Real Exchange Rates and ASEAN Trade

This paper systematically analyses the longer-term effects on the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) trade of changes in competitiveness brought about by changing real exchange rates. We introduce a model to explain exports from four ASEAN countries which highlights the role of real exchange rates. Specifically, we provide evidence on the price responsiveness of export demand. The results indicate that (i) there have been large changes in real exchange rates; and (ii) the pattern of ASEAN trade responds to relative prices (real exchange rates). Suprisingly, however, the impact of observed changes in real exchange rates on ASEAN trade is only relatively minor.     

Distance from core competences and new export survival: Evidence from multi‐product exporters

We study the determinants of the survival of new export products of multi‐product firms. We use micro‐level data from Chile to estimate linear fixed‐effects and non‐linear survival models to show that a measure of “distance” between a firm's new export and its previous export basket is a negative and significant determinant of the survival of the new export, especially during its first year. Our interpretation of this finding is that exports further away from firms’ core competences have lower chances of survival in exports since it is more difficult for firms to achieve competitiveness in them. Our results suggest that country‐level diversification, at least through existing firms, should be gradual.     

Export Product Composition Indexes in Developing Countries: The Case of Peru, 1993–2004

Liberal structural reforms associated to changes in the export product composition may affect economic growth, and at the same time, may yield biases in the official standard trade index numbers from developing countries and error measures in the real rate of economic and exports growth. This paper proposes a set of index numbers which incorporates the export product composition in a standard export index in such a way that changes in the current export value can be decomposed into: price changes; quantity changes, and product composition changes. In the applications of those indexes for the Peruvian case, it is found that the estimated overvaluations in the official annual average rate of growth of the real exports value and the GDP, were, respectively 3% and 0.6%, for the period 1993–2004.     

How Do Exporters React to Changes in Cost Competitiveness?

Various international institutions such as the European Commission, the ECB and the OECD often use unit labour costs as a measure of international competitiveness. The goal of this paper was to examine how well this measure is related to international export performance at the firm level. To this end, we use Belgian firm‐level data for the period 1999 to 2010 to analyse the impact of unit labour costs on exports. We find an estimated elasticity of the intensive margin of exports with respect to unit labour costs between −0.2 and −0.4. This elasticity varies between sectors and between firms, with more labour‐intensive firms having a higher elasticity. The microdata also enable us to analyse the impact of unit labour costs on the extensive margin. Our results show that higher unit labour costs reduce the probability of starting to export for non‐exporters and increase the probability of exporters stopping. While our results show that unit labour costs have an impact on the intensive margin and extensive margin of firm‐level exports, the effect is rather low, suggesting that pass‐through of costs into prices is limited. The latter is consistent with recent trade models emphasising that not only relative costs, but also demand factors such as quality and taste matter for explaining firm‐level exports.     

China's exports,export tax rebates and exchange rate policy

This paper examines the relationship between China's exports, export tax rebates and exchange rate policy. It offers an explanation for why China's exports continued to rise under RMB real appreciations during the Asian financial crisis. Based on a traditional export demand model, we test our hypothesis that the counteracting effects of China's export tax rebate policy have diminished the effectiveness of real exchange rates in facilitating the resolution of trade imbalances under the current pegged exchange rate regime. We find evidence that RMB real appreciations during the crisis negatively affected China's exports, but the negative effects were mitigated by the positive effects of export tax rebates. We also find evidence of a long‐run relationship between China's exports and the other explanatory variables. The empirical evidence suggests that under the pegged exchange rate regime with limited adjustments, real exchange rate movements alone cannot resolve China's external imbalances. The policy implication of this study is that China needs to redirect its decades‐long export‐oriented development strategy to one that emphasises domestic demand‐oriented development and to replace the current pegged exchange rate regime with a market‐oriented more flexible exchange rate regime.     

