Japan

An acceleration in global trade helped to boost Japanese GDP growth to 1.7% in 2017. But an expected slowdown in demand from China in 2018 means that the contribution from external trade will be lower this year. And while we expect growth to continue to become more broad‐based, with investment playing a prominent role, given the recent increase in protectionist tensions, we have revised down our forecast for GDP growth in 2018 to 1.5% (from 1.7% three months ago). With an expected slowdown in construction and a planned consumption tax hike in 2019, we forecast that GDP growth will ease further to 0.9% next year. The short‐term outlook is influenced by the following factors:

• Export growth easing over 2018 : exports grew by 6.6% y/y in yen terms in January–February 2018 combined, down from 13% growth in Q4 2017. While the slowdown was less marked in volume terms, with real exports up 5.2% y/y and imports 7.8% higher (in January–February), we see a smaller contribution to growth from net trade in 2018 than in 2017, as external demand cools. The recent easing in export growth is in line with our expectations following last year's acceleration. Our baseline is for trade momentum to ease through 2018 as Chinese import demand moderates. While US protectionist measures threaten the outlook, we believe that the overall impact of the likely US tariffs will be limited, as Japanese trade continues to shift towards Asia.
• Solid investment growth to continue : we expect the momentum behind business investment to remain solid in 2018, with growth of 2.9% little changed from the 3% recorded in 2017. Overall investment will be supported by strong corporate profits, construction for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and high levels of confidence. Although dropping among large enterprises recently, overall business sentiment (and among SMEs) remains healthy and planned capex for fiscal year 2018 got off to a good start. Protectionism is also a downside risk to the investment outlook, but we believe that the actual impact on Japan will be limited.
• Weak wage growth to weigh on consumer demand : monthly data suggest that consumption has continued to edge higher this year. Moreover, rising employment in Q1 may provide additional upside momentum. However, despite a tight labour market, wage growth has been disappointing and we expect sluggish wage growth to constrain household demand and inflation going forward.

     

Does economic globalization affect the level and volatility of labor demand by skill? New insights from the Tunisian manufacturing industries

The central aim of this paper is to assess the effects of economic globalization on the level and volatility of labor demand for different skill groups in Tunisia. Using a panel dataset covering six manufacturing industries between 1983 and 2009, three main findings are reported. First, exports and imports exert a positive impact only on the semi-skilled and skilled labor demand while foreign direct investment flows increase the demand for semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Second, the regional analysis suggests that exports to the European Union boost the demand for the semi-skilled and skilled labor. Imports from the rest of the world exert similar effects on the demand for these two categories of workers. It emerges also that imports from the European Union lead to a higher demand for skilled labor, which gives support to the validity of the skill-enhancing trade hypothesis in Tunisian industries. Finally, our findings suggest that both exports and imports rise the employment volatility associated with skilled workers. On the other hand, there is a weak evidence of increased employment volatility as a result of foreign direct investment flows.     

Use Tables for Imported Goods and Valuation Matrices for Trade Margins— an Integrated Approach for the Compilation of the Belgian 1995 Input–Output Tables

This paper describes the compilation of the use table for imported goods and the valuation matrix of trade margins for Belgium in 1995. It introduces the methodological novelty of integrating the compilation of both tables and systematically exploiting the fact that large import and export flows do not generate trade margins. This is notably the case for direct imports for intermediate consumption or investment by non-traders, and direct exports by producers. For identifying these trade flows, extensive use was made of intrastat and extrastat data. The results are compared with those of a proportional distribution of imports and trade margins. Many statistical offices resort to the latter approach because of a lack of survey data on the destination of trade margins and imports. We demonstrate that the integrated approach can improve the quality of both the import matrix and the valuation matrix for trade margins, while using only existing data sources.     

The Terms of Trade and the International Transfers of Productivity Gains

In international economic relations, when movements of labour are limited and fiscal redistributive policies non-existent, changes in the terms of trade (the ratio between the prices of exports and imports) are the main driving force for the international redistribution of incomes or of productivity gains. The concept of productivity flows linked to price changes can be extended from the interindustry framework to deal with international relations bringing some new insights into the terms of trade issues. The paper develops a conceptual framework for the computation of international flows of productivity gains, taking into consideration the role of exchange rates and the meaning of Purchasing Power Parities. It is completed by a set of computations on Swiss relations with the rest of the world.     

THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF EXPORTS IN DETERMINING LEVELS OF REGIONAL OUTPUT AND INCOME: A Model and Empirical Evidence from Kenya

Exports have long been assumed by many to be the most important variable in driving regional growth, although factors such as government expenditure, investment demand, and remittances, among others, have also been recognized as significant. In addition, supply-side constraints to the promotion of regional growth and development have recently received increased attention in the literature. This paper evaluates the relative importance of exports, investment demand, and remittances, as well as supply-constrained agricultural production, in determining levels of regional output, value added, and household income in a single region in Kenya. The analysis is based on a mixed endogenous/ exogenous model derived from a social accounting matrix (SAM) which allows for incorporation of both demand and supply-side considerations. The paper finds that exports are, in fact, the most important factor in explaining regional output and wage income in the region studied, although not overwhelmingly so. In addition, the analysis demonstrates the importance of supply-constrained agricultural production as a determinant of income at the household level.     

