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Introduction: Minimum unit price (MUP) policies establish a retail floor price below which alcohol may not be sold, and have been shown to reduce harmful alcohol use. We aimed to collect retail price data to estimate the proportion of alcohol products that would potentially be impacted by a MUP policy in Western Australia., Methods: We purposively sampled the four largest off-premises alcohol retail chains, a further random sample of other off-premise alcohol outlets (n = 16) and on-premise inner-city outlets (n = 11). Using website data from May to June 2021, we estimated the proportion of products across four beverage categories priced ≤A$1.30, ≤A$1.50 and ≤A$1.75 per standard drink (10 g alcohol)., Results: Of 27,797 off-premise products identified, 5.7% were available at ≤$1.30 per standard drink, 7.6% at ≤$1.50 and 10.4% at ≤$1.75. The proportion of products available at ≤$1.30 per standard drink varied by beverage category: 7.8% wine, 2.9% beer and cider, <0.1% spirits, 0.0% ready-to-drink spirits. Cask-packaged wines represented only 1.9% of off-premise wine products and 98.9% of this cask wine was priced ≤$1.30 per standard drink. No on-premise products were priced ≤$1.75 per standard drink., Discussion and Conclusions: A comprehensive survey of alcohol prices in Western Australia found only a small proportion of products would potentially be affected by a MUP of $1.30 to $1.75 per standard drink. A MUP policy has potential to target the small proportion of alcohol products available at very low prices (i.e., off-premise cask wine), with negligible impact on other off-premise beverage categories, and no impact on on-premises products., (© 2023 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

This paper investigates Samuelson's [Samuelson, P. A. 'Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization.' Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(3), 2004, 135-46] argument that technical progress of the trade partner may hurt the home country. We illustrate this prospect in a simple Ricardian model for situations with outward knowledge spillovers. Within this framework Samuelson's Act II effects may occur. Based on industry level panel data for 17 OECD countries for the period 1973-2000 we show econometrically that the outflow of domestic knowledge via exports or foreign direct investment (FDI) to the rest of the world may have a negative impact on industry output in the home country. This is particularly so when exporting to technologically less advanced countries and, more specifically, China. ( JEL F10, F11, F14, O30) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Business corporations' use of political donations to garner political influence is especially troubling in relation to products that damage human health. We sought to investigate patterns of donations to Australian political parties from tobacco, alcohol and gambling industry actors and the experiences of key informants., Design and Methods: We analysed public data on federal and state donations for 10 years to June 2015. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with current and former politicians, ex-political staffers and other key informants, concerning the role played by political donations of tobacco, alcohol and gambling companies in Australian politics. We examined temporal associations in donations data, and thematically analysed interviews., Results: Australian political parties declared donations of A$14 million (US$11 M) from tobacco ($1.9 M), alcohol ($7.7 M), gambling ($2.9 M) and supermarket ($1.7 M) entities, excluding donations below the $12 800 reporting threshold. Donations to the governing party increased substantially during debates about an alcohol tax and gambling law reform. Alcohol industry donations to major parties spiked ahead of elections. Interviewees identified the function of donations in terms of: (i) buying immediate influence; (ii) building long-term relationships; (iii) exploiting a flawed political system; and (iv) the need to look beyond donations, for example, to favour exchange; and the public's right to know about corporate influence on policy-makers., Discussion and Conclusions: The alcohol and gambling industries make substantial donations to influence particular decisions in the short term and build relationships over the long term. Banning corporate donations and publicly funding political parties warrant consideration to safeguard the integrity of public policy-making., (© 2018 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

This paper presents a generic formal framework to specify and test autonomous e-commerce agents. First, the formalism to represent the behaviour of agents is introduced. The corresponding machinery to define how implementations can be tested follows. Two testing approaches are considered. The first of them, which can be called active, is based on stimulating the implementation under test (IUT) with a test. The peculiarity is that tests will be defined as a special case of autonomous e-commerce agent. The second approach, which can be called passive, consists of observing the behaviour of the tested agent in an environment containing other agents. As a case study the framework is applied to the e-commerce system Kasbah. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first of two papers relating to the idea and theory of competitive advantage. In this paper, the principal task is to return to basics and reveal some of the intellectual foundations to the concept of competitive advantage. In particular it is shown that the theory of competition, which informs the development of industrial economics, and Porter's (1980, 1985) work on competitive advantage entails profound methodological problems that bring into doubt the validity and reliability of the theory itself. It is therefore argued that any theory that relies on competition theory, including the theory of competitive advantage, will inherit the flaws of its origins. