The growth of exports and manufacturing in South Africa from 1947 to 1987

This paper establishes the direction of causality between export growth and manufacturing output growth in the period 1947 to 1987. Total exports and manufacturing output demonstrated bidirectional causality for the entire period, yet from 1947 to 1970 there was found to be no relationship between them. A test for the direction of causality between merchandise exports and manufacturing output found that causation ran from manufacturing output to exports from 1947 to 1970. In the period 1968 to 1987, bidirectional causation was established between merchandise exports and manufacturing output     

The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and its impacts on the export efficiency of Hong Kong and Macao

The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) is a bilateral preferential agreement signed among China, Hong Kong, and Macao which opens up the China market by providing zero tariff after accession. This paper sheds light to the impacts of the CEPA on merchandise trade with an in-depth analysis on export efficiency. Despite that merchandise trade has already been fully liberalized, the estimation results indicate that the efficiency of exports to China has been on the decline since 2000. This implies that the actual value of exports to China has departed from its full potential, and confirms our suspicions on the incapability of the CEPA to boost the exports of Hong Kong and Macao to China. There is also no evidence to support that the CEPA has successfully attracted foreign investment to Hong Kong and Macao for tariff free exports to China.     

British exports and foreign tariffs: Insights from the Board of Trade's foreign tariff compilation for 1902

This research note contributes to the debate over whether British exports were elastic to foreign tariffs before the First World War. In doing so, this study is the first to make econometric use of the commodity- and country-disaggregated foreign tariff data that Britain's Board of Trade compiled for the year 1902. Contrary to previous literature, British exports were indeed elastic to foreign tariffs across a range of manufactured commodities, with a conservative estimate of the elasticity being 3.1, which is not low by modern standards. Counterfactually, if foreign countries had emulated Britain's policy of free trade in manufactures in 1902, a partial-equilibrium estimate is that British exports would have been 57 per cent higher. If the trade-liberalizing trend of the mid-nineteenth century persisted into the late-nineteenth century, then much of the late-Victorian deceleration of British exports would have been avoided.     

Israel’s open-secret trade

This paper uncovers and quantifies Israel’s exports to countries that ban trade with Israel. Israel exported a total of $6.4 billion worth of merchandise to boycott countries between 1962 and 2012, and most of this trade is illicit, i.e. not recorded by the importers. We find that electronic exports to Malaysia account for the lion’s share of this trade but it also includes a wide array of products from footwear to fruit and vegetables. Our estimates suggest Israel’s exports to these countries would be 10 times larger without the boycott. On top of providing further evidence on the unintended consequences of unilateral trade bans, this paper provides a case study on the role of politics in international trade.     

Services content of Japanese trade

This paper investigates the scale of direct and indirect services trade, or services content, in Japanese trade between 1985 and 1995 using data from Japanese input–output tables. The empirical analysis revealed that the services content reflected the characteristics of the Japanese economy. The scale of research and development (R&D) services in total services trade has been much higher throughout the period than has the scale of other services. The R&D services content of Japanese merchandise exports amounted to US$ 27.0 billion in 1995, 84.3 percent of which was channeled through machinery exports. The R&D services content of Japanese machinery exports toward East and Southeast Asia grew rapidly, especially toward ASEAN countries. Our results confirm the importance of the traded-related international R&D spillovers.     

Merchants and planters revisited

This article's principal source is a database of loans granted by the merchant Henry Lascelles (1690–1753) to clients in the West Indies. Lascelles' long–term lending in the Caribbean is compared with his English loans, his investment in securities, his purchases of English real estate, and short–term credits granted to planters by the London commission house of Lascelles and Maxwell. The data indicate that lending on mortgage grew in importance from c. 1740 in Lascelles' financial dealings. The article supports the view that the development of the West Indies was dependent on imports of British capital during the eighteenth century.     

Performance criteria and multilateral aid allocation

This study raises questions about past models for aid allocation, in particular the ‘two-gap’ model. It proposes an alternative method for allocating aid among developing countries, on the basis of need (as represented by per capita income) and country performance (measured by variables for relative effort in savings, exports, control of inflation, tax policy, and efficiency of resource use). Statistical tests are applied to actual lending patterns of the World Bank to determine the extent to which in practice the Bank relates lending to these proposed measures of need and performance.     