European Union Market Access Conditions and Africa's Extensive Margin of Food Trade

This paper examines the impact of two European Union (EU) market access regulations in the food sector presumed to simultaneously affect firms’ decisions to export food products to the EU. We analysed EU pesticide standards on African exports alongside a complementary non‐tariff measure in the form of a minimum entry price regulation, which aims to protect EU growers of certain fruits and vegetables against international competition. Analysis was based on Africa's exports of tomatoes, oranges, and lime and lemon to the EU between 2008 and 2013, using the gravity model of trade. Our results show that EU market access conditions constitute significant barrier to the formation of new trade relation between the EU and Africa. In addition, initiation of trade relationships is contingent not only on market access conditions but also on domestic market constraints in Africa. These results imply that negotiating preferential entry prices duties and the removal of domestic market restraints as well as strengthening domestic capacity to comply with EU standards to enhance continuous market access for the continent could stimulate food trade along the extensive margin.     

Liberalising Trade in the Agriculture Sector of a Small Island State: The Case of Fiji

This paper uses Fiji as a case study to investigate the impacts of three trade liberalisation policies – removal of sugar price subsidies, unilateral trade liberalisation and multilateral trade liberalisation, implied by the successful completion of the Doha Round. Removal of the sugar price subsidies has an adverse effect on real output, real national welfare and employment, but promotes growth of non‐agricultural exports in the long run. Unilateral trade liberalisation, in the form of tariff cuts in the agricultural sector, increases real output, real national welfare and non‐agricultural exports in the medium term. However, this growth is not sustained in the long term. The best outcome for Fiji is multilateral trade liberalisation which increases real output, real national welfare, non‐agricultural exports and employment. It is argued that reform of trade policies in less developed countries could come at a cost, therefore highlighting the need for compensating mechanisms to deal with the adverse impacts. Other measures to assist farmers to expand output in response to a rise in prices could include measures to reduce transport, storage and packaging costs, as well as institutional measures to enhance the functioning of input and factor markets.     

Export Performance of Brazilian States to Mercosul and Non-Mercosul Partners

ABSTRACT

We investigate the role of the trade-weighted real exchange rate and foreign income on the export performance of Brazilian states, differentiating between Mercosur and non-Mercosur partners. The results indicate that state exports are price and income inelastic. There are differences in the influence of the different trade factors between the two groups of partners. One crucial difference is the relevance of the real exchange rate effect for non-Mercosur partners. This might be associated with the existence of specific rules for Mercosur that can overcome the usual effect of relative competitiveness associated with movements in the real exchange rate.     

基于马歇尔—勒纳条件的中国茶叶贸易收支研究

马歇尔—勒纳条件是分析汇率变动对贸易收支影响的重要理论。本文采用我国1986～2008年茶叶进出口的序列数据,通过分析我国对不同经济体的茶叶进出口需求弹性,并构建实际有效汇率等因素与茶叶贸易收支的计量模型,研究了我国茶叶进出口与马歇尔—勒纳条件间的满足关系。研究表明,我国与不同国家的茶叶贸易收支受汇率变动的影响不同;就我国茶叶对外贸易总体而言,茶叶进口价格下降会增加进口额,出口价格上升会增加出口额;而人民币升值会改善我国茶叶贸易收支,人民币贬值会恶化我国茶叶贸易收支,且进出口需求弹性之和小于1。因此,我国茶叶贸易收支反向符合马歇尔—勒纳条件,这为汇率波动背景下科学处理茶叶贸易问题提供了重要的理论指导。     

我国工业制成品出口贸易结构与竞争力实证分析

近年来,我国工业制成品出口贸易有了较快的发展,贸易结构也有了很大提升。通过多个竞争力指标的分析得出的结论是:我国出口产品在劳动密集型领域具有一定的国际竞争力;在资本技术密集型领域,出口产品的国际竞争力水平起步比较低,但近年来发展很快;出口价格总体上呈现出不断下降的趋势,贸易条件需要改善。     

