Financial Liberalization in a Small Open Economy

We address three related questions concerning financial liberalization in a small open economy. Does financial liberalization and the resulting capital inflow improve production efficiency in the domestic economy? Who benefits from financial liberalization in the long run and in the short run? Should financial liberalization be implemented gradually or hastily? Our main results are as follows. First, whether financial deregulation in one sector can improve production efficiency may depend on financial regulation in other sectors. Second, financial liberalization may have opposite welfare implications to domestic agents with different productivity in the long run. Third, although some domestic agents lose in the long run, they actually benefit from financial liberalization during the transitional process of deregulation. Finally, a gradual implementation helps achieve a smooth transition.     

Trade Liberalization and Labor Unions

The present note builds a two-country model of Cournot oligopoly with country-specific labor unions. The impact of trade liberalization on wages and its consequent impact on union behavior and trade patterns are examined. We show that the union with relatively fewer number of firms will face the stronger pressure for wage moderation when trade is liberalized. We use this result to construct a simple example in which a country with higher autarky price becomes a net exporter of that good. We also discuss that our results are critically dependent on the mode of competition between firms.     

Macroeconomics of Agricultural Trade Liberalization

Abstract

In this article a macroeconomic model is built to examine interactions between the agricultural sector and the industrial sector in an emerging market economy. This article examines how monetary shock and real shocks produce agricultural price fluctuations and change in employment through multiple cross effects. Monetary shocks result in overshooting of primary commodity price while real shock in terms of rise in the production of primary commodity mitigates the volatility of primary price.     

Financial development,institutions and industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa

Using a panel data covering more than 100 countries worldwide, we have estimated a dynamic panel model to investigate the relationship between financial development and manufacturing industries’ growth. More specifically, we have estimated the effect that institutional quality might have in this relationship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The results show that lower quality institutions in SSA are a hindrance to the role financial development plays in the growth of the manufacturing industrial sector, as compared with developed countries. These findings are robust when a quantile regression model is used. Furthermore, the results confirm that the relationship between per capita GDP and industrialization is nonlinear. Finally, in SSA, the abundance of natural resources has an adverse effect on the manufacturing industrial value added, providing more evidence for the Dutch disease hypothesis.     

Resistance to Trade Liberalization in Unionized Sector

This paper studies the lobbying against trade liberalization by both a firm and a union in the same industry. We find that the relationship between their political activities depends on the effect of political activity by one on the marginal effectiveness of political activity by the other. We also show that, when they are strongly risk-averse and their political activities are strategic complements, trade liberalization is likely to be successful if business is brisk, the foreign firm's production cost is high or the number of union members is small. However, when they are not strongly risk-averse, these results hold reversely.     

Financial Liberalization and the Industrial Response: Concentration and Entry in Malawi

It has been suggested that financial liberalization may be a key policy to promote industrialization as it removes the credit access constraint on firms, especially small and medium ones. We investigate the effect of credit expansion in the wake of liberalization on the structure of the industrial sectors in Malawi and find that, in contrast to the hypothesis above, it resulted in an increase in industrial concentration and a decrease in net firm entry, especially in sectors that are more finance dependent. The case of Malawi is interesting because financial liberalization has been justified precisely as a means for industrial development and because the implementation of the policy has been regarded as relatively successful.     

贸易自由化模式与中国的比较优势

对双边自由贸易组织的现实合理性及其过渡性分析发现,基于经济利益的考虑,亚洲的发展中国家和地区倾向于选择双边先行的自由贸易体制。要获得更大的贸易收益,中国必须积极主动融入到区域经济一体化进程。在贸易收益只取决于相对偏好和相对人口比例大小的条件下,中国和东盟建立自由贸易区符合国家战略的必然选择,同时中国应加快实施战略性贸易政策,扶植高新技术产业,促进经济结构升级,在东亚经济一体化进程中掌握先发的制度优势和技术优势。     

中国-东盟服务贸易自由化程度的评估与分析

《中国—东盟全面经济合作框架协议服务贸易协议》的签署开启了中国与东盟服务贸易自由化的进程。本文评估了中国-东盟服务贸易自由化的程度,并与韩国-东盟、澳新-东盟服务贸易自由化程度进行比较,说明中国-东盟服务贸易自由化的特征。通过RCA指标测量了中国与东盟各国服务贸易总体竞争力和部门竞争力,以说明中国与东盟服务贸易自由化程度及其相关性,从而揭示中国-东盟服务贸易自由化的前景。     

贸易自由化进程的国家利益分析

文章以国家利益为视角,分析从GATT到WTO的贸易自由化进程,说明国家利益是贸易自由化的内在动力,中国在贸易自由化进程中既要遵循国际惯例,更要遵循“国家利益原则”。     

金融发展、对外贸易与全要素生产率：来自中国省域的证据

文章将金融发展、对外贸易与全要素生产率整合在一个统一的分析框架中,考察了开放经济下金融发展在促进贸易规模扩大、贸易结构优化,并进而促进全要素生产率增长中的内在机理。实证结果表明,金融发展不仅能够促进贸易规模的扩大,而且还能促使贸易结构优化。但是从具体的金融指标来看,只有中长期贷款余额的增加和以存贷比表示的金融发展效率的提升才能产生贸易规模和贸易结构效应,而贷款总量的增加并不能产生这种效应。并基于这一结论,用金融发展对贸易影响的回归拟和值来考察全要生产率增长的情况,证明了金融发展通过对外贸易对全要素生产率增长的促进作用的存在性,但这种效应只有东部地区才有,中西部地区有由于金融发展水平的滞后而不存在这种效应。另外这种效应的发挥主要也是通过技术进步渠道来实现的,其对技术效率的改善作用不明显。同时在实证检验中还发现,金融发展通过对外贸易影响全要素生产率增长要受到各个地区人力资本水平的影响,即存在“人力资本门槛”效应。     

Macroeconomic Consequences of Terms of Trade Episodes,Past and Present

The early‐twenty first century saw Australia experience its largest and longest terms of trade boom. This paper places the most recent terms of trade boom in its historical context. While similarities exist with previous episodes, the macroeconomic policy frameworks and settings prevailing were quite different to those of the past. These different frameworks and settings mitigated the broader macroeconomic consequences of the terms of trade upswing and may do likewise as it declines.     

Land Transport for Export: The Effects of Cost, Time, and Uncertainty in Sub-Saharan Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), inland export transport costs and time delays are much higher for landlocked countries, vary substantially between different geographic corridors, and exhibit substantial uncertainty. Unit costs and costs of time for land transport of exports are high for many agricultural products relative to metals and other high-value products. We illustrate systemic uncertainty in land and maritime transport for exporting by use of simulation. Relationships among uncertainty, infrastructure quality, and other features of logistics systems are highly non-linear, and can be potentially used to identify priorities for trade facilitation.