Singapore’s Bilateral Merchandise Trade Linkages with Japan and the United States: Trends,Patterns and Comparisons

This paper analyses and compares trends and patterns in Singapore’s bilateral merchandise trade relations with its two largest trading partners, Japan and the United States (US). Over the period 1976-1992, the analyses reveal that both Japan and the US have been relatively over-represented as Singapore’s trade partners. However, whereas Singapore’s trade with Japan has become more intensive in recent years, that with the US has become less so. Computations reveal that the degree as well as level of Singapore’s intra-industry trade with the US has exceeded that with Japan. Nevertheless, while the degree of Singapore’s intra-industry trade with Japan has been consistently increasing since 1981, bilateral trade with the US since 1987 has become increasingly inter- rather than intra-industry. The important nexus between trade and FDI is also highlighted.     

Singapore's Bilateral Merchandise Trade Linkages with Japan and the United States: Trends,Patterns and Comparisons*

This paper analyses and compares trends and patterns in Singapore's bilateral merchandise trade relations with its two largest trading partners, Japan and the United States (US). Over the period 1976–1992, the analyses reveal that both Japan and the US have been relatively over-represented as Singapore's trade partners. However, whereas Singapore's trade with Japan has become more intensive in recent years, that with the US has become less so. Computations reveal that the degree as well as level of Singapore's intra-industry trade with the US has exceeded that with Japan. Nevertheless, while the degree of Singapore's intra-industry trade with Japan has been consistently increasing since 1981, bilateral trade with the US since 1987 has become increasingly inter- rather than intra-industry. The important nexus between trade and FDI is also highlighted.     

Intra-industry trade as an indicator of labor market adjustment

Intra-Industry Trade as an Indicator of Labor Market Adjustment. — A growing body of recent empirical research uses measures of change in intra-industry trade as indicators of labor market adjustment. In this paper, we argue that the theoretical foundations for this work are problematic. To make this argument we develop a simple model with both inter- and intra-industry trade and adjustment. We find that changes in domestic absorption, which influence trade flows but which are distinct from production changes, make changes in IIT an unreliable guide to labor market pressure.     

Chinese Bilateral Intra-Industry Trade: A Panel Data Study for 50 Countries in the 1992–2001 Period

This study examines the features and determinants of Chinese intra-industry trade during the 1992–2001 transition period for 50 of China’s trade partners. We disentangle total intra-industry trade (TIIT) into vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT) vis-à-vis horizontal intra-industry trade (HIIT), using data at the four-digit SITC level. The findings indicate that Chinese bilateral intra-industry trade, particularly VIIT, increased significantly during this transition period. VIIT appears to be positively related to differences in consumer patterns. HIIT is negatively related to these differences. In addition, we find that FDI has played an important role in determining IIT, especially VIIT. Other significant intra-industry trade drivers are geographical distance, economic size, trade openness and trade composition. Finally, the impact of China’s liberalization policies and the special role of Hong Kong are demonstrated. We discuss a number of important business and political implications that can be drawn from our findings. JEL no. F14     

Trade Costs and Intra-Industry Trade

Formal economic modeling of intra-industry trade ignores transportation or, more broadly, trade costs. Yet, as Anderson and van Wincoop (2004) suggest, trade costs are quite large. This paper extends work by Bergstrand (1990) that addressed intra-industry trade in the explicit presence of trade costs. In the context of a Helpman–Krugman-cum-trade-costs model, we derive four empirically testable hypotheses regarding intra-industry trade and trade costs. These hypotheses are investigated empirically using a cross-section of bilateral OECD Grubel–Lloyd indexes. The results are strongly in accordance with the hypotheses, indicating the importance of a more rigorous and systematic treatment of trade costs in the intra-industry trade literature. JEL no. F14, F15     

Tests of the empirical classification of horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade

Tests of the Empirical Classification of Horizontal and Vertical IntraIndustry Trade. — Using longitudinal data this paper shows the separation of international trade in (a) inter-industry trade, (b) horizontal intra-industry trade, and (c) vertical intra-industry trade used in the empirical trade literature to be non-stable at the individual product level. The high level of vertical intra-industry trade mentioned in the empirical literature probably covers up many products shifting between e.g. vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade. The paper therefore questions the work of the last decade in the measurement of intra-industry trade.     