进出口间接作用及其介体与路径——基于三时期参数变结构协整方法的研究

本文运用三时期参数变结构协整方法,着重研究我国进出口对经济增长的间接作用,以及产生间接作用的介体与路径。协整结果发现,大多数考察变量与进出口之间存在显著的参数变结构现象。实证研究得出,进出口通过投资、人力资本、技术进步、消费与经济结构这些介体对经济增长的间接作用有正有负,而加总效应都是正值,出口间接作用的弹性测算值较大,而进口间接作用的弹性测算值较小。     

A Generalized Input-Output Multiplier Calculus for Australia

A static, generalized input-output framework for calculating simple multipliers is presented for Australian data. In this framework, capital investment and imports are internalized into domestic inter-industrial intermediate demand, non-square matrices are introduced in order to enable the inclusion of finer detail commodity data, and matrices in both monetary and physical units are employed. A range of labour and energy multipliers are calculated, referring to total output, final demand, final consumption, basic values, producers' prices, purchasers' prices, commodities and industries. Uncertainties of multipliers are assessed in detail, using Monte Carlo simulations.     

India's Energy Consumption Changes during 1973/74 to 1991/92

The global energy crisis in the 1970s and early 1980s had adverse economic impacts in all oil-importing countries, including India. The objective of the present paper is to analyze energy consumption changes that have taken place in the Indian economy during 1973174 to 1983184 and 1983184 to 1991192, and the factors responsible for these changes. We develop a structural decomposition analysis in which the energy consumption changes are the result of the following six different factors: technical changes; changes in the final demand structure; changes in the interaction term of technical changes and final demand structure; changes in energy exports; changes in energy imports; changes in energy change in stock. Then, we separate the technical changes and final demand structure again, which identifies explicitly the effects of energy consumption.     

The role of urbanization in the international trade of services

The article examines the effects of urbanization on the international trade of services, mainly exports and imports. A supply-side growth model is used to analyze this nexus. Panel data are constructed consisting of 64 countries for a period between 1980 and 2017. The system generalized method of moments approach is used to forecast the role of urban development on exports and imports of services. Results show that urban development generally has significant and positive effects both in exports and in imports of services, whereas in some income and population groups, the signs of coefficients are negatively significant.     

Import elasticities and the external constraint in Mexico

The paper estimates and analyzes an equation for intermediate imports in Mexico during the 1988–2006 post-liberalization period. While some results are obtained from Johansen's VECM model, most of the analysis is carried out within an Error-Correction ARDL framework, following the bounds testing approach of Pesaran et al. (2001). Besides showing that an aggregate equation for intermediate imports can be satisfactorily estimated, the paper focuses on two specific results. First, exports have a very significant effect on imports, and failure to control for this effect (as in most previous studies) can yield misleading results, like an over-estimation of the output elasticity of imports. Second, the response of imports to variations in the real exchange rate has fallen over time, presumably because of the rising share of maquila in Mexico's export basket and the increasing “vertical specialization” of non-maquila export production. Some implications of the estimation results are briefly discussed, making reference to the possible external constraint on Mexico's economic growth.     

贸易保护对全球投资与经济增长的影响

本文在全球治理模型的基础上,模拟分析美国以及世界各主要国家和地区对进出口产品均提高关税后对经济增长的影响。模拟结果显示,美国有针对性地增加产品关税对美国经济增长并不有利,其贸易保护政策可能难以持续,而如果世界各主要国家和地区对进出口产品均提高关税,将使得印度以及低收入发展中国家的经济增长受到较大负面影响。经济的发展受到需求推动和生产技术推动,主导贸易保护只会进一步加剧矛盾,世界经济的发展需要各个国家和地区的共同努力和协同促进。     

Optimal currency basket in a world of generalized floating: An application to the Nordic countries

This paper derives optimal weights for a currency basket taking into consideration the objective of policymakers in the Nordic countries. The analysis is based on the work of Branson and Katseli and Lipschitz and Sundararajan. This paper derives both export share weights by using a simple multi-country model and basket weights by assuming that the objective of the policymakers is to minimize fluctuations in the production of exports. The results show that only under special circumstances are the two weights the same. The basket weights tend to be functions of export weights and other factors such as the covariances of relative prices and exchange rate. Using the formulas derived in the paper, various optimal basket calculations are made for Norway, Finland, and Sweden.     

