Trading spaces: Calculating embodied Ecological Footprints in international trade using a Product Land Use Matrix (PLUM)

Nations import and export biophysical resources. With many ecosystems worldwide under mounting stress, countries may be increasingly interested in knowing the extent and origin of their ecological imports and dependencies. In this paper the Ecological Footprint is used as a tool to measure the biophysical (as opposed to financial) value of international trade flows. This paper attempts to answer the following question: How large of an Ecological Footprint does a given country exert inside the borders of each of its trading partners? Records in the UN COMTRADE bilateral trade database are multiplied by a matrix of per-product Footprint yield coefficients to translate from values in dollars and tonnes to units of hectares. The results show that the largest interregional flows are from Latin to North America, and from North America to Asia-Pacific. Grouping countries by GDP, high and middle income countries appear in Footprint terms to trade predominantly with other high and middle income countries and much less with low income countries.     

Does trade integration alter monetary policy transmission?

This paper explores the role of trade integration—or openness—for monetary policy transmission in a medium-scale new Keynesian model. Allowing for strategic complementarities in price setting, we highlight a new dimension of the exchange rate channel by which monetary policy directly impacts domestic inflation: a monetary contraction which appreciates the exchange rate lowers the local currency price of imported goods; this, in turn, induces domestic producers to lower their prices too. We pin down key parameters of the model by matching impulse responses obtained from a vector autoregression on time series for the US relative to the euro area. Our estimation procedure yields plausible parameter values and suggests a strong role for strategic complementarities. Counterfactual simulations show that openness alters monetary transmission significantly. While the contractionary effect of a monetary policy shock on inflation and output tends to increase in openness, we find that monetary policy's control over inflation increases, as the output decline which is necessary to bring about a given reduction of inflation is smaller in more open economies.     

Measuring China’s domestic production networks through Trade in Value-added perspectives

Evaluating the role and performance of China's participation in Global value chains (GVCs) has been a hot policy and research issue in recent years. However, most GVCs-related literature about China focuses on country-to-country relations; less attention has been paid to China's domestic value chains (DVCs). GVCs should have their domestic foundations since strong linkages across domestic firms and regions can improve productivity through gains from specialization, which make domestic industries more competitive in GVCs in turn. This paper applies the so-called Trade in Value-added (TiVA) concept and the decomposition of domestic-regional trade in TiVA terms to re-measure the inter-industrial and interregional linkages in China's DVCs. We show that TiVA-based measures can significantly enrich our understanding on both the structure change of China's regional economy and the position and participation degree of Chinese regions in DVCs.     

How do trade openness,public expenditure and institutional performance affect unemployment in OIC countries? Evidence from the DCCE approach

This study explores the relationship between trade openness, public expenditure, institutional performance, and unemployment in member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) (formerly the Organization of the Islamic Conference). The conventional panel data techniques overlook cross-sectional dependence and yield-biased results. A new methodology called dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) is employed to deal with the issue of cross-sectional dependence. The long-run results demonstrate that trade openness is inversely and significantly associated with overall unemployment and youth unemployment in lower-income as well as all the OIC economies and positively correlated in the higher-income OIC group. Public expenditure has an inverse and significant correlation with unemployment in OIC countries overall and higher-income OIC countries. Moreover, institutional performance and foreign direct investment are negatively related to unemployment in all OIC economies. The research shows the need for the continuation of open trade policies, strong institutions, and higher public expenditure in the OIC countries in order to decrease overall unemployment—in particular, youth unemployment.     

Criteria involved in evaluation of trade shows to visit

An organizer of trade shows (TSs) need to know the framework of criteria used by potential visitors in their ex-ante evaluation of trade shows. This paper comes to fill a gap in the published research, aiming to answer two research questions: which criteria are important for visitors in evaluating TSs to visit? And which is the underlying structure of criteria? A sample of retailers was interviewed and, after using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, a measurement model was identified. The results confirm the underlying structure suggested by the integration of separate criteria or elements previously identified in other studies. Also, that the changes in the marketing orientation of companies have affected the evaluation criteria used by visitors. Additionally, the results show differences between visitants and exhibitors. The main disparity is the non-relevance of the marketing research criteria: TSs are a good marketing research tool for exhibitors but much more limited for visitors.     