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are some sectors more volatile than others? This paper uncovers evidence of an empirical regularity in the US economy: upstream sectors that are far removed from final consumers have higher levels of output volatility. The relationship between volatility and upstreamness is not driven by sector size, sector concentration, trade openness or the level of aggregation at which sectors are defined. Rather, the paper shows a stronger link between upstreamness and nominal output volatility, than with indexes of real output volatility. Aggregate exports at the national level also reflect the empirical regularity of higher volatility with upstreamness: Export volatility is higher in economies with trade portfolios dominated by upstream sectors. On average, reducing the upstreamness of exports by 1 also reduces aggregate export volatility by about 10%. The pattern of higher volatility for upstream sectors is explained with a model of demand shock transmission between sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper shows that an importing country can have an incentive to impose a tariff to extract rents earned by foreign exporters even in a perfectly competitive setting. To demonstrate this, I develop a new model of international trade that incorporates fixed costs of exporting and firm heterogeneity within a perfectly competitive framework. In this setting, despite the fact that there are no preexisting distortions, the optimal tariff is positive even for a small country with no world market power. In the limit, as either firm heterogeneity or the fixed costs of exporting vanish, the optimal tariff approaches zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to examine the threshold impact of financial development and trade liberalization on income inequality as a measure of sustainable development in a sample of developed and developing countries using panel threshold analysis. Two major dimensions of financial development are considered: liquid liabilities and stock market capitalization. The empirical results revealed that financial development reduces income inequality only in countries where their GDP per capita is above ~US$11,000. It has no significant impact in reducing inequality in developing countries. This implies that institutional reforms in less developed and developing countries are necessary in order to reap the gains from financial development. Trade liberalization is found to have a positive impact on income inequality for both country groups—that is, trade benefits have worsened the income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: This paper investigates what are referred to as ‘open information transactions’. Such transactions are in contrast to traditional transactions, where typically two parties to a transaction are the only ones with information about the transaction. For example, in a sale, the seller and the purchaser typically are the only ones with information about the transaction. However, some emerging technologies, such as blockchain accounting, supply chain social media, and hashtag commerce are making information about the transactions potentially openly available to others. This paper investigates some of the implications and strategies that include the use of that open information. For example, open information in accounting and supply chain transactions provides the potential for both business intelligence analysis of the information and possibly misleading and illusory transactions, analogous to those that have garnered the recent attention of the Justice Department in cryptocurrencies. Finally, this paper suggests that blockchain transaction processing will provide reliable information in those settings where there is a “single truth” feed of information flow for the phenomena of interest, no ability to do off‐blockchain transactions (or a large penalty cost) and limitation to a single identity for each enterprise on the blockchain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates whether an economy that lags behind in infrastructure compared with other countries can make up its shortfall when it competes for foreign direct investments. The main message of the paper is that jurisdictional competition can enable the lagging country to reduce the infrastructural gap if capital mobility is sufficiently high and the gap is not too large. Further, we show that size asymmetry reinforces (weakens) the effect in reducing the infrastructural disparity resulting from interjurisdictional competition when the lagging economy is small (large). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a distinguished career spanning more than four decades, Jagdish Bhagwati has made numerous contributions to both trade theory and trade policy analysis. The current paper focuses on Bhagwati's major contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding the influence of trade liberalisation upon economic development and its potential to alleviate poverty in the world's poorest economies. In order to highlight Bhagwati's contributions in these fields we focus on the arguments developed in two of his numerous landmark publications; first his seminal 1964 paper on the Pure Theory of International Trade and, second, his 2004 book entitled In Defense of Globalization. Although separated in time by some four decades we argue that these two publications, despite their very different characters, each demonstrate beyond doubt the significance of Bhagwati's work in improving our understanding of the true nature of international trade and its potential to address questions of global poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the writings of Peter Lloyd, one of Australia's best-known economists, who has been elected Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia. It notes the importance of his work, mostly done jointly with Herbert Grubel, on intra-industry trade, and his extensive contributions to trade theory. In addition there have been many papers on the global trading system and regionalism, and on the Australian and New Zealand economies. It describes his approach to economics and his many professional activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategic and structural development of the 100 largest Japanese manufacturing enterprises between 1950 and 1970. Unlike other studies of Japanese business, the author focuses not only on some of the key differences between Western and Japanese firms, such as the emergence of widely diversified industrial groups, but also on similarities. Using the model developed originally by Channon, the author traces the development of diversification in Japan and the emergence of the multinational forms of organization, which, as in the West, prove to be the major strategic and structural forms in Japan by 1970. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of product space has encountered broad interest within the development community, as an analytical tool against which to assess countries' potential to diversify their production and export structures. It has received far less attention in the economics literature, and its assumptions and building blocks have not been put under scrutiny. This paper assesses whether exclusive reliance on export data in product space analysis may limit its value as a tool assessing country capabilities. Reliance on net trade flows-to account for horizontal intra-industry trade-and on unit values-to capture within-product differentiation-changes the features of the product space. Based on a highly detailed data set of both trade value and volume and spanning over 144 countries, the amended product space put forth in this paper shows that China has indeed expanded its trade profile to now occupy also product areas that are typically associated with higher-income countries. However, China's remarkable success in expanding horizontally within the product space is strongly qualified by the introduction of the vertical dimension, which shows the country to be occupying mostly the low-unit value segment of product categories, more akin to the typical trade profile of a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the EMU effect on trade for the eleven early joiners and Greece relying for the first time on data that include both international and intra‐national trade flows, in line with all the microfoundations of the structural gravity model of trade. We find that the overall EMU impact on trade is positive between its members and, specially, for trade between members and non‐members. Interestingly, we further show that the effect of the EMU on bilateral trade remarkably differs across countries. For Ireland, Belgium–Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and Austria, we find robust evidence that EMU has boosted trade both with other members and with third countries, while for Finland, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, the results suggest that only trade with third countries has been enhanced by the EMU. Greece is the only country that shows a negative impact in trade with other EMU members and no effect in trade with non‐members. Finally, the results across countries according to the direction of the trade flows (exports versus imports) do not show significant differences in any case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of economic growth and trade openness on environment in 261 Chinese cities over the period of 2004–2013, using recently developed continuously updated fully modified method which allows for both cross‐sectional dependence and endogeneity. Two types of pollutants, industrial waste water and sulphur dioxide are investigated, and three measures of openness are employed in the regression. From the results, we find that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis holds not only for the whole China, but also in different regions. It is estimated that wastewater pollution increases with economic development until per capita GDP reaching the turning point of 42,991–48,828 yuan (in constant 2002 price), which varies depending on the specific measure of trade openness. The turning point for sulphur dioxide is found to occur at a much lower income level around 9,588–10,663 yuan per capita GDP. Furthermore, export is mostly found to be positively related with pollution and the impact of import is likely to be negative for both the whole China and across regions, if the significance is identified in the estimation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we first estimate the monthly realised correlation, based on daily data, between stock returns of the United States (US) and Bitcoin returns. Then, we relate the realised correlation over the period October 2011 to May 2019 with a news‐based measure of the growth of trade uncertainty of the US. Our results show that the realised correlation is negatively impacted by increases in trade uncertainty, which continues to hold under alternative robustness checks, suggesting that Bitcoin can act as a hedge relative to the conventional stock market in the wake of heightened trade policy‐related uncertainties, and provide diversification benefits for investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the influence of Nontariff Measures (NTMs) on market expansion of exporters using the Chinese custom database during 2003–2011. Besides confirming the negative effect of prior export activity and positive effect of neighboring spillovers, this paper finds robust negative effects of NTMs on entry of new markets at the firm‐market level. The empirical results show that a trade deflection effect exists at the microscale and prefers the markets with lower degree of NTMs. Furthermore, exporters with fewer trade links or in processing trade seem lacking in ability to channel new markets under the pressure of NTMs in their existing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how national corporate