The political economy of trade liberalization in developing countries

The paper addresses the issue of trade liberalization in developing countries from a political economy perspective using the theory of collective action. The role of collective action and interest group behavior is analysed critically both with respect to the initiation of attemps at liberalization and its outcome in terms of success or failure. A probit model is then used to test empirically the various hypotheses as to the determinants of likelihood of success of liberalization attempts. A sample of 51 liberalization episodes relating to 24 countries and spanning the period 1950–80 is used. Five factors are found to be critical in the process of liberalization: the strength of exporters groups as represented by the diversification and importance of manufactures and traditional exports, the strength of import-competing sector's opposition as measured by the share of manufacturing in GDP, the time elapsed since the beginning of import substitution, the size of country and the leadership committment and role.     

分税制下政府行为的扭曲与矫治

分税制条件下政府行为存在种种扭曲现象。产生这一问题有经济、政治和社会三方面原因。有效的矫治对策包括:优化政府职能,完善财税体制,整顿财经秩序,推进依法治税等。     

TRADE,MERCANTILISM AND NATION‐BUILDING

Most treatments of protectionism by economists try to account for the departure on a case‐by‐case basis. However, protectionism is often an element in a systematic political economy. This was developed by authors such as List, and persists today. Debating it requires normative as well as analytical arguments in a political economy approach.     

Estimating productivity and returns to scale in the US textile industry

In light of the textile industry's growing foreign competition, trade deficit and job loss, we estimate its productivity and efficiency for the period 1975–93 utilizing a variable elasticity of substitution production function. The results indicate that, despite job losses, the industry adjusted by increasing labor productivity and maintaining fairly stable profits. This performance does not warrant protectionist policies. However, with an elasticity of factor substitution less than one and decreasing, the impact of factor price increases could result in higher apparel prices and preference for cheaper imports. Furthermore, with an elasticity of capital output rapidly decreasing, significant technological improvements will be required to improve competitiveness since textile production is capital intensive. Recently revised rules on trade liberalization could increase competition in the industry. First version received: October 1999/Final version received: August 2000     

Protectionism under Trump: The China Shock,Deplorables, and the First White President

This paper uses USA county‐level electoral data to examine the 2016 turn to protectionism. The hypothesis that support for protectionism was purely a response to globalization is rejected. Exposure to trade competition encouraged a shift to the Republican candidate, but this effect is mediated by race, diversity, education, and age. If the turn toward protectionism is due to economic dislocation, then public policy interventions could mitigate the impact and support the re‐establishment of a political consensus for open trade. If, however, the drivers are identity or cultural values, then the scope for constructive policy intervention is unclear.     

US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past,the Present,and Implications for the US–China Trade War

The United States and Japan have been involved in trade frictions over a number of products including textiles, steel, automobiles, semi‐conductors, and agricultural products over the last 50 years. US–Japan trade frictions have taken basically two forms: (i) the United States attempting to restrict Japan's exports to the United States; and (ii) the United States attempting to increase its exports to Japan by “opening” the Japanese market. By putting pressure on Japan to adopt necessary measures, the United States sought to achieve two main objectives: (i) to reduce its trade deficit vis‐à‐vis Japan; and (ii) to protect and/or promote US industries. The United States failed to achieve the first objective, while some success was achieved for the second objective. The United States triggered a trade war against China with the objectives of: (i) reducing the bilateral trade deficit; and (ii) stopping unfair trade practices by Chinese firms such as violations of intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer. Based on the experiences from the US–Japan trade frictions, the United States may achieve some success for the second objective, but not for the first. The chances of achieving the second objective would increase if the United States cooperates with countries such as Japan and the European Union, which are faced with similar problems.     

霸权异化与贸易政策的选择

2018年以来美国联合欧盟和日本强力推动“高标准”贸易规则,使其贸易政策呈现出显著的修正主义特征和偏执性。对此,霸权周期理论、国内经济周期变化、权势集团的操控和国际经济体系的特征等分析视角难以就其贸易政策倾向和风格的选择进行有效解释。资本和霸权的关系是影响美国贸易政策的核心因素,其主线是资本向霸权渗透并利用霸权力量寻租,以此为理论基础可以构建霸权异化与贸易政策选择的分析框架。霸权异化包括两个维度,即资本向霸权渗透的结构性或制度性路径和霸权国家的经济集中或分散嵌入国际生产体系的方式。其中,渗透路径影响贸易政策的风格,嵌入方式影响贸易政策的倾向。制度性渗透带来灵活性,而结构性渗透带来偏执性政策。集中式嵌入带来维护现状政策,而分散式嵌入则会刺激修正主义政策。从现实经验看,1986年至今美国对待跨国投资保护规则和“高标准”贸易规则的政策,经历了从灵活地修正到偏执地修正国际经济秩序的转变。霸权异化的分析框架揭示了美国在霸权优势动摇时期贸易政策选择的复杂性,有助于新兴大国有针对性地应对美国贸易政策调整带来的挑战。     

市场分散性对我国企业横向拓展的影响

本文主要研究我国现阶段的市场分散性对企业跨地域横向扩张的影响,通过对已有相关文献进行深入探讨,对市场分散性的定义及其发展趋势等相关内容进行了总结,发现国内市场的一体化程度正在日益提高,市场分散性对我国跨区域经营的企业的影响正在日益缩小,制约企业发展壮大的主要因素不是市场分散性,而是企业的内部管理能力。     

Poisoned grapes,mad cows and protectionism

This paper studies two episodes where a ban on imports was imposed to safeguard people's health. The first case is the poisoned grapes crisis involving Chile and the United States in 1989. The second is the “mad cows” dispute, which broke out in 1996, between the United Kingdom and the European Union. These case studies motivate a new definition of “protectionist measure” which is applied to argue that the European Union's ban on British beef exports was not protectionist, while the US ban on Chilean fruit possibly classifies as such a measure.     

经济全球化背景下贸易保护主义抬头原因及对策探析——新政治经济学视角

本文试图从现代政治经济学的角度研究经济全球化背景下贸易保护主义抬头的原因,最后得出结论: 贸易保护主义的产生有其深刻的政治背景,它并不只限于单纯的经济学范畴,只要有国家和政治,只要世界政治经济发展不平衡,贸易保护主义就不会消失,因此,我们必须以正确的姿态来面对贸易保护主义.