日本对华直接投资与中日垂直型产业内贸易实证研究

利用产业内贸易指数对1988至2009年中日贸易数据的分析结果显示:产业内贸易已成为两国贸易的重要组成部分,其中SITC 7类机电产品产业内贸易特征尤为明显。进一步分析表明,中日产业内贸易比重的提升主要得益于垂直型产业内贸易的发展。利用Fukao等人(2003)的模型对FDI与垂直型产业内贸易的分析结果表明,在FDI成本与贸易成本较低的条件下,当两国存在要素禀赋差异时,FDI会引起两国间垂直型产业内贸易。     

The measurement of intra-industry trade between unequal partners

Summary This note argues that the inadequacy of the GL index to correctly reflect the level of intra-industry trade in presence of trade imbalances may partly be due to measuring intra-industry trade between countries with large differences in economic size. Several adjustment procedures have been suggested in the literature but it is demonstrated that none of the alternative measures seem capable of eliminating the problem. A new measure of intra-industry trade is proposed in which the bilateral level of intra-industry trade is divided by the total number of products traded between two countries to yield an average level of intra-industry trade per product. This measure may also be applied at industry level, and in contrast to the GL index, it is highly correlated with the actual level of intra-industry trade. In studies of intra-industry trade, one should cautiously interpret the GL index since it may give a false picture of the extent and the volume of intra-industry trade. If the standard GL index is used, it is suggested that also alternative measures of intra-industry trade are employed to complement the GL index in order to correctly observe the true extent of intra-industry trade.     

“金砖四国”产业内贸易的经济效应分析

文章利用加权产业内贸易指标、产业内贸易与贸易额和GDP之间的相关关系对＂金砖四国＂产业内贸易的经济效应进行实证分析。结果显示推动四国贸易的主要是产业间贸易,中国与印度产业内贸易总体水平最高,但中国与巴西的贸易额对加权产业内贸易指数的弹性系数最大,中国与俄罗斯双边产业内贸易对推动两国GDP的作用最为突出。     

垄断竞争、产业内贸易与相对工资差距

本文首先运用理论模型推导出垄断竞争市场条件下产业内贸易与行业相对工资差距之间的关系。理论结果显示,当产品的产出技能替代弹性(高技术工人相对雇佣量的变化率/产出的变化率)为正时,产业内贸易将会扩大相对工资差距;当产品的产出技能替代弹性为负时,产业内贸易将会缩小相对工资差距。然后以中美工业制成品产业内贸易为例对该结论进行验证,计量检验结果表明,我国制成品的产出技能替代弹性为正,中美工业制成品产业内贸易扩大了相对工资差距。     

台海两岸ICT制造业的贸易模式及其决定因素分析

本文基于中国台湾1993～2010年的贸易数据对台海两岸信息通信科技(ICT)制造业最终产品和零部件贸易模式进行解析,研究结果显示:台海两岸ICT制造业的贸易模式逐步从20世纪90年代以产业间贸易为主转变为21世纪以产业内贸易为主,这一点在零部件贸易中表现得尤为突出;无论是最终产品还是零部件,台海两岸ICT产品产业内贸易都以垂直产业内贸易为主,并且零部件产业内贸易中垂直产业内贸易所占比重明显高于最终产品;进一步分析ICT产品垂直产业内贸易中台湾的相对技术优势发现,无论是在最终产品还是零部件垂直产业内贸易中,台湾对大陆出口的高技术含量产品均占据优势份额且呈迅速上涨趋势。台海两岸ICT制造业的产业内贸易模式的实证检验表明,两岸ICT零部件的产业内贸易主要是由驱动ICT全球性生产网络发展的垂直专业分工链条的分解所导致,而ICT最终产品的产业内贸易则主要是由市场规模等需求性因素所导致。     

The Dynamics of Intra-industry Trade in ASEAN*

The decision to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) by the year 2008 has resulted in producers in all ASEAN countries except Singapore raising concerns relating to potential loss of market share and adjustment pressures. Underlying these concerns is the view that the expected growth in intra-ASEAN trade will be dominated by inter-industry or net trade (NT) rather than intra-industry trade (IIT). If most of the expected growth in trade is intra-industry, however, then the short-run resource re-allocation costs are likely to be lower. In this study, we employ a new methodology to analyse the dynamics of IIT in ASEAN. We overcome problems associated with using movements in the value of the Grubel-Lloyd (GL) index by deriving a formula that decomposes the growth in trade into the contributions of growth in IIT and NT. Our results suggest that the role of IIT in trade growth has been increasing in importance, and thus much of the recent concern that threatens the viability of AFTA may be misplaced.     

