bundle. Looking at the imports of selected European countries of textiles, clothing and footwear relative to engineering products we find evidence of strongly falling pure prices of the unskilled intensive products relative to the skilled products in the 1980s. This reinforces the view that import prices can capture the impact of globalisation in terms of falling relative prices for products produced with the intensive use of unskilled labour. However, the trends are not common across all the unskilled sectors; footwear is clearly an exception. In the absence of detailed domestic data, we look for reactions by domestic firms to increased import competition in movements in the price and composition of exports. We find evidence of stiff price competition from imports being associated with similar movements in export prices and no support for the view that import competition from low–wage countries has led to upgrading of the quality of exports.     

Import competition,employment and wage in US manufacturing: new evidence from multivariate panel cointegration analysis

This paper examines whether employment and wages in the US manufacturing sector exhibit any long-run relationship with import competition. The results based on a multivariate panel cointegration analysis of observations on 12 two-digit SIC manufacturing industries over the period from the third quarter of 1982 to the fourth quarter of 1992 indicate that US manufacturing employment does not bear a long-run relationship with import competition but manufacturing wage does. While the long-run correlation between import price and manufacturing wage is found to be sector sensitive panel estimation reveals a highly significant negative correlation between import price and manufacturing wage.     

劳动成本与进口中间产品质量 ——来自多国产品—行业层面的证据

本文在垄断竞争框架内，引入非位似需求函数与CES生产函数，构建了一个内生化的中间产品质量模型，以刻画劳动成本与进口中间产品质量之间的关系，并采用CEPII BACI 数据库1995—2009年38国hs92六位码数制造业中间产品进出口贸易数据与WIOD数据进行了实证检验。结果发现，劳动成本与进口中间产品质量之间的确存在“U型”非线性关系，且当前处于“U型”上升阶段，即面对高劳动成本，生产率高的企业倾向于进口高质量中间产品以匹配高素质劳动者，进而缓解劳动成本上涨压力。即使加入不同控制变量，控制不同固定效应，并考虑不同子样本情形，这一结果仍稳健。中印对比还显示，中国进口的中间产品质量较印度更低。这就意味着中国要最大限度地借助工资上升提高进口中间产品质量，还需不断提升劳动者素质，加大对外开放进程。     

Standardization of intermediate goods and international trade

Abstract.  This paper analyzes the relationship between standardization of intermediate inputs and international trade. We employ a two-country, general equilibrium model with differentiated manufacturing goods. Production of manufacturing goods requires specific intermediate inputs, which can be either specialized or standardized. Standardization and the pattern of trade are determined endogenously in our model. In this framework we derive the effects of trade integration, that is, a decline in trading costs for intermediate goods, on the equilibrium outcome.     

Globalization and inter‐industry wage differentials in China

This paper explores the relationship between globalization and inter‐industry wage differentials in China by using a two‐stage estimation approach. Taking advantage of a rich household survey dataset, this paper estimates the wage premium for each industry in the first stage conditional on individual worker and firm characteristics. Alternative measures of globalization are considered in the second stage: trade openness and capital openness. A disaggregation of trade into trade in final and intermediate goods shows that increases in import (export) shares of final goods reduce (increase) the wage premia significantly, whereas imports or exports of intermediate goods do not explain differences in industry wage premia. This finding is supported by stronger effects for final goods trade in coastal than noncoastal regions. Our results also show a positive relationship between capital openness and industrial wage premia, though this finding is less robust when potential endogeneity issues are allowed for.     

国际贸易对城镇就业的影响研究

国际贸易对我国城镇就业的影响表现在三个方面,即出口鼓励就业、消费品进口阻碍就业而资本品进口鼓励就业以及贸易将提高出口部门的就业比重而减少进口部门的就业比重.     

The external water footprint of the Netherlands: Geographically-explicit quantification and impact assessment

This study quantifies the external water footprint of the Netherlands by partner country and import product and assesses the impact of this footprint by contrasting the geographically-explicit water footprint with water scarcity in the different parts of the world. The total water footprint of the Netherlands is estimated to be about 2300 m³/year/cap, of which 67% relates to the consumption of agricultural goods, 31% to the consumption of industrial goods, and 2% to domestic water use. The Dutch water footprint related to the consumption of agricultural goods, is composed as follows: 46% related to livestock products; 17% oil crops and oil from oil crops; 12% coffee, tea, cocoa and tobacco; 8% cereals and beer; 6% cotton products; 5% fruits; and 6% other agricultural products. About 11% of the water footprint of the Netherlands is internal and 89% is external. Only 44% of virtual-water import relates to products consumed in the Netherlands, thus constituting the external water footprint. For agricultural products this is 40% and for industrial products this is 60%. The remaining 56% of the virtual-water import to the Netherlands is re-exported. The impact of the external water footprint of Dutch consumers is highest in countries that experience serious water scarcity. Based on indicators for water scarcity the following eight countries have been identified as most seriously affected: China; India; Spain; Turkey; Pakistan; Sudan; South Africa; and Mexico. This study shows that Dutch consumption implies the use of water resources throughout the world, with significant impacts in water-scarce regions.     

全球价值链影响下的中国关税水平*——来自中国制造业的证据

本文基于中国政治经济背景,构建了一个关税影响因素理论模型,且利用2005—2011年中国制造业134个部门的数据,通过OLS和Tobit方法进行了经验验证。结果表明：（1）外国最终产品中的中国增加值越高,或者中国最终产品中的外国增加值越高,则中国对于该产品的关税水平越低;（2）贸易协定的签署不仅会直接降低中国的关税,还会扩大中国增加值上升对关税的负影响,削弱外国增加值上升对关税的负影响。