tax policy affects productivity growth through adjustments in geographic patterns of industry in a two‐country model of trade. With trade costs and imperfect knowledge spillovers between countries, production concentrates partially and innovation concentrates fully in the country with the lowest tax rate. A rise in the international corporate tax differential accelerates productivity growth through an increase in the production share of the low‐tax country that improves knowledge spillovers from industry to innovation. The paper also investigates the relationship between the corporate tax differential and the level of market entry, and analytically characterizes the effects of changes in tax policy on national welfare. (JEL F43, O30, O40, R12) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores how trade affects innovation in a two‐country, two‐good, two‐factor Heckscher–Ohlin model with heterogeneous firms. Trade openness induces an increase in process innovation in both industries. The increase is stronger in the comparative advantage industry. Trade openness boosts prospective entrants' profits in that industry, which leads to further increases in product innovation. Trade liberalization generates a different relative impact on innovation across industries, depending on trade costs. When they are high (low), it increases process innovation relatively more in the comparative advantage (disadvantage) industry, leading to TFP divergence (convergence) across industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A currency carry trade is an investment strategy broadly used by speculators in which the investor sells low interest rate currencies (funding currencies) and uses the funds to invest in high interest rate currencies (target currencies). This paper analyzes if the carry-to-risk-ratio estimated as the risk-adjusted interest rate differential between Colombia and the United States is an appropriate indicator to identify opportunities in which carry trade strategies are more attractive to investors. The paper also studies if carry trades may cause large corrections in the Colombian peso/dollar exchange rate known in the literature as currency crash risk. The evidence indicates that the Colombian peso was attractive for carry trade in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2012. Results from a vector autoregressive model also suggest that shocks to carry trade incentives may produce episodes of exchange rate turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of books, including "Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development," "For Space," by Doreen Massey, and "Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government," by Robert H. Nelson.

This paper offers both a theoretical framework and empirical evidence on the role that the two gravity forces, namely market size and geographical distance, have indirectly through imports, on firms' exports patterns. The model shows that sourcing from bigger and closer markets implies higher productivity gains that, in turn, increase firms' ability to enter export market as well as their export value. Exploiting data on product‐ and destination‐level transactions of a large panel of Italian firms, the paper shows that, on average, the indirect effects of the gravity forces are about one third of their direct effects. Résumé.: Rôle des forces de gravité sur le commerce des entreprises. Cet article offre à la fois un cadre théorique et des preuves empiriques sur le rôle que deux forces de gravité, à savoir la taille du marché et l'éloignement géographique, peuvent indirectement exercer sur les profils d'exportation des entreprise en fonction de leurs importations. Ce modèle montre que l'approvisionnement sur des marchés plus vastes et plus proches engendre de meilleurs gains de productivité, augmentant ainsi la capacité des entreprises à intégrer le marché d'exportation ainsi que la valeur de leurs exportations. En s'appuyant sur des données provenant d'un large panel d'entreprises italiennes et relatives aux transactions par type de produit et par destination, cet article montre qu'en moyenne, les effets indirects des forces de gravité représentent environ un tiers de leurs effets directs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two objectives (a) to introduce border policy‐induced barriers (PIBs) to services trade and (b) analyse the impact of border PIBs in services sectors on goods trade. The World Input‐Output Database covering 43 countries is used over the period 2000–14. A three‐stage analysis is employed. The measures of bilateral services trade barriers calculated in each services sector in the first stage are decomposed into its cultural/geographic and policy‐induced parts in the second stage. Border PIBs to services trade are used in the structural gravity estimations of bilateral goods trade in the final stage. The results demonstrate significant and robust adverse effects of barriers to services trade on goods trade. When the level of development is taken into consideration, there are marked differences in the impact of these barriers on goods trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a two‐country, two‐good model of international trade, we examine gains from trade and strategic interaction in resource management among countries that share renewable resources such as fishery stocks. Two goods are a resource good, which is the harvest of the shared stock, and some other good that may be thought of as manufactures. The productivity of the resource good depends on harvesting technology and the stock level. This paper focuses on technology standards (e.g., restrictions on fishing gears, vessels, areas, and time) over other methods for resource management because they are most commonly implemented in fisheries. Technology standards are modeled as a restriction on the harvesting technology; that is, under strict technology standards, firms exploit resources as if they are using inferior harvesting