Dialect,transaction cost and intra-national trade: evidence from China

Growing evidence emphasizes the important role of network effects on bilateral trade. This paper proposes a new factor – dialect difference, which decreases social network across regions, may increase transaction costs and thus shape interregional trade pattern. Taking China as an example, we use a gravity model considering network effects and provincial data from 1997 to 2009 to examine the effect of dialect difference on intra-national trade. We find that dialect difference has a significantly negative effect on interprovincial trade. Moreover, this paper explores the time dimension of the effect of dialect difference. We find that the negative effects of dialect difference on trade have been diminishing over time. Migration and the promotion of Mandarin have increased interregional cultural connections and thus mitigated the negative effects of dialect difference.     

Roy Harrod and traditional theory

In 1926 and 1936 Sraff and Keynes attacked the methodological core of traditional economic theory by showing that the premises of partial equilibrium analysis were mutually inconsistent.

this paper aims to show that Harrod neglected Sraffa and Keynes's logical arguments, and only admitted that the tacit assumptions under discussion restricted the domain of validityof the theory to special cases: perfect competition and statics. He then proceeded to generalize the theory to imperfect competition and dynamics by applying the principles (but not the instruments) of traditional analysis. The definition of these domains thus aimede at rescuing as mush as possible from the orthodox approach.     

The Myth of Fair Prices: A Graphical Analysis

The issues of fair trade and in particular fair price policies, have been neglected in most international trade courses. The authors show how the latter can be explained to undergraduate students applying the simple graphical methods normally used in general equilibrium trade theory. They show that fair pricing strategies can be looked upon as a suboptimal device for redistributing the gains from trade as compared with a transfer of funds.     

Pushing Economies (and Students) Outside the Factor Price Equalization Zone

Despite overwhelming empirical evidence of the failure of factor price equalization, most teaching of international trade theory (even at the graduate level) assumes that economies are incompletely specialized and that factor price equalization holds. The behavior of trading economies in the absence of factor price equalization is not well understood, and some major textbook treatments err. The authors map regions of specialization and diversification for standard competitive economies and show how outputs, goods, and factor prices change as economies move within and across different regions of diversification and specialization. Two examples of how the analysis can enrich graduate-level trade teaching are given: the substitutability of goods trade and factor movements, and debates over the trade and inequality.     

Rethinking Trade and Development: A Developmentalist Perspective

Abstract

In one of the longest lasting debates in economics, mainstream economists still basically rest their position regarding trade and development policies on the static principle of comparative advantage, while relying on fancier econometric techniques to find empirical support. This paper draws attention to dynamic considerations, first emphasizing Smith's observation that there was more scope for division of labor in manufactures than in primary production. Prebisch noted that primary products generally have lower income elasticity of demand than manufactures. In a global context where some countries undertook industrial development ahead of others, these would generate the trade patterns that Ricardo predicted. Investment would flow from the industrial center to the periphery to augment primary production as Mill anticipated. Through the dominance of backwash over spread effects, international inequalities would widen à la Mrydal. International dualism, especially in a technological sense, would be aggravated à la Singer. To counter such uneven development, developmentalists such as Hamilton, List, Prebisch, Myrdal, and Singer advocated technological acquisitions and industrial development on the part of the less-developed countries or regions. Contrary to mainstream portrayal they did not simply advocate protectionism. Instead, their policy suggestions were nuanced and sophisticated, and included both non-trade and trade instruments, means of building technological capabilities, and (for those writing after World War II) considerations of how to sensibly direct and regulate the activities of multinational corporations. These policy ideas appear to neatly link up with those drawn from case studies of East Asian development undertaken by some researchers that are outside of the economics mainstream.     

Denmark’s Agricultural Institutions: An Instrumental Evaluation

This paper begins with a tax and a specially organized commission proposed by John R. Commons. Commons made his proposal because high tariffs were not benefiting workers. The paper contends that his proposal also applies to a current problem - the failure of trade agreements to improve working conditions. The paper bases its argument on data, standard economic reasoning, and Commons’ approach in “constructive research” to wage transactions, public purpose, limiting factors, and power imbalances.

The paper argues that Commons’ proposal could improve the evolution of American labor law and that it could ameliorate power imbalances created by laws that give corporations and trade associations a bargaining advantage over nations and organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO). It concludes that economic discourse could benefit from consideration of the belief behind Commons’ proposal - that costs of production passed on to consumers should include the cost of good working conditions.     

Overcoming Contemporary Mythology: An Essay

Over the last 35 years, a free market, laissez faire program has increasingly dominated perceptions as to what constitutes correct economic theory and policy. Most adherents of this program trace its origins to Adam Smith, and claim that its dominant position is the result of superior theory.

The argument here is that Adam Smith is not the theoretical ancestor of modern laissez faire economics, and that there are fundamental differences between Smith’s position on laissez faire and that of conventional neoclassical theory. A difference between “soft” and “hard” laissez faire is made, where Smith represents the former position; neoclassical theory the latter. Further, and more important, it is argued that the current laissez faire program is an outgrowth of a political program instituted in the 1930’s and financially supported in the present era by conservative foundations to promote an ideological framework that permits the development of specific governmental (and non-governmental) actions.     

Institutionalism and New Trade Theory: Rethinking Comparative Advantage and Trade Policy

Gomory and Baumol (2000), and Samuelson (2004) have raised concerns about international trade’s future impact on U.S. national income. The focus is how globalization may affect the size and distribution across countries of gains from trade. Though their analysis is developed using a pure trade theoretical framework, it has strands in common with institutionalist thinking. Their findings spotlight the need for a new U.S. trade policy agenda aimed at maximizing the U.S. share of gains from trade, and complementing conventional Keynesian open economy macroeconomic analysis.     

Drivers of expected returns in Istanbul stock exchange: Fama–French factors and coskewness

We investigate the impact of coskewness on the variation of portfolio excess returns in Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) over the period July 1999 to December 2005. We form portfolios according to size, industry, size and book-to-market ratio, momentum and coskewness and compare alternative asset pricing models. The traditional capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the three-factor model of Fama and French are tested in the multivariate testing procedure of Gibbons–Ross–Shanken (1989). Coskewness is introduced as a fourth factor and its incremental effect over CAPM and Fama–French factors is examined both in multivariate tests and in cross-sectional regressions. The findings reveal that coskewness is able to explain the size premium in ISE. Hence, the basic two-moment CAPM without the coskewness factor would underestimate the expected return of size portfolios. Multivariate test results indicate that coskewness reduces the pricing bias, albeit insignificantly. Cross-sectional analysis uncovers that coskewness has a significant additional explanatory power over CAPM, especially for size and industry portfolios. However, coskewness does not have a significant incremental explanatory power over Fama–French factors in ISE.     

Has Labor Income Become More Volatile? Evidence from International Industry‐Level Data

Changes in labor market institutions and the increasing integration of the world economy may affect the volatility of capital and labor incomes. This article documents and analyzes changes in income volatility using data for 11 industrialized countries, 22 industries and 35 years (1970–2004). The article has four main findings. First, the unconditional volatility of labor income has declined in parallel to the decline in macroeconomic volatility. Second, the industry‐specific, idiosyncratic component of labor income volatility has hardly changed. Third, cross‐sectional heterogeneity is substantial. If anything, the labor incomes of high‐ and low‐skilled workers have become more volatile relative to the volatility of capital incomes. Fourth, the volatility of labor income relative to the volatility of capital income declines in the labor share. Trade openness has no clear‐cut impact.