中国和印度的贸易扩张:威胁还是机遇?

本文探讨了中印之间以及中印与其它国家之间的贸易竞争性和互补性。研究结果表明:(1)印度在第三方市场,尤其在服装、纺织品和皮革制品等方面,面临来自中国的强烈竞争;(2)中印之间的贸易增长具有一定潜力;(3)中国在中等技术行业对东亚各国、美国和大多数欧洲国家构成挑战,而印度主要对周边的南亚国家构成威胁;(4)在贸易的互补性方面,中国和印度大幅上升的进口为美国、欧洲和东亚一些国家,尤其是日本、韩国、马来西亚、新加坡和泰国的出口提供了扩张的机会。同时我们发现中国的出口结构正在发生变化,技术密集型和高科技产品的出口份额在增加,这表明从长期来看,由中国劳动密集型产品出口带来的挑战将会削弱。本文探讨了中印之间以及中印与其它国家之间的贸易竞争性和互补性。研究结果表明:(1)印度在第三方市场,尤其在服装、纺织品和皮革制品等方面,面临来自中国的强烈竞争;(2)中印之间的贸易增长具有一定潜力;(3)中国在中等技术行业对东亚各国、美国和大多数欧洲国家构成挑战,而印度主要对周边的南亚国家构成威胁;(4)在贸易的互补性方面,中国和印度大幅上升的进口为美国、欧洲和东亚一些国家,尤其是日本、韩国、马来西亚、新加坡和泰国的出口提供了扩张的机会。同时我们发现中国的出口结构正在发生变化,技术密集型和高科技产品的出口份额在增加,这表明从长期来看,由中国劳动密集型产品出口带来的挑战将会削弱。     

The Scope and Limits of a Public–Private Hybrid: Dispute Settlement under NAFTA Chapter 19

Globalisation is often depicted as having led to an increase in private authority at the expense of that of the state. It is important to correctly specify the scope that private authority has achieved and the capacity of states to push back and limit that authority. This article grounds these theoretical issues in a discussion of the hybrid, public–private dispute settlement mechanism set up in the original Canada–US Free Trade Agreement (CUSTFA), and later extended into Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It finds that privatising the enforcement process did make a difference. Trade experts on panels saw things differently to judges and in ways that were more sympathetic to exporters. This favoured Canadian and Mexican interests. However, the arrangement lacked deep roots. It was a late-stage compromise in trade negotiations. This rendered it vulnerable to a US counterattack once panels began to rule in favour of Canadian and Mexican challenges to US trade determinations. The transfer of quasi-judicial authority to a public–private hybrid proved contingent, partly on the hegemonic state's ongoing level of comfort with the arrangement, as well as on a lack of business consensus within the United States.     

中国服务贸易发展国际比较与提升竞争力之见解

通过对服务贸易的发展现状、结构特征及贸易竞争力指数的国际比较发现,由于起步晚、基础差等因素所致,中国服务贸易发展仍相对滞后。当今现代服务业日渐突起且越来越成为国际产业竞争的焦点,因此,如何加快发展现代服务业,优化服务贸易结构,提升服务贸易竞争力则成为目前亟待研究的课题。     

我国与三大贸易伙伴贸易摩擦的特点分析

美国、日本、欧盟是我国三大重要的贸易伙伴，近年来，随着彼此间经贸联系的不断加强，贸易摩擦也频频发生。我国与三大贸易伙伴的贸易摩擦即有共性，又有各自的非经济因素干扰，我们应客观认识这一事实，这对进一步促进我国对外贸易的发展有重要意义。     

贸易自由化与竞争政策的国际协调

由于拥有共同的目标——改善市场间或市场内的资源分配,竞争政策与国际贸易自由化之间有着极为密切的联系。从国际贸易自由化与竞争政策的关系入手,指出一国的竞争政策对国际贸易自由化的影响,并在此基础上论述国际经济社会在协调二者关系中所进行的各种制度设计与努力,最后讨论竞争政策国际协调的前景等问题。