technology. We show that an opening up of trade may reduce the shared stock and cause steady‐state utility to decrease in a resource‐good importing country and increase in a resource‐good exporting country. Strikingly, when the shared stock is in jeopardy (a high demand for the harvest), steady‐state harvest is maximized after an opening up of trade by what we call multilateral resource management in this paper and both countries gain from trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use firm‐level data on the universe of Italian manufacturing multi‐product exporters to test whether demand shocks in export markets lead multi‐product exporters to increase their productivity. The main mechanism behind the documented productivity gains is the reallocation of resources across products within firms (American Economic Review, 104, 2014 and 495; National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series No. 22433, 2016). Intuitively, the increased demand stemming from foreign markets will induce firms to adjust their product mix by moving inputs from low to high productive/profitable uses. We find that these productivity gains are significant and can explain between 1/10 and 1/2 of aggregate productivity growth in the manufacturing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on twenty‐first‐century‐trade governance patterns within the Commonwealth (CW) countries. It uses an augmented gravity model to examine the role of governance in influencing trade and investment flows, and whether enhanced trade governance within the CW countries could potentially foster trade gains, on a both intra‐ and extra‐CW basis. Results show a 10% reduction in the costs incurred for a good to exit a country can increase intra‐CW exports by 5%. Second, contract enforcement is more efficient among CW members, and requires 20% less time compared to the world average. Third, every 1 percentage point improvement in government effectiveness triggers an increase in exports from CW, at 3.4%, compared to the rest of the world, at 2.4%. Finally, trade between CW members is three times higher when they belong to an existing regional trade agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses transaction data to examine hedging efficiency in a new futures exchange; the Fish Pool salmon futures exchange in Norway. The paper utilizes data on firm‐level exporter/importer transaction prices to quantify firm‐level futures hedging efficiency. This allows us to address heterogeneity in hedging efficiency and basis risk at the firm level. The main result of this paper shows that larger firms with greater trade partner diversification have lower basis risk. Such firms align their internal transaction price closer to the common spot price in the market, which encourages greater futures market participation. Results are discussed in light of recent declines in participation in the salmon futures exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Analyses of the flow of trade are based on three traditional trends, each of which focuses on one component of movement: commodity, infrastructures and actors. Based on these three models' limitations and the use of qualitative economic geography and ethnography, this paper enriches our understanding of the flows of cross‐border trade, crossing of bodies of literature and theories. It offers a description of commercial traffic in the Central African Copperbelt and calls for a better comprehension of the specific conditions for executing commercial movements, where infrastructures, commodities and actors influence each other to allow the movement of things. Analysing commercial movements in the Zambian Copperbelt proves difficult with the existing theoretical framework. This paper provides an ethnographic study of cross‐border commercial circulations in order to enrich our understanding of commercial flows in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of input trade liberalisation on firm markups and assesses how institutional environment affects such impacts by using Chinese firm‐level data. To identify the causal effects, we exploit the quasi‐natural experiment of China's WTO accession in 2001 and perform difference‐in‐differences estimation. The results show that input tariff liberalisation leads to a substantial increase in firm markups, and institutional environment significantly strengthens such an impact. We further uncover the underlying mechanisms through which input tariff liberalisation boosts firm markups, and show that both price and cost channels work for the input tariff cut effect on firm markups, of which the latter is much more important. In addition, we also demonstrate that input tariff cut significantly fosters aggregate markup growth, and the reallocation effect is found to be an important channel through which input tariff liberalisation boosts aggregate markup growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the issue of trade creation effects in multi‐stage free trade agreements (FTA). In contrast to the empirical studies that use the gravity equation to study trade creation effects, we apply a triple difference in differences approach to resolve their shortcomings, including factors being omitted and endogeneity. After the identification of treatment and control groups at the eight‐digit Harmonized System (HS) code product level, the regression analysis results show that there are no significant trade creation effects with the FTA, suggesting that the role of FTA may be a signalling beyond trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological advancements and reductions in trade tariffs have made it increasingly profitable for firms to separate their production into individual tasks, creating global value chains (GVCs). The theoretical literature on the distributional effects of GVCs is large, but ambiguous. Since the early conception of Jones' general equilibrium model in 1965, there seems to have been a tendency to repackage (part of) this