Exchange rates and the trade balance: the case of Singapore 1970 to 1996

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the real trade balance and the real exchange rate for bilateral trade in merchandise goods between Singapore and the USA on a quarterly basis over the period 1970 to 1996 using the partial reduced form model of Rose and Yellen (1989). We also hope to shed further light on what has become known as the ‘Singapore export puzzle’: the observation that, despite periods of rapid nominal and real appreciation of the Singapore dollar, export growth in aggregate has remained buoyant.Our findings suggest that the real exchange rate does not have a significant impact on the real bilateral trade balance for Singapore and the USA, thus confirming previous work which finds a weak relationship between changes in the exchange rate and changes in export and import prices and volumes for Singapore. We also found little evidence of a J-curve effect. Although positive coefficients linking real exports with lagged values of the real exchange rate might be indicative of ‘small country’ pricing by exporters in U.S. dollars, it is not clear that this is masking J-curve effects from an initial rise in import values as the home currency depreciates.     

Some Evidence on the Relationship between Performance-Related Pay and the Shape of the Experience-Earnings Profile

We investigate the relationship between performance-related pay (PRP) and the shape of workers' experience-earnings profiles. In particular, we argue that the slope of the profile depends critically upon the degree of ‘equity’ held by workers in their enterprise as measured by the extent of PRP. The implication is that the slope of the profile for PRP workers falls between those of their zero-equity fixed-wage, and one hundred per cent equity self-employed, counterparts. Our empirical analysis of three British data sets, namely the British Social Attitudes Survey, the British Household Panel Survey, and the British Family Expenditure Survey, supports this prior.     

International banking and transmission of the 1931 financial crisis

In May to July 1931, a series of financial panics shook central Europe before spreading to the rest of the world. This article explores the role of cross‐border banking linkages in propagating the central European crisis to Britain and the US. Using archival bank‐level data, the article documents US and British banks’ exposure to central European frozen credits in 1931. Central European lending was mostly done by large and diversified commercial banks in the US and by small and geographically specialized merchant banks/acceptance houses in Britain. Differences in the organization of international bank lending explain why the central European crisis disturbed few US banks but endangered many British financial institutions.     

Distance to Growing Markets and Sub‐Saharan African Exports*

Abstract: A typical person in sub‐Saharan Africa is a long way from world markets and is further from world markets now than in 1980. This partly reflects slower growth within Africa than for the world as a whole. Despite slower growth in Africa, African exports have become increasingly regionalized. By 2005, a country in Africa typically exported more than twice as much to a country in its own region as would be expected based on economic size and bilateral distance. This regionalization was not present in the early 1980s and has become stronger over time. We find evidence of positive neighborhood effects through exports, but sub‐Saharan countries benefit less from growth in their own region than this typical relationship indicates. Given the small share of exports destined to their neighbors, low‐income countries in sub‐Saharan Africa experience relatively modest export growth from growth in the region. These factors imply that African countries are unlikely to pull each other out of poverty and a regional focus may be less effective than a focus on countries outside of the region.     

Bank Lending and Business Cycles: South African Evidence

Abstract: The paper provides empirical analysis on the linkage between the behavior of bank lending and business cycles in South Africa. Consistent with theory, overall evidence suggesting pro‐cyclicality of bank lending is uncovered both at macro and micro levels. At macro level, bank lending and lending rates have moved in tandem with business cycles. Real borrowing by government was counter‐cyclical to business cycles as would be expected if the role of government was to fine‐tune the economy during booms and recessions. At micro level, bank lending to households and firms was generally pro‐cyclical. Even the growth of provisioning by banks has been largely pro‐cyclical to business cycles, though exceptions were recorded. First, new mortgage lending exhibited counter‐cyclical behavior before 1993. We attributed this behavior to the political and economic climate prevailing then which created uncertainties that made ownership of property a good hedge against economic and political risks. Secondly, the growth of real credit for investment and of foreign trade finance does not appear to have been related to business cycles.     

Bagehot for beginners: the making of lender‐of‐last‐resort operations in the mid‐nineteenth century1

In this article we develop new tools to survey the development of lending‐of‐last‐resort operations in the mid‐nineteenth century. One finding is that free lending and extensive liquidity support against good collateral developed gradually after 1847, and was already a fact of life before Bagehot published Lombard Street. Another is that the extension of the Bank of England's lender‐of‐last‐resort function went along with a reduction of its exposure to default risks, in contrast with accounts that have associated lending of last resort with moral hazard. Finally, we provide a new interpretation of the ‘high rates’ advocated by Bagehot. We suggest they were meant to prevent banks from free‐riding on the safety offered by the central bank, and were aimed at forcing them to keep lending during crises so as to maintain a critical degree of liquidity in the money market.     

Soft budget constraints, bank capital, and the monetary transmission mechanism

This paper investigates the effect of monetary policy in a situation where soft budget constraint problems prevail in the economy and the bank faces a capital requirement. Under these circumstances, an expansionary monetary policy may increase quantity of bank lending without improving the quality and thus may not stimulate economic activity. On the other hand, in order to solve the problem of soft budget constraint problems and to improve the quality of bank lending, the quantity of bank lending should be decreased. Central authorities need to keep this tradeoff in mind when exercising monetary policy and injecting public funds.     

How Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect the Export Decisions of Firms in Ghana?

Abstract: Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been identified to promote exports of host countries by augmenting domestic capital for exports, helping to transfer technology and new products for exports, facilitating access to new and large foreign markets, providing training for the local workforce, and upgrading technical and management skills. However, little is known on the role of FDI in the export behaviour of firms in developing countries. The main questions raised in this study are: how does FDI affect the export decisions of firms? How does FDI affect export performance of firms? This study examined the export‐decision and export performance within the Ghanaian manufacturing sector on a panel of plants from 1991 to 2002. Using a probit model, the results show that FDI has a positive effect on firms' decision to export. The random effect results also reveal a positive relationship between FDI and export performance. Clearly, the results of this study indicate that FDI is very relevant in influencing the export decisions and export performance of Ghanaian firms. The findings have significant implications for policy in terms of promoting initiatives to encourage more FDI inflows in the country.     

Export-output causality: The Irish case 1953–93

Despite proposed theoretical relationships, recent empirical research has found no conclusive support for a causal relationship between exports and output. Using the methodological approach based on the statistical theory of cointegration and Granger causality tests, the causal relationship between exports and output is examined here using Irish data. The Johansen technique is used and error-correction modeling is incorporated into the Granger causality tests. Results suggest that exports and GDP are cointegrated. Augmented Granger causality tests indicate support for the export-led growth hypothesis since there is evidence of short-run and long-run causality from exports to output.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Forty-First International Atlantic Economic Conference in Paris, France, March 13–18, 1996. The author would like to thank Liam Gallagher and Van Newby for helpful comments.     

Informal lending amongst friends and relatives: Can microcredit compete in rural China?

This paper explores the relationship between informal and formal lending in China with consideration of how the strength of informal lending might affect microcredit. Lending relationships involving trust are investigated using original survey data from over 1500 farm households. Econometric results confirm a relationship between trust and informal lending, and mistrust and formal lending. With over 67% of farm households borrowing from friends and relatives the economic significance between this form of informal lending and borrowing from Rural Credit Cooperatives and Micro Finance Institutions cannot be overlooked.     

Exchange Rates and the Trade Balance for Dynamic Asian Economies—Does the J-Curve Exist for Singapore,Malaysia, and Korea?

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between the real trade balance and the real exchange rate for bilateral trade in merchandise goods between Singapore, Korea, and Malaysia and the USA and Japan on a quarterly basis over the period 1970 to 1996 using the partial reduced form model of Rose and Yellen (1989) derived from the two-country imperfect substitutes model. With the exception of Korean trade with the USA, and in line with recent work using a similar methodology, our findings suggest that the real exchange rate does not have a significant impact on the real trade balance, and for Singapore and Malaysia we can find no persuasive evidence for J-curves. For Korea, however, the data were consistent with some J-curve effects with respect to both Japan and the USA. Moreover, it is possible that for Korea these effects were being masked or muted by small country pricing of exports in foreign currency, but there was no evidence that imports subsequently fell as the lag length on the real exchange rate increased, which would be required to support a strict interpretation of the J-curve.     

The Global Financial Crisis and Sub‐Saharan Africa: The Effects of Slowing Private Capital Inflows on Growth*

Abstract: This paper uses the bias‐corrected least‐squares dummy variable (LSDV) estimator to examine the relationship between economic growth and four different types of private capital inflows (cross‐border bank lending, foreign direct investment (FDI), bonds flows and portfolio equity flows) on a sample of 15 selected sub‐Saharan African countries over the period 1980–2008. Our results show that FDI and cross‐border bank lending exert a significant and positive impact on sub‐Saharan Africa's growth, whereas portfolio equity flows and bonds flows have no growth impact. Our estimates suggest that a drop by 10 per cent in FDI inflows may lead to a 3 per cent decrease of income per capita growth in sub‐Saharan Africa, and a 10 per cent decrease in cross‐border bank lending may reduce growth by up to 1.5 per cent. Therefore, the global financial crisis is likely to have an important effect on sub‐Saharan Africa's growth through the private capital inflows channel.     

On the measurement of differences in the commodity composition of imports or exports

Conclusion Following earlier reservations concerning the use of Glejser et al.’s index, this paper has attempted to show that Glejser et al.’s basic ideas concerning the measurement of the extent of specialization in imports and exports did not depend on the use of a specific index. Any measure of the inequality of the ratios (M _i/M_gi) defined earlier (and similarly for exports) could, in fact, be used. The empirical section of this paper, which looked at the commodity composition of the exports and imports of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, before and after they joined the EEC, confirmed that there was a positive correlation between the various indices proposed.