Convergence and Overtaking in a Dynamic two Country Model

In two-sector infinite-horizon trade models with factor–price-equalization, convergence of aggregate capital-labor ratios and incomes does not occur because the Euler equations imply equal growth rate of consumption in all economies. In a two-country dynamic specific factors model, we show that factor–price-equalization occurs only in the long run. Per capita incomes and consumptions do not necessarily converge. These depend on the endowments of the primary factors. Depending on these endowments, an initially poorer economy may end up as the richer economy in the steady state, overtaking the initially richer one.     

Impacts of Foreign Exchange Auctions on the Informal Market Rate in Myanmar

Since the abolition of the official peg and the introduction of a managed float in April 2012, the Central Bank of Myanmar has operated the daily auctions of foreign exchange aimed at smoothing exchange rate fluctuations. Despite the reforms, however, informal trading of foreign exchange remains pervasive. Using the daily informal exchange rate and Central Bank auction data, this study examines the impacts of auctions on the informal rate. Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models indicate that the auctions did not reduce the conditional variance of the informal rate returns. Overall, the auctions have only a quite modest impact on the informal exchange rate.     

On the stability of the stackelberg oligopoly equilibrium

The stability of the equilibrium in the Stackelberg undifferentiated oligopoly model where each oligopolist strives for leadership is analyzed for general demand and cost functions and for a discrete system with non-instantaneous adjustment.     

Technical progress,population growth and intergenerational equity in a model with many exhaustible and renewable resources

A condition ensuring intergenerational equity is derived using a neoclassical model of many exhaustible and renewable resources involving technical progress and population growth.     

Status-Seeking, Catching-Up, and Comparative Statics in a Dynamic Heckscher–Ohlin Model

This paper examines a two‐country dynamic general equilibrium model with status‐seeking agents. We show that the introduction of status‐seeking behavior brings about new properties in equilibrium dynamics. While there exists a continuum of steady states in the standard dynamic models, the present framework demonstrates that, under some conditions, there uniquely exists an incompletely specialized steady state, which is locally saddle‐point stable. Therefore, catching‐up and overtaking phenomena seen in economic development can be explained, and comparative statics analysis also is made possible. Our comparative statics analysis illustrates, for example, that trade pattern is determined in the Heckscher–Ohlin manner; the patient country acts just like a capital abundant one to export the capital‐intensive good. Furthermore, as distinct from the existing literature, the present study shows that the existence of an incompletely specialized steady state can be ensured even if the two countries conduct different policies.     

Charting the pacific: an empirical assessment of integration initiatives

Trade negotiations after Uruguay may well be dominated by the Pacific Rim, where two free trade areas (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, or AFTA; and North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA) already exist and larger agreements are under active discussion (involving the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, area and an East Asian Economic Group). This article analyzes several initiatives using a simple global general equilibrium model that incorporates conventional welfare gains as well as benefits derived from firm level economies of scale, induced changes in foreign investment, and dynamic increases in productivity. Broad Pacific liberalization—i.e., East Asia, North America, and Australasia—is shown to be superior for each participant to liberalization limited to individual countries or East Asia, but not by much. Most favored nation liberalization is shown to be superior for each participant to preferential liberalization—if the actor is East Asia, but not the Pacific as a whole. These estimates will need to be refined, but they suggest that the benefits from Pacific liberalization could exceed $100 billion per year.     

Evaluating new CO2 reduction technologies in Japan up to 2030

A mathematical model was developed for evaluating CO₂-reduction technologies in power generation, residential, commercial and road transport sectors in Japan. The existing and new power generation technologies evaluated included 34 centralized and 8 dispersed power generation technologies in the residential and commercial energy demand sectors. To take into account the varieties of useful energy and of its demand duration patterns among entities in the demand sectors, the hourly mean power and heating and cooling demand–supply balances in one residential and four commercial representative entities were considered for each month. The road transport sector addressed five types of automotive use. The useful-energy demands are exogenously given; the model calculates the technology installations that satisfy the demands to minimize the total systems cost for each year up to 2030. The availability of the new technologies, i.e., the first years they are installable, is derived from research and development (R&D) process analyses on the basis of surveys to experts. As a result of the model calculation, dispersed molten carbonate and solid oxide fuel cells and onboard gasoline reforming-type fuel cell vehicle (FCV) technologies are expected to have the largest economic values, approximately 60–120 billion constant 1998 yen [460–920 million U.S. dollars (USD)] among the evaluated new CO₂-reduction technologies. One of the implications from our calculations is that extending electric power corporations' commercial coverage to dispersed power generation, in addition to centralized power generation, is desirable to help lower overall costs in society, as well as to secure industry profits.     

A simple proof of the Sato proposition on non-homothetic CES functions

Summary. Based on some elementary results on duality, the paper proposes a much simpler way of deriving the class of non-homothetic CES production functions which was derived as a solution to a partial differential equation that defines the elasticity of substitution. Received: February 11, 1998; revised version: April 28, 1998     

Trade Gains when the Opportunity to Trade Changes the State of Information

J. S. Mill suggested that the destruction of old preferences and their replacement by new are among the greatest benefits imparted by free trade. However, Mill's argument relied on a possibly controversial ethical judgment. The present note approaches the question posed by Mill with only the conventional Paretian ethical baggage, and shows that, if all agents are rational in a sense to be made clear and if the wellbeing of each agent is independent of irrelevant alternatives, then trade is potentially gainful.