model, generating apparent conflicts and implicit overlaps. This paper goes back to the basics by using the dual nature of the production model in Jones to provide a geometric exposition of the main channels by which GVCs can affect the relative demand for skilled labour. The explanatory power of this figure is vast. First, it can synthesize the ambiguous literature in a coherent and intuitive framework and show how subtle modelling differences can have widespread effects on key predictions. Second, it can serve as a conceptual framework and as a guide to empirical analysis. Third, it can be used as an illustration of key models explaining global value chains. Ultimately, the proposed figure can be used as a pedagogical tool for policy makers and (under)graduate students alike, without the need to understand complex algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines competition in the print newspaper advertising market in New Zealand, which involves paid daily and free weekly titles. This is the first study to explore how different ownership structures across two newspaper segments affect the competitive forces in local geographic markets. We do so by constructing an original dataset of advertising rates. Our analysis has particular relevance in light of the Commerce Commission's recent rejection of the proposed NZME–Fairfax merger, and Fairfax's subsequent closure of 15 newspaper titles. We find strong evidence for competition between overlapping free weekly suburban titles. It is associated with an 11 per cent decrease in the tabloid full‐page display advertising rate. We also find evidence of joint profit maximisation between co‐owned free weeklies and paid dailies. Our results support the Commission's decision and crucially imply that small and large display advertisements in free weekly titles constitute two separate markets with different clients. The large display ad market also includes advertising in paid daily titles. This market is competitive and would probably have suffered had the merger been permitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper aimed to assess purchasing and drinking behaviour during the first COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in New Zealand., Method: A convenience sample was collected via Facebook from 2173 New Zealanders 18+ years during pandemic restrictions April/May 2020. Measures included: the quantity typically consumed during a drinking occasion and heavier drinking (6+ drinks on a typical occasion) in the past week; place of purchase including online alcohol delivery. Descriptive statistics were generated, logistic and linear regression models predicted heavier drinking and typical occasion quantity, respectively. Weighting was not applied., Results: During pandemic restrictions, around 75% of respondents purchased from supermarkets, 40% used online alcohol delivery services (18% for the first time during COVID-19). Purchasing online alcohol delivery during pandemic restrictions was associated with heavier drinking (75% higher odds) in the past week, while purchasing from supermarkets was not. About 58% of online purchasers under 25 reported no age checks. Sixteen percent of those purchasing online repeat ordered online to keep drinking after running out. Of respondents who had tried to buy alcohol and food online, 56% reported that alcohol was easier to get delivered than fresh food. Advertising for online alcohol delivery was seen by around 75% of the sample. Half of the sample reported drinking more alcohol during the restrictions., Discussion and Conclusions: Online alcohol delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions was associated with heavier drinking in the past week. The rapid expansion of online alcohol delivery coupled with a lack of regulatory control requires public health policy attention., (© 2020 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

This paper is designed to help both the beneficiary governments and donors of aid for trade identify countries that are under-performing in trade and which are receiving less aid for trade than their global performance might otherwise suggest is necessary. Building on previous work, it provides a procedure to assess potential need for spurring trade volume, and then looks at country allocations of aid for trade to see which are receiving below-average amounts in the supply of aid for trade - relative to their potential needs. Countries, as they design national development strategies, may wish to consider giving greater attention to trade and requesting that donors allocate to them more aid for trade. As part of the analysis, the paper provides a conceptual framework for selecting indicators of trade performance and its policy determinants that the WTO and its partners might monitor closely as part of the aid for trade initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how a reduction in trade costs influences the possibility for firms to engage in international cartels, and hence how trade liberalization affects the degree of competition. We consider a particular intra-industry trade model amended to allow for firms producing differentiated products. Our main finding is that trade liberalization may have an anti-competitive effect. We find that there is no unique relation between a reduction in trade costs and the degree of competition. When products are differentiated, a lowering of trade costs is pro-competitive if trade costs are initially high, but anti-competitive if trade costs initially are low. Hence, trade policy is not necessarily a substitute for competition policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended as a guide for policymakers considering new regional trade agreements. The data provided here show that only about a quarter of imports are potentially subject to trade diversion from new agreements (i.e. they come from countries outside of regional trading blocs and in industries with positive most-favored nation tariffs). Since this percentage