消费与经济增长的关系

消费对于经济增长有举足轻重的作用,消费逐日成为很多人所关心的话题,随着世界经济的不断衰退,在美国金融危机的影响下,我国经济也受到了较大的影响。消费,投资,净出口,我国经济增长的"三驾马车"。投资与净出口已经趋于较高水平,消费对于经济的重要作用愈来愈明显。本论文主要使用了我国1991-2005年的相关经济数据,使用消费模型分析了我国的消费对经济增长的影响,指出了我国经济发展过程消费需求不足的主要原因,并提出了在当前经济形势下扩大消费需求的对策建议。     

Reconciling Domestication Techniques,the Notion of Re-exports and Some Comments on Regional Accounting

Recent work by Jackson (1998) subtly pointed out a means of forming direct input coefficient matrices from national technology that is different from that published elsewhere. In this paper, I rationalize his approach and also point out that prior approaches may still be useful in certain applications where the phenomenon of re-exports (imports that satisfy exports) are explicit in exports accounts. In the second half of this paper, I show some means of developing regional accounts, currently being used in the US, that are more elaborate than those Jackson discussed. For example, I substitute regional shares of employment with earnings shares to obtain productivity adjusted regional output. I also suggest using available regional value added and regional labour income when producing regional Use matrices.     

Foreign direct investment,labour relations and sector effects: US investment outflows to Europe

This paper analyses the impact of national labour relations on foreign direct investment (FDI), with emphasis on macro-markets and sector properties. Since there are sector-specific differences between industries in transferability, labour-relations effects on FDI probably vary across sectors. The paper finds that labour costs dampen FDI, while the impact of national market potential remains inconclusive. Collective labour institutions have a significantly adverse impact on FDI in manufacturing, and a relatively beneficial one on FDI in services. While investment in manufacturing seeks to minimize labour costs at given skill levels, investment in services maximizes skills at given levels of cost.     

Regionalism in the nineties: what effect on trade?

We apply a gravity model to 1980–1996 annual nonfuel imports data for 58 countries to quantify the effects of recently created or revamped PTAs on trade. We modify the gravity equation to identify separate effects of PTAs on intrabloc trade, members’ total imports and their total exports and to test for significant changes in trade patterns following the creation of trade blocs. We find no indication that ‘new regionalism’ boosted intrabloc trade significantly and we find trade diversion only for the EU and EFTA. The latter also exhibit ‘export diversion’, which could indicate their imposing welfare costs on other countries. Latin American trade liberalization in the 1990s had a positive impact on bloc members’ imports and, usually, exports.     

人民币汇率传递的不对称性及其对中国进出口的影响

从汇率传递不对称性角度分析了汇率变动对进出口的影响和对马歇尔-勒纳条件的影响;利用中国进出口的国别面板数据进行实证检验,得出人民币汇率变动对进口的影响大于对出口的影响,人民币汇率贬值对进出口影响大于升值对进出口的影响;根据汇率传递的不完全性和不对称性分析了人民币汇率变动对中国进出口影响的有限性和不对称性的原因。     

Productivity Changes and Changes in the Requirements of Imports in the Swedish Economy, 1957–1980: an Input–Output Study

The present paper reports on a study where Swedish input–output data are exploited for the first time to analyse changes over time in the requirements of labour, capital and imports per unit offinal output. Individual commodity groups and the whole of the economy are objects of analysis within the framework of the Leontief open static model. Total labour coeflcients declined for all but one of 26 commodity groups. Changes in the intermediate structure are in general of less importance than changes in direct labour coefficients. The hypothesis that imports were substituted for labour or labour-intensive domestic intermediates finds support in the data analysed. The increasing capital/labour ratios observed harmonize with the increasing costs of labour also registered for the period of study.     

Export Composition and Manufacturing Employment in the US during the Economic Downturn of 1991-92

This paper examines the effect that export composition had upon manufacturing employment in the US during the 1991 recession. Although it takes, on average, approximately $66 000 in exports to create one job, the exact gains in terms of total employment depend upon the labour-intensity of the products being exported. Foreign sales by the chemical and textile industries result in a far greater increase in employment than exports by the petroleum refining or steel industries. This analysis estimates the employment effects of manufacturing exports over the 1989-95 period, utilizing an input-output model to capture both direct and indirect effects. The results demonstrate that export composition has, at times, both strengthened and reduced demand for labour. Consequently, if job-creation is a national goal, it may be in the interests of the US to promote exports from sectors that are labour-using.     

Energy intensity and directed fiscal policy

This paper assesses the effects of fiscal policy on economy-wide energy intensity within an endogenous growth framework. To this end, we first develop a two-sector (investment good and consumption good) augmented AK model by integrating the Uzawa model with Rebelo’s AK model, and assume that a non-renewable resource is one of the factors of production. Using this framework, we solve the model for the short and long run, identifying the sufficient parameter conditions that ensure higher energy intensity in the investment goods sector. We then introduce a balanced budget government, whose objective is to decrease the economy-wide energy intensity by levying tax on the energy-intensive investment goods sector and subsidizing the consumption goods sector. Contrary to our expectations, we find that this fiscal policy design increases economy-wide energy intensity as it leads to a decline in real GDP without changing total energy consumption. On the basis of this model, we propose the concept of a ‘directed fiscal policy’, which connotes a reduction of the economy-wide energy intensity by following a heterogeneous taxation policy across sectors.