Industry‐specific Exchange Rate Fluctuations,Japanese Exports and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Panel Vector Autoregressive Analysis

Using a panel vector autoregression approach and industry breakdown data for financial constraints obtained from the Bank of Japan's Tankan (Short‐Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan) database, this study empirically investigates whether and how Japanese firms' financial constraints (internal and external) influence the response of Japanese sectoral exports to an exchange rate shock. Furthermore, we use the industry‐specific real effective exchange rate data developed by to allow for different movements of real effective exchange rates across industries. It is found that financial constraints have a significant influence on Japanese exports in response to exchange rate shocks. Japanese exporters with either lower internal financial constraints or external financial constraints are less affected by the yen's appreciation. In addition, if firms face high external financial constraints, only reducing the internal financial constraints cannot help them mitigate the impact of the yen's appreciation on their exports. Thus, an accommodative financial environment also plays an important role in alleviating the impact that the yen's appreciation has on Japanese exports.     

An investigation of the effects of exchange rate volatility on exports in East Asia

This study investigates the effects of the exchange rate volatility on the export flows of Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines during 1974–2011. Towards this goal a trade weighted real effective (rather than the bilateral) exchange rate and three different measures of volatility, i.e. obtained from an ARCH model, a GARCH model and a moving-average standard deviation measure are used in this study. Specifically, the export flows between six Asian countries and the rest of the world are investigated rather than focusing on trade with only one country. Our findings reveal that the exchange rate volatility has a significant impact on export flows in the short run as well as in the long run for all the countries in the sample. The impact in the long run is predominantly negative with the exception of Singapore, but in the short run the impact varies across countries. Moreover, our results are robust to the alternative measures of volatility used and most of the findings in the long run and short run are also robust to the crisis period.     

Young startup firm exports and productive efficiency

We employ the United States Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners to examine the relationship between the productive efficiency of startup firms and their level of exports. We find, consistent with previous work in the literature, that a small firm’s exports are positively related to their level of productive efficiency. This result holds after controlling for various individual owner, as well as firm, characteristics. Our results are also robust to the inclusion of a two-stage estimation strategy to control for the effects of endogeneity in the efficiency–exports relationship.     

The Impact of Regret on Exports

We examine optimal production and export decisions of a firm facing exchange rate uncertainty, where the firm's management is not only risk averse but also regret averse, i.e., is characterized by a utility function that includes disutility from having chosen ex post suboptimal alternatives. Experimental and empirical results support the view that managers tend to be regret averse. Under regret aversion a negative risk premium need not preclude the firm from exporting which would be the case if the firm were only risk averse. Exporting creates an implicit hedge against the possibility of regret when the realized spot exchange rate turns out to be high. The regret‐averse firm as such has a greater ex ante incentive to export than the purely risk averse firm. Finally, we use a two‐state example to illustrate that the firm optimally exports more (less) to the foreign country than in the case of pure risk aversion if the low (high) spot exchange rate is more likely to prevail. Regret aversion as such plays a crucial role in determining the firm's optimal allocation between domestic sales and foreign exports.     

Russian agriculture during Putin’s fourth term: a SWOT analysis

Russian agriculture is coming off a successful period under Minister Alexander Tkachev. Despite his successes, new agricultural leaders were named in May 2018 to guide agriculture during Putin’s fourth term. The article analyses the condition of and prospects for the agricultural sector during 2018–2024, using a SWOT framework (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). The analysis examines four strengths, six weaknesses, four opportunities and three threats.     

Multinationals without Advantages

We question the widespread argument that firms embarking on foreign direct investments must possess some specific advantages to offset the penalties of operating across national and cultural boundaries. A simple model shows that firms might invest abroad to capture local advantages through geographical proximity of plant location, rather than to exploit existing ones. Because of spatially bounded spillovers, laggard firms might use foreign investments to acquire location-specific knowledge, whereas leading firms might prefer costly exports to avoid the dissipation of their advantages.
JEL classification: F 23; O 32; L 22     

The growing importance of the former USSR countries in world agricultural markets

The major countries of the former Soviet Union—specifically Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan—are becoming increasingly important in world agricultural markets. The two main developments are that this region has become a large grain exporter, especially of wheat and barley, and Russia a big agricultural importer, especially of meat. These trends should continue for the next decade. However, policies to expand the livestock sector could mitigate these developments, as increased domestic meat production would reduce both meat imports and surplus feed grain for export. Also, further growth in the region's grain exports will require improvement in the infrastructure for storing and transporting grain.     

人民币双边实际汇率与中国对美出口的实证研究

本文通过建立人民币双边实际汇率与中国对美出口的分析模型,运用协整分析、误差修正模型和脉冲响应函数进行实证研究。结果表明:期望通过人民币升值来解决中美贸易失衡问题的愿望很难有效实现,近年来中国对美出口的大幅增长是与美国自身经济发展的需求有较大关联的,而且这种需求有逐渐增强的趋势;短期内,对美出口的增长远胜于通过人民币升值所期望减少的出口;美国国民收入水平有拉动人民币升值的潜在作用。     

Commodity price stabilisation: macroeconomic impacts and policy options

A macroeconometric simulation study is undertaken to evaluate the impact of commodity price stabilisation (CPS) schemes for the export tree crop industry in Papua New Guinea. The findings suggest that there is a negligible level of favourable macroeconomic impacts of CPS. Contrary to the expectation, CPS adversely affects the stability of monetary and external sectors (BOP). CPS policy has failed to stabilise the macroeconomy. The price stabilisation policies are no longer appropriate from the macroeconomic point of view. Technical change, futures market and rural savings are the possible alternative policy options to manage the price risk.     

内需的扩大是增加还是减少出口？——基于异质企业视角的理论模型和实证研究

中国的贸易失衡表现为巨大的贸易顺差,有一种观点认为扩大内需可以减少出口,降低贸易失衡。本文在考虑企业异质性的基础上,对中国制造企业内需能否促进出口的作用进行了理论和实证分析。理论模型预测,如果企业生产率足够高,可以进行贸易,企业内需的增加总能促进出口数量和出口额的增加,且贸易成本的减小会促进这种效应。我们运用中国工业企业数据对这一推论进行了实证研究。我们首先利用半参数估计的Olley和Pakes(OP)方法估计企业生产率,然后控制企业生产率、企业要素禀赋、行业固定效应、地区固定效应和企业所有制的影响进行计量分析。实证结果发现,出口企业内需的扩大显著促进了企业的出口,而且处于规模经济行业的企业的这种作用更为显著,东部地区企业和国有企业的国内销售对出口的作用也高于其他地区和其他企业。另外,本文对不同出口规模的企业应用分位数回归方法发现,企业出口规模越大,企业内需对出口的作用越显著。