is steadily declining with the increasing number of regional trade agreements and the falling level of tariffs, trade diversion is becoming increasingly irrelevant as a concern for new trade deals. The paper also estimates how each potential new bilateral free trade agreement would affect a country's imports and exports, as well as whether the increased imports would replace domestic production, imports from other RTA partners, or imports from non-RTA partners. In this way, the estimates are able to shed light on which countries make the best partners for new regional trade agreements. Finally, the paper provides estimates of the trade effects for two large potential new regional agreements: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to a recent policy discussion regarding the costs and benefits of setting up a centralized electronic trading platform to replace over‐the‐counter (OTC) markets. We modify the Lagos and Rocheteau (2009, henceforth LR) asset trading model by replacing their investor‐dealer random matching and bilateral trade with a centralized competitive market that opens periodically. This arrangement preserves the main tension and trade‐off in LR. We then analyse and quantify when to introduce a centralized market and how frequently it should open in order to make it as efficiently as the decentralized OTC market in LR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel dataset of 105 developing countries for the period 2003–15, this paper assesses the effects of Aid for Trade (AfT) on greenfield FDI flows to the aid‐recipient countries. Particularly, this paper classifies the total dollar value of greenfield FDI flows to each recipient country in terms of four different layers: the extensive and intensive margins of projects as well as the extensive and intensive margins of source countries. Applying the system GMM estimator, this paper finds that AfT not only increases the dollar value of FDI flows to the recipient countries but also helps diversify the greenfield projects and source countries. In addition, this paper finds that AfT has a greater effect for greenfield FDI from donor (developed) countries than from non‐donor (developing) countries. Among the three components of AfT, aid for trade‐related infrastructure and aid for trade policy regulations are found to have positive links with greenfield FDI, irrespective of source‐country groups, yet their effects are larger for developed source countries. In contrast, aid for building productive capacity hinders greenfield FDI flows from non‐donor countries, while it promotes greenfield FDI from donor countries. We offer some explanations for this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Recent theoretical models have suggested that the relationship between competition and innovation may best be characterised as an inverted‐U shape: firms in industries with low levels of competition are more likely to innovate in the wake of increased competition as they attempt to escape competition, while those in highly competitive industries will decrease innovation in the wake of increased competition as the profit incentive to innovate dissipates. Results from other studies have found positive as well as negative relationships between innovation and competition. In a parallel literature, trade economists have produced conflicting results regarding the impact of trade liberalisation on innovation. One stream of research has shown that increased access to imported intermediate goods increases productivity, suggesting a positive relationship between imports and innovation. Others have hypothesised that firms may use the technology embodied in intermediate inputs as a substitute for domestic innovation. In this paper, we merge these divergent literatures and investigate whether innovation, as measured by the production of patents by US manufacturers, has been impacted by market competition and tariff reductions. Our empirical findings indicate that insulation from imports in the form of higher tariffs on final goods was associated with innovation until the late 1980s, while falling tariffs on intermediate goods appear to have facilitated innovation during the 1990s. We also find evidence of the inverted U‐shaped relationship between market competition and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates two policies geared towards stimulating and shaping global value chains (GVCs), namely deep regional trade agreements (DRTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs). In an augmented gravity model, we test the impact of both policies on a variety of trade in value added indicators. We find that both policies are likely to increase GVC trade, although their transmission channels differ. While backward linkages are stimulated through both BITs and DRTAs, forward linkages respond only to DRTAs. The estimates suggest that negotiating a DRTA with investment provisions has a higher impact on trade in value added than signing a shallow RTA and a separate BIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current biomass production and trade volumes for energy and new materials and bio‐chemicals are only a small fraction to achieve the bioenergy levels suggested by many global energy and climate change mitigation scenarios for 2050. However, comprehensive sustainability of large scale biomass production and trading has yet to be secured, and governance of developing biomass markets is a critical issue. Fundamental choices need to be made on how to develop sustainable biomass supply chains and govern sustainable international biomass markets. The aim of this paper is to provide a vision of how widespread trade and deployment of biomass for energy purposes can be integrated with the wider (bio)economy. It provides an overview of past and current trade flows of the main bioenergy products, and discusses the most important drivers and barriers for bioenergy in general, and more specifically the further development of bioenergy trade over the coming years. It discusses the role of bioenergy as part of the bioeconomy and other potential roles; and how it can help to achieve the sustainable development goals. The paper concludes that it is critical to demonstrate innovative and integrated value chains for biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower that can respond with agility to market factors while providing economic, environmental, and societal benefits to international trade and market. Furthermore, flexible biogenic carbon supply nets based on broad feedstock portfolios and multiple energy and material utilization pathways will reduce risks for involved stakeholder and foster the market entry and uptake of various densified biogenic carbon carriers. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aid‐for‐Trade (AfT) Initiative was launched by the Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a view to helping developing countries and the least‐developed countries (LDCs) expand their trade. The current paper contributes to the literature on AfT effectiveness by examining how AfT affects recipient‐countries' export product diversification. The analysis has been carried out on a sample of 104 AfT recipient‐countries over the period 2002–2015 and uses the two‐step system generalised methods of moments (GMM) approach. Results show that AfT flows are conducive to export product diversification in recipient‐countries. In addition, the analysis has shown a positive impact of the cumulative AfT flows on the export product diversification path of these countries. These results apply as well to the subsamples of LDCs and other developing countries. One policy implication of these results is that a scale‐up of AfT would help recipient‐countries to diversify their export products baskets and hence facilitate their greater integration into the global trading system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situations where firms compete against each other simultaneously in several markets abound in real life. However, there is very little conceptual or theoretical literature on multiple point competition. This paper offers a first attempt at developing a conceptual framework for analysing and understanding situations involving multiple point competition. Several examples are discussed to provide insights into the options available to the competitors and the equilibrium outcomes of such competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: Restrictions introduced to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have had major impacts on the living circumstances of Australians. This paper aims to provide insight into shifts in alcohol consumption and associated factors during the epidemic., Design and Methods: A cross-sectional convenience sample of 2307 Australians aged 18 and over who drank at least monthly was recruited through social media. Respondents were asked about their alcohol consumption and purchasing in 2019 prior to the epidemic plus similar questions about their experiences in the month prior to being surveyed between 29 April and 16 May 2020., Results: Reports of average consumption before (3.53 drinks per day [3.36, 3.71 95% confidence interval]) and during (3.52 [3.34, 3.69]) the pandemic were stable. However, young men and those who drank more outside the home in 2019 reported decreased consumption during the pandemic, and people with high levels of stress and those who bulk-bought alcohol when restrictions were announced reported an increase in consumption relative to those who did not., Discussion and Conclusions: A reported increase in consumption among those experiencing more stress suggests that some people may have been drinking to cope during the epidemic. Conversely, the reported decrease in consumption among those who drank more outside of their home in 2019 suggests that closing all on-trade sales did not result in complete substitution of on-premise drinking with home drinking in this group. Monitoring of relevant subgroups to assess long-term changes in consumption in the aftermath of the epidemic is recommended., (© 2020 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Introduction and Aims: Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for death and disability, responsible for 3 million deaths in 2016. The alcohol industry is a powerful player in shaping trade and investment rules in ways that can constrain the ability of governments to regulate alcoholic beverages to reduce harm. This paper analyses publicly available submissions about alcohol in the context of Australia's free trade agreements to determine the key themes put forward by industry., Design and Methods: We searched for submissions made to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by alcohol industry trade associations, alcohol manufacturers, distributors and retailers, general industry association, and government agencies with responsibilities for alcohol trade, about specific free trade agreements involving Australia. Thirty-one submissions in relation to eight trade agreements were included for analysis. The analysis involved both descriptive content analysis and thematic analysis., Results: Findings suggest that industry is actively seeking to shape trade negotiations around alcohol. Priority issues for the industry include improving market access, harmonising regulation, improving clarity and transparency, reducing the burden of regulation and preventing monopolies on product names., Discussion and Conclusion: The alcohol industry and associated business and government organisations are actively working to influence trade agreement negotiations for industry economic gain, arguing for rules which may undermine public health goals. The analysis suggests that public health experts should pay attention to trade and investment agreements and develop counter frames to ensure agreements do not create barriers for coherent health policies., (© 2020 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)