A reexamination of the demand for UK exports: Evidence from an error correction model

This article examines the demand for UK exports and is focused on five issues. It starts by examining the stochastic properties of the relevant time series. Special attention is paid to the model specification, its dynamic structure, and its temporal stability. In addition, the potential effect of exchange rate uncertainty on export demand is considered. The empirical results show that the determinants of the demand for UK exports are foreign economic activity, export price, foreign prices, and exchange rate uncertainty. The results further indicate that exchange rate uncertainty has a negative effect on exports and that the overall export demand equation requires the inclusion of such a variable in order to exhibit structural stability. Trade policy in the UK, therefore must take into account the response of export demand to changes in real exchange rate volatility.     

The relationship between trade openness and economic growth: Some new insights on the openness measurement issue

Empirical results on the links between trade openness and economic growth often suggest that, in the long run, more outward‐oriented countries register better economic growth. However, a similar level of trade openness can hide different types of trade structures. The aim of this paper was to enrich the way of measuring trade openness taking into account two different dimensions of countries’ integration in world trade: export quality and export variety. Based on the estimation of an endogenous growth model on a panel of 169 countries between 1988 and 2014 using a generalised method of moments estimator, our results confirm that countries exporting higher quality products and new varieties grow more rapidly. More importantly, we find a non‐linear pattern between the export ratio and the quality of the export basket, suggesting that openness to trade may impact growth negatively for countries which are specialised in low‐quality products. A non‐linear relationship between export variety, the export ratio and growth is also found, suggesting that countries increasing their exports will grow more rapidly after reaching a certain degree of the extensive margin of exports.     

Determinants of Export Performance in East and Southeast Asia

This paper examines the determinants of exports in eight East and Southeast Asian economies, with an emphasis on the increasing importance of parts and components in total exports. To see whether exports in parts and components are ‘special’ and to allow comparisons, export equations are estimated for three different export categories: total merchandise exports, manufacturing exports and exports of machinery and transport equipment (SITC 7). The analysis is based on data for 1993–2008, a period over which parts and components trade burgeoned. The estimations indicate that the growing importance in the export composition of parts and components within vertically integrated cross‐border production processes has tended to weaken the nexus of real exchange rate and export performance. World demand and supply‐side factors, including foreign direct investment, tend to become more crucial in determining export performance.     

中国对日农产品出口的增长因素研究 ——基于CMS 模型的实证分析

日本是中国农产品出口的主要对象国,两国贸易关系相当密切。本文采用CMS模型对中国农产品出口日本市场的增长因素进行实证研究得出:中国输日农产品增长主要由日本国内市场需求增长所引致;产品结构效应对中国农产品输日增长具有显著的正向影响,而综合竞争力效应和产品竞争力效应对中国农产品输日增长产生阻碍作用。为扩大中国农产品对日出口,本文针对不同影响因素提出相应的对策建议。     

苏州市出口增长下滑的趋势及原因分析

自2008年以来,受国外进口需求下降、价格竞争优势减弱和国内供给能力下降等因素的影响,苏州市出口总额、对欧美经济体的出口额和主要商品的出口增长率均呈现下滑趋势。由于原有竞争力下降和新竞争力不足等原因,苏州市出口增长面临较大的压力,目前不能仅仅依赖产业升级,而必须以新的思路来解决苏州市出口面临的困难。     

Exports and Property Prices in France: Are They Connected?

France has seen a marked deterioration in its export performance in the last 10 years or so. Previous empirical research pointed out that weak export performance was due to (i) vigorous domestic demand, (ii) lower markups due to head‐to‐head competition with Germany, (iii) low non‐price competitiveness of French export goods, (iv) offshoring of entire production processes (especially in the automobile sector), and (v) difficulties of French manufacturing firms to reach critical size for exporting. This paper adds an additional explanation to this list. We argue that resource reallocation from the exporting to the construction sector triggered by fast rising property prices hindered France to meet world export demand vis‐à‐vis its products. Our econometric analysis shows that the resource reallocation argument helps explain French export performance between the early 2000s and 2007, unexplained by traditional models. This result is confirmed for a set of OECD countries that experienced a marked decline in their export performance and sustained real estate boom after 2000.     