中日两国产业内贸易及其影响因素分析

中日两国产业内贸易的比重正呈逐年上升的趋势，产业内贸易和产业间贸易并存发展，呈现出较为高级的垂直型分工型态。中日两国的产业内贸易受多种因素共同影响，其中，中国人均收入水平不断提高以及日本对华直接投资规模的扩大是重要的影响因素。     

Vertical Intra-Industry Trade and Foreign Direct Investment between Japan and European Countries

In this paper, we provide an overview of the development of vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT) between Japan and various European countries, including both old and new EU members, as well as emerging Central and Eastern European countries. VIIT indices constructed in this paper cover a much wider range of margins of unit price ratio than existing studies. Our empirical model attempts to explain the distributional characteristics of VIIT through foreign direct investments (FDI), in addition to traditional determinants of IIT, such as differences in GDP per capita, average GDP, and smaller and larger GDPs. Our sample covers the period from 1988 to 2004 for bilateral trade between Japan and 31 European countries. Our econometric methodology for these panel data uses fixed-effect model estimation with a variable transformation determined by a Box-Cox approach. We find that intra-industry trade between European countries and Japan increases with their corresponding Japanese FDIs, especially for new EU member countries. Our results also indicate that it is important to measure a wider range of quality based on relative prices rather than the traditional ratio used in the literature.     

Intra-Industry Trade in Intermediate Goods and Final Goods in a General Equilibrium Setting

This article develops a dual general equilibrium model to analyze the effects of intra-industry trade in both intermediate goods and final goods on the productivity in the final good production. Intra-industry trade in intermediate goods determines an increase in the number of intermediate good varieties available in the final good production, and intra-industry trade in final goods determines a reduction in the number of adaptations of an intermediate good to the final good production. Thereby, the productivity in the final good production increases. Different shares of intra-industry trade in intermediate goods and final goods in a general equilibrium setting implies that Jones' magnification effect and both the Rybczynski theorem and the Stolper-Samuelson theorem are not valid.     

Effect of intra-industry trade on skill premium in manufacturing in China

In making use of the panel data in 27 manufacturing industries, this paper examines the recent increase in skill premium in China's manufacturing. The paper argues that the recent increase in skill premium in Chinese manufacturing can be partly attributed to the decline in intra-industry trade. A reasonable explanation on this is that the decline in intra-industry trade occurred in the period studied is associated with a decrease in output. This led to a reduction in relative demand of low-skilled workers, which supports the hypothesis of the output-skill substitutability, and finally an increase in skill premium. Further, this paper finds that the negative effect of intra-industry trade on skill premium is larger for high-skilled manufacturing than low-skilled manufacturing. One more result in this paper is that the increase in capital input reduced the skill premium in Chinese manufacturing. The empirical evidence is consistent with a modified model of intra-industry trade with differentiated products and three factor inputs: high-skilled labor, low-skilled labor and capital.     

Entrepreneurship and intra-industry trade

Entrepreneurship and Intra-Industry Trade. — The paper introduces entrepreneurs into the theories of intra-industry trade and investigates the role of a country ’s “entrepreneurship” in international trade. It is shown that therelative entrepreneurship between countries determines the terms of trade but the welfare effects are not obvious. Among other things, it is found that (1) an increase in exports improves the terms of trade and (2) an increase in country size is not always beneficial.     

Two-way trade between unequal partners: The EU and the developing countries

Two-Way Trade between Unequal Partners: The EU and the Developing Countries. — This paper analyses the intra-industry trade specialization between the EU and the developing countries between 1980 and 1992. It shows that EU intra-industry trade with the developing countries has greatly increased and that the traditional measure of intra-industry trade, the Grubel-Lloyd index, is inappropriate when applied to trade between developed and developing countries. By and large, the empirical analysis confirms that intra-industry trade between the developed and the developing countries increases with average and per capita income, and with reduced differences in economic size and capital-labour ratios.     

East-west intra-industry trade dynamics

Conclusions Trade liberalization, integration and catching-up with the developed countries are often associated with an increase in intra-industry trade. We showed in the literature survey that the reduction of trade barriers is associated with the growth of intra-industry trade. We currently observe that the trade of the selected EU countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands) with the CEECs (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) follows this pattern as well. However, the increase of intra-industry trade is not uniform, but reflects different patterns of integration and progress of industrial restructuring.     

Does financial development help to align growth opportunities with growth? Evidence from industry-level data

Financial institutions are expected to play a crucial role in reallocating resources in favor of industries facing greater global and local shocks to growth opportunities. Fisman and Love, in their paper entitled “Financial development and intersectoral allocation: A new approach”, argue that growth opportunities are unobservable and propose a new methodology to test the capital allocation hypothesis. The methodology is based on correlations in the patterns of intra-industry growth between two countries and similarities in the level of financial development and income. This paper extends their methodology by proposing direct and forward-looking measures of local and global growth opportunities, obtained by interacting the country’s patterns of industrial specialization with industry-level price-earnings ratios, as in the paper “Global growth opportunities and market integration” by Bekaert et al. The results, obtained in a cross-section framework including 37 developed and developing countries over the period 1992–2006, confirm the relevance of financial development to promote economic growth and to help industries in taking advantage of global and local growth opportunities. They also show that the methodology developed by Fisman and Love can be extended to include direct measures of growth opportunities.