Ethnic Networks and US Exports*

This paper provides new estimates of the effects of ethnic networks on US exports. In line with recent research, our dataset is a panel of exports from US states to 29 foreign countries. Our analysis departs from the literature in two ways, both of which show that previous estimates of the ethnic‐network elasticity of trade are sensitive to the restrictions imposed on the estimated models. Our first departure is to control for unobserved heterogeneity with properly specified fixed effects, which we can do because our dataset contains a time dimension absent from previous studies. Our second departure is to remove the restriction that the network effect is the same for all ethnicities. We find that ethnic‐network effects are much larger than has been estimated previously, although they are important only for a subset of countries.     

Regional Exports and Economic Growth: The Case of Spanish Regions

Different variables have been considered growth enhancing. Traditionally, physical capital, human capital, and public capital have been considered. While the first two variables have been considered positive factors, the latter shows an ambiguous effect. The literature has also considered the role of exports in the economic growth process, introducing several arguments that test the hypothesis that exports are growth enhancing. One argument to be considered is that higher exports can increase total factor productivity due to returns to scale and that exports are an effective means to introduce advanced technology. To test this argument, an empirical analysis considered three possibilities, an export model, a demand model, and a mixed model that combined both. This empirical analysis was carried out for the various Spanish regions.     

International Trade and the Environment: Theoretical and Policy Linkages

I review and extend three approaches to trade and environmental policies: competitive general equilibrium, oligopoly and monopolistic competition. The first two have surprisingly similar implications: deviations from first-best rules are justified only by constraints on policy choice (which motivates what I call a “single dividend” approach to environmental policy), and taxes and emissions standards differ in ways which reflect the Le Chatelier principle. I also show how environmental taxes may lead to a catastrophic relocation of industry in the presence of agglomeration effects, although not necessarily if there is a continuum of industries which differ in pollution intensity. *An earlier version was presented as an invited plenary lecture to the European Association for Environmental and Resource Economics Conference, Oslo, 1999.     

Causal Linkages among the Product Diversification of Exports,Economic Globalization and Economic Growth

This paper examines causal relationships between economic globalization, the three indices for product diversification of exports (Theil index, intensive margin and extensive margin) and economic growth in the unbalanced panel data framework in 139 countries over the period 1970–2010. We also consider the subgroup of the countries related to the income levels and run the panel Granger non‐causality tests for heterogeneous panels. The empirical results indicate that there is a bidirectional causal relationship between economic globalization and economic growth. There is also a significant causal relationship that runs from all three indices for the diversification of exports to economic growth. After implementing various robustness checks, we observe that diversification of exports and economic globalization are positively related with economic growth merely in the upper middle economies.     

Modeling the Taiwan Stock Market and International Linkages

This paper analyzes the Taiwan stock market and examines its price and volatility linkages with those of the United States. In particular, it tests the hypothesis that the short-term volatility and price changes spill over from the developed markets, mainly the United States, to the emerging Taiwan stock market. The model and the test are built upon Engle's ARCH (autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) and Engle and Kroner's M-GARCH (multivariate generalized ARCH) models. The paper differs from previous studies on the Taiwan stock market in three respects. First, instead of using daily closing prices, it uses close-to-open and open-to-close returns to avoid the problem of overlapping samples. It carefully models the day-of-the-week effect in daily data to avoid misspecification of the model. Second, to circumvent the generated regressor problem arising from the two-step estimation procedure, it also employs the M-GARCH model where all parameters are estimated simultaneously. Third, the misspecification test is carried out on various kinds of asymmetric ARCH factors. A substantial volatility spillover effect is found from the US stock market to the Taiwan stock market, especially for the model using close-to-open returns. There is also evidence supporting a spillover effect in price changes. The findings can be explained by the recent gradual opening of the Taiwan stock market to foreign investors.     

Second-Best Linkages and the Gains from Global Reform of Manufactures Trade

The Uruguay Round's built-in agenda for future WTO negotiations omitted further liberalization in manufactures, yet this paper shows that there are large potential gains to be had from such tariff cuts, especially in the developing countries. In order to fully estimate the benefits of adding industrial products to a future multilateral trade round, we need to take into account the levels of protection in other sectors—most notably agriculture and services—in which many trade flows are highly distorted. This paper examines the nature of the second-best linkages among sectors using a balance-of-trade function approach. The importance of these linkages is evaluated using a numerical general equilibrium model. It is found that, in most cases, the second-best spillovers do not greatly affect the results, implying that the estimated gains from manufacturing reforms will be largely independent of their sequencing. However, in a few regions, most notably the EU, the second-best effects play a significant role.     

On the International Linkages between Trade and Merger Policies*

In a three‐country model, this paper investigates linkages between merger incentives of exporting firms and the trade policy of an importing country. When exporting firms come from only one country, the tariff response of the importing country reverses the welfare effects of a merger in the exporting country. If there exist two exporting countries, a merger creates two types of conflicting international externalities. First, a merger in one exporting country increases profits of all firms. Secondly, non‐merged firms lose if the importing country is free to raise its tariff in response to a merger of foreign exporters.     

The Impact of Chinese Exports on Global Import Prices*

This paper evaluates the evidence bearing on the question of whether China's buoyant export growth has led to significant changes in the import prices, and thus inflation performance, of its trading partners. This evidence suggests that the impact of Chinese exports on global import prices has been, while non‐ negligible, fairly modest. We identify a statistically significant effect of US imports from China on US import prices, but given the size of this effect and the relatively low share of imports in US GDP, the ultimate impact on US consumer prices has likely been quite small. Moreover, imports from China had little apparent effect on US producer prices. Finally, using a multi‐country database of trade transactions, we estimate that, since 1993, Chinese exports lowered annual import inflation in a large set of economies by 0.25 percentage point or less on average.     