中国和美国服务业出口竞争力比较分析

本文在界定服务业出口竞争力评价体系的基础上,对中、美两国服务业出口竞争力进行了4个方面的比较分析。通过比较两国服务业净出口额、服务业出口国际市场占有率、服务业贸易竞争优势指数和服务贸易显性比较优势指数4个指标得出:美国在技术密集型的服务业上有极强的出口竞争力,而中国在技术密集型服务业上具有显性比较劣势,并且中国在传统服务业运输和旅游业上的出口竞争力在逐渐减弱,但是中国技术密集型服务业的出口竞争力在增强。最后,本文借助波特的"钻石模型"对中国和美国服务业出口竞争力进行了进一步分析并提出了相应的对策建议。     

Environmental Regulations in Gravity Equations: Evidence from Europe

One implication of the pollution haven hypothesis is that countries export more by applying more lenient environmental regulations. Most studies that apply gravity‐type equations do not find robust support for environmental regulations to affect bilateral exports. In this paper, we show that one can obtain robust negative effects of stringency, as long as gravity equations are well specified with respect to theory. Our results, based on the European data, are both very consistent with US studies on environmental regulations and another line of very recent studies that infer non‐biased price or substitution elasticities from trade equations. We show that more stringent environmental regulations, when depicting a pure cost effect, are reducing exports. The coefficient is even larger in the case where exporting countries are Central and Eastern European countries, comparing to the EU15. Further, we show that there is no significant difference in the impact of regulations on trade in case of dirty and clean sectors. Finally, when using GMM estimation, our environmental stringency coefficient gets significantly reinforced.     

Import Churning and Export Performance of Multi‐product Firms

This paper analyses the impact of churning in the imported varieties of capital and intermediate inputs on firm export scope and productivity. Using detailed data on imports and exports at the firm‐product‐market level, we document substantial churning in both imports and exports for Slovenian manufacturing firms in the period 1994–2008. On average, a firm changes about one‐quarter of imported and exported product‐markets every year, while gross churning in terms of added and dropped product‐markets is almost three times higher. A substantial share of this product churning is due to simultaneous imports and exports of firms in identical varieties within the same CN‐8 product code (so called pass‐on‐trade). We find that churning in imported varieties is far more important than reduction in tariffs or declines in import prices for firms’ productivity growth and increased export product scope. We also find gross churning has a bigger impact on firm productivity improvements by a factor of more than 10 in comparison with net churning. Both adding and dropping of imported input varieties thus seem to be of utmost importance for firms aiming to optimise their input mix towards their most valuable inputs. These effects are further enhanced when excluding simultaneous trade in identical varieties, suggesting that pass‐on‐trade has less favourable effects on firms’ long‐run performance than regular trade.     

What Drives India's Surge in Service Exports?

India's prowess in the service sector has been recognised the world over. Sustaining services exports is important not only to sustain India's high growth rate but also to compensate for a consistent deficit in merchandise trade and to maintain stability on the external sector. In this context, we analyse the factors of India's performance in services exports over the past three decades. The results reveal that endowment factors such as human capital, improvement in physical infrastructure and financial development are key drivers for India's surge in services exports along with world demand, exchange rate and manufacturing exports. While factors such as institutions, R&D expenditure, telecommunication, foreign direct investment and financial development significantly impact the export of modern services, traditional services exports are more dependent on infrastructure development, manufacturing exports, world demand and exchange rate. India's economic reforms in the financial sector, FDI, communication so far have helped the services exports, but India needs to focus on supply‐side factors to improve the competitiveness – and thereby volume – of services exports.