Singapore's Perspectives on the Proliferation of RTAs in East Asia and Beyond

Abstract

In this article the viewpoints and adopted strategies of Singapore in managing its trading relationship with other countries in the world is discussed. Trade being the lifeline and basis for its economic survival, Singapore has been very active in the negotiation and establishment of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries, practically in every continent. Singapore's activism in bilateral FTAs is a reinforcement of its development strategy of expanding and ensuring market access for local and foreign investors. This is also in alignment with Singapore's pro- business strategy philosophy and the objective of ensuring economic viability. Also Singapore's trade accords go beyond trade liberalization and include “behind the border” impediments to trade; this is reckoned to keep the momentum of trade talk going and to hasten the process of liberalization by inducing other countries to liberalize.     

State-led Catching up Strategies and Inherited Conflicts in Developing the ICT Industry: Behind the US–East Asia Semiconductor Disputes

Abstract

Moving from labour to some capital and knowledge intensive sectors, East Asian countries have actively pursued strategic industrial policies and successfully promoted targeted sectors. However, their growth in high tech sectors challenged the US leadership and the World Trade Organization (WTO)-supported neo-liberal development “wisdom”. Tensions over trade and technology issues eventually exploded into fierce policy conflicts. This study explores the role of the state in a single information and communication technology (ICT) sector, the semiconductor industry, over the course of its evolution in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. It is hoped to tackle the issues surrounding the conflicts between the Western economic orthodoxy and East Asian development policies through explaining the ICT development pathway of these countries. The finding shows that the international frictions in both ICT trade and technology were inevitable and reflect the divergence of development visions held by latecomers and developed countries.     

INFORMALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR IN INDIA: EFFECTS OF LABOR MARKET RIGIDITIES AND IMPORT COMPETITION

Since the 1980s, industrial labor in India has been increasingly informalized, manifested in a rising share of unorganized sector employment and the growing use of temporary and contract workers, and subcontracting in organized manufacturing. Using unit‐level data from the National Sample Survey employment–unemployment survey for 2004–5, the paper investigates econometrically whether labor market rigidities and import competition have been responsible for the informalization of industrial labor in India. The results of econometric models show that labor market reforms tend to increase the creation of regular jobs, while import competition tends to raise casual employment among workers with education levels above primary.     

How to keep trade policy open: the case of Indonesia

We explore the ups and downs of trade protectionism in Indonesia since the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98. The key constraints to unilateral trade reform include exchange rate factors, the political economy of consumer–producer behaviour, institutional complexity and global pressures. We conclude that trade reform is likely to face difficulties, with protectionism on the rise again, but that, during the temporary halt in the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade negotiations, Indonesia may be able to use regional and international engagement to counterbalance rising protectionism.     

INVESTIGATING THE GENDER GAP IN SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP: A DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS

This paper investigates the gender difference in trade union membership among African men and women in South Africa. Using labour force survey data for 2001 and 2007, we show that at least two thirds of the gender gap is explained by differences in union‐related characteristics. When compared with gender differences in personal, household‐ and job‐related characteristics, disparities in job characteristics account for a larger proportion of the gender gap. These findings imply that women would have had higher unionisation rates than men if they possessed male endowments of union‐related characteristics, especially access to unionised jobs.     

Impacts of the WTO accession on Chinese exports

Using firm-level panel data of the Chinese electrical machinery and communication equipment manufacturers, this paper reveals that, after the entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO, henceforth), the export of Chinese firms was accelerated by a rise of productivity, but was not uniform among ownership structures. Classifying the firms into private domestic firms, state-owned enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises, our empirical estimation concludes that the entry into the WTO had a ‘productivity effect’ on Chinese exports, and an asymmetric ‘ownership effect,’ which was less favorable to the exports for state-owned enterprises.     

Institutional Quality and CO2 Emission–Trade Relations: Evidence from Sub‐Saharan Africa

This paper examines the roles of trade, institutional quality and their interactions in explaining carbon dioxide emissions in a panel sample of 40 Sub‐Sahara African countries using the system generalised method of moments. We find that institutional reforms are unequivocally environmental improving. Meanwhile, the impacts of trade on the environment tend to depend on the institutional setting of a country. More specifically, trade openness is harmful to the environment in countries with low institutional quality and beneficial to the environment in countries with high institutional quality. This means that institutional reforms are a perquisite for the countries with low institutional quality to actualise the beneficial environment effect of trade. As for the countries with adequate institutional quality, trade and institutions are reinforcing each other in bringing down pollution. From these results, we conclude that trade openness implemented in a sound institutional setting potentially brings better trade, more growth and better environment.     

服务贸易、非对称开放与全球失衡:一项跨国的经验研究

文章从贸易内部结构出发，分析非对称开放条件下，服务贸易兴起与全球失衡之间的关系。并利用全球59个主要贸易国家2000-2014年双边贸易数据对两者之间的关系进行计量分析，实证结果显示：第一，服务贸易净值与经常账户余额之间存在显著的负向关系，服务贸易净值提高100万美元，经常账户余额减少98.7万美元。在引入交互项之后这种关系依然显著成立。因此，服务贸易的非对称开放是造成全球失衡的重要原因。第二，技术进步和利率上调可以扭转服务贸易对经常账户的抑制作用。第三，金融危机之后，服务贸易和经常账户的负向关系进一步强化。后危机时代，全球失衡现象有可能继续恶化。第四，分位数回归发现，在低点位处服务贸易净值对经常账户的影响更为强烈。文章的研究为理解中国的服务贸易逆差提供了新的视角，并为扭转服务贸易逆差奠定了理论基础。     

简论我国文化贸易的发展现状及对策

当今世界,文化贸易作为服务贸易的重要组成部分,已经成为当今全球服务贸易竞争的重点领域之一.本文从我国文化贸易的发展现状、发展滞后的原因等方面进行详细分析,提出若干建议.     

Labour market response to globalisation: Spain, 1880–1913

This paper analyses the impact of globalisation (trade and migration) on the Spanish labour market between 1880 and 1913 by examining the influence that globalisation factors had on agricultural and industrial wages. Our results show that the nineteenth century grain invasion had a negative impact on agricultural wages, whereas the fall in wheat prices did not benefit industry workers. We also found that migration pushed up real agricultural and industrial wages. As agriculture was the main sector in the economy, the final impact was a wage decrease. The negative impact of trade on agricultural and industrial labour markets partly explains the trade policy response of “integral protection”. However, other alternatives that would have been effective in raising living standards, such as migration policy, were not used.