Joining Global Production Networks: Experience and Prospects of India

Cross‐border dispersion of different stages/slices of the production processes within vertically integrated global industries (“global production sharing”) has been a key structural change in the global economy in recent decades. This paper examines India's experience with exploiting opportunities created by this phenomenon for export expansion from a comparative East Asian perspective. The analysis reveals that India has so far failed fitting into global production networks in electronics and electrical goods, which have been the prime movers of export dynamism in China and the other high‐performing East Asian countries. The findings of this study provide further support to the case for completing the unfinished reform agenda, encompassing both trade and investment policy reforms, and “behind‐the‐border” reforms. There is also a strong case, based on the experiences in East Asia and elsewhere, for combining further reforms with a proactive investment promotion campaign to attract multinational enterprises engaged in global production networks.     

中国沿海与内陆间经济影响的反馈与溢出效应

本文通过投入产出分析技术,总结了区域内乘数效应、区域间溢出效应与区域间反馈效应的经济含义,进一步探讨了它们的相互关系、乘法分解与加法分解的一致性问题,以及统一以最终需求为出发点的测度方法问题。在此基础上,利用2000年第一份中国8区域投入产出表,对中国沿海与内陆地区间的溢出与反馈效应进行实证分析。实证分析表明,沿海地区经济发展,对内陆地区的溢出效应并不明显,甚至于还不及内陆地区对沿海地区的溢出效应。正是由于这一影响,中国内陆地区的反馈效应不及沿海地区大。     

Exports versus FDI in German Manufacturing: Firm Performance and Participation in International Markets

Recent theoretical work has been able to explain how even within narrowly defined industries, firms can exhibit heterogeneous degrees of participation in international commerce. Differences in productivity between firms are the principal explanation offered by theory to explain heterogeneity with respect to international commerce. In particular, theory predicts that the least productive firms will produce for the domestic market only, while better performers engage in export activities, and the top firms establish foreign subsidiaries. This paper presents an empirical test of the relationship between productivity and patterns of international trade and production. Using German firm‐level data from 1996 to 2002, we test the predicted rank ordering of productivity according to firms’ trade pattern by examining the distribution functions of the three subsets of firms for stochastic dominance. Our results are generally consistent with the predictions from theory, and document significant productivity differences according to trade patterns.     

全球生产网络的性质

本文运用交易成本经济学的理论和方法,从网络分析的基础、生产的技术和制度环境,以及全球化对生产网络的意义等方面分析了全球生产网络的性质。全球生产网络是介于国际市场和跨国公司之间的、以关系契约为治理基础的一种组织形式。全球生产网络通过功能一体化和地理一体化进行资源配置,通过垂直一体化或外包组织不同环节的生产活动,在全球垂直分离和地方产业集聚中有效地克服了机会主义,促进了资产专用性投资,降低了生产成本,扩大了市场份额。     

Effects of Primary Exports on Industrial Exports and GDP: Empirical Evidence

This paper analyzes the effects of the growth of nonfuel primary exports on the growth of industrial exports and GDP in 74 economies between 1965 and 1992. There is clear evidence of positive effects, both in the short term and in the long term, of the growth of primary exports on the growth of industrial exports and GDP in more than two-thirds of the economies. Therefore, governments in developing countries should not discriminate against the export of primary products, as some earlier studies suggest. Instead, they should adhere to policies that aim at export promotion.     

International Monetary Policy: A Global Taylor Rule

John Taylors rule for setting interest rates provides a framework for studying the global monetary policy generated by individual countries pursing their own policy goals. The study reflects the global nature of monetary policy by modeling an aggregate short-term interest rate as a function of measures of worldwide inflation and the GDP gap. Multiple specifications are estimated to correspond to past studies of the U.S. relationships between these variables. The authors find that Taylor rule is a useful tool for characterizing the global monetary environment as his equation provides a good fit to the data in every specification explored by the authors. However, the international response to inflation is slightly less robust despite claims of inflation targeting by the bulk of the larger economies in the sample.     

中国出口技术含量动态变迁及国际比较

在当今全球价值链深入发展的背景下,一国生产的出口产品大量使用国外中间投入品,出口产品中内含技术不一定都来自本国,科学衡量出口技术含量水平和结构需要基于生产工序的数据。本文构建了基于生产工序的技术含量新测度方法,并利用1995—2011年全球投入产出表数据测算了中国及其他主要国家的出口技术含量水平及结构,研究发现:(1)自1995年以来,中国出口确实出现了一定的自身技术水平升级和优化。中国整体和各行业的全部技术含量、国内技术含量和国内技术含量指数都呈现增长态势,表现出向发达国家平均水平的弱收敛趋势;(2)从各行业技术含量相对排名位次来看,中国出口的技术含量几乎锁定在世界最低端,远低于美日等发达国家,根本无法对美日等发达国家构成技术威胁。     

全球生产网络治理机制分析

全球生产网络是跨国公司在组织上的重要创新，它是以互补性分工为基础，通过相互依存的关系往来并以一定正式的规则(契约)相互联系在一起的一种组织治理模式。区别于市场和企业(古典型契约)，治理上采用共同治理、多元治理模式，并随核心资本的变化呈动态化发展。     

略论中国对日本水产品出口国际竞争力

运用贸易指标测算了中国对日本水产品出口的竞争力,分析了中国水产品在日本市场的出口前景。研究表明：中国水产品在日本市场上有较强的竞争力,市场渗透率超过其他水产品出口国;中国水产品在日本市场的区域显示比较优势较显著;中国与主要竞争对手的出口产品相似度指数较高。最后,提出了进一步促进中国水产品出口的对策建议。