Search

Lists papers of selected institutes concerning economic conditions in the Pacific region published in the November 1998 issue of the periodical 'Asian-Pacific Economic Literature.' Challenges for Asia's trade and environment; Aspects of urban water and sanitation in the context of rapid urbanization in developing Asia; Agricultural price policy in Asia and the Pacific.

In Australia, tariffs and bounties form the major instruments of protection of manufacturing industries (IAC 1985). In the recent past, both tariffs and bounties were applied to the printing and writing paper industry. Recently, the bounties have been withdrawn. The main objective of the present study is to identify and quantify the factors which influence the size and growth of imports of printing and writing paper in the short run. More specifically, the factors determining the short run demand for and supply of printing and writing papers are considered, with emphasis on the relationship between domestic supply and imports. Domestic production of printing and writing paper is dominated by one producer, Associated Pulp and Paper Mills (APPM). However, two other local producers, who previously specialised in other types of paper, have recently increased their production of printing and writing paper as a result of the favourable outlook for these types of paper. Imports are a major competitive force in this market. The domestic market share of the printing and writing paper segment held by local producers was 58 per cent in 1975-76 and 50 per cent in 1984-85, but was as low as 58 per cent in 1981-82. Some of the imports, however, face no competition from domestic products. The identification of products which can and cannot be directly substituted for domestically produced papers is a difficult task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper examines two hypotheses about the effects of UN sanctions on trade flows between land neighbours of the target country and the rest of the world. First, there have been claims that sanctions hurt neighbour countries by cutting off trading routes, increasing transportation costs and disrupting established trading ties. We would expect that a neighbour's trade with the rest of the world would fall, as a result. Second, there is extensive evidence that neighbours have been involved in smuggling. Consequently, neighbours should trade more with the rest of the world during UN trade embargoes, because now they also trade on behalf of the target. I employ the gravity model of international trade to show that, overall, a neighbour's trade with the rest of the world tends to fall during UN sanctions episodes. This confirms the first hypothesis above: on a net basis, land neighbours have been ‘innocent bystanders’ hit by UN sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the main consequences and lessons of the WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services for economic reforms in developing countries. Our analysis emphasizes that the Agreement changed market and policy expectations about the supply, pricing, and demand growth of communications services. We show that WTO-enforced regulatory code in telecommunications (the ‘Reference Paper’) has considerably lowered the risks for domestic and foreign investors. One of the main conclusions of the paper is that an enforceable regulatory code can be an important tool for developing countries when reconciling the needs for policy consistency and flexibility during the introduction of competition in telecommunications. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper empirically investigates the short and long‐run causal relationship between foreign direct investments, credit to the private sector, trade openness, gross national expenditure and economic growth in Namibia. In doing this, the paper employs multivariate Granger‐causality within an Auto‐regression distributed lag‐bounds approach to co‐integration and unrestricted error correction model. The paper finds a strong bi‐directional causal relationship between FDI inflow and economic growth both in the short and the long run. Suggesting that FDI inflow spurs economic growth and economic growth promotes FDI inflow and also, FDI inflow, credit to the private international trade and national expenditure spur economic growth both in the short and the long runs in Namibia. The policy implication therefore is to provide incentives for private sector innovation and production away from the export and import sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In traditional trade models, whether based on technological differences or on relative factor endowments, merchandise composition and directions of trade are derived from closed-economy conditions. But nowadays one of the basic assumptions of traditional trade models, i.e. that production processes are integrated within just one country, is being increasingly violated as previously integrated productive activities are segmented and spread over an international network of production sites: as a result, an increasingly large share of trade flows is made up of intermediate and unfinished goods being transferred from one country to another in order to be processed. In this paper we submit that such new configuration of production processes has important effects on at least three dimensions of economic research. First, we show that international disintegration of production processes leads to a lessening of the power of comparative advantages when it comes to explaining both merchandise composition and directions of trade, while it is the concept of absolute advantage to become increasingly relevant; second, we show that empirical measures of revealed comparative advantages are inherently misleading if they do not account for differences in the stage-of-processing of traded goods; third, we estimate a simple model of aggregate demand accounting for international trade in intermediates: results of estimation lend support to our prior that participation of a country in the process of international fragmentation of production plays a specific and significant role in determining its year-over-year change in GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of externally funded trade policy reforms on firm productivity by combining data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative and World Bank Enterprise Surveys. By specifying baseline and end‐line surveys based on the 2006 to 2020 World Bank Enterprise Surveys, we find that 70 of 83 countries received external funds for trade policy reforms, and primarily use records based on 45,886 firms with data on productivity across these countries. Applying difference‐in‐differences and triple‐difference techniques, this paper finds that the impact of externally funded trade policy reforms is significant, accounting for 12% of firms' average productivity growth in the recipient countries relative to firms in non‐recipient countries. We also show that externally funded trade policy reforms improve firms' international‐trade‐climate in the recipient countries by 0.17 standard deviations, which translates into a 27% increase in the average productivity of firms with a good international‐trade‐climate in recipient countries over that of firms in non‐recipient countries and firms with poor international trade climate in recipient countries. These results suggest that interventions should focus on financing trade policy reforms that are more likely to improve the international‐trade‐climate of firms in the recipient countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of globalization economy, countries in the world are more and more closely connected in business, and international import and export trade has also achieved rapid development. Based on the analysis of the status quo of the country's import and export trade, this article combines the main national economic indicators to analyze and study the algorithm of import and export trade forecasting. RVM is a sparse probability model and a new supervised learning method. Firstly, this paper introduces the protection system of block chain technology for import and export trade data information. Then, a hybrid RVM model is constructed, which is optimized by PSO algorithm, and the import and export volume is predicted based on this model. Based on the analysis of the data, it is tested that the security protection coefficient of the blockchain security technology for import and export trade data can reach up to 99.9%, and the accuracy of the import and export trade forecast based on the PSO optimized hybrid RVM model can reach up to 85.79%. A series of experiments show that the import and export trade forecast model studied in this paper can accurately predict the volume of import and export trade, thus providing a new method for the country's import and export trade, with high practical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the rapid expansion of international trade after China's WTO entry in 2001 promotes the spread of severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS) in 2003. Examining the relationship is helpful to distinguish the hidden costs of trade openness. This paper uses Frankel and Romer (1999, The American Economic Review, 89, 379) framework to construct the geography‐based instruments by applying province‐country gravity relation for causal identification. Utilising cross‐section data of SARS cases of 31 provinces in China, our two‐stage least squares regression results show that international trade accelerates the spread of SARS. Cross‐country evidence also suggests the causal relation. In addition, we find that the people's inter‐provincial mobility driven by trade expansion drives the spread of epidemic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of an industrial policy in China named the VAT export tax on product upgrading. In particular, we use Chinese transaction data during 2003–2010 to isolate the causal impact of the exogenous variation of VAT refund and within the city‐product quality change in HS6 exported products. Our identification strategy entails the utilization of duality of the Chinese trade system to isolate the impact of the rebate by comparing a group of trade flows exempt from the refund and another that remains eligible. Our results suggest an increase in product upgrading in response to an increase in VAT refund. In this study, we also introduce the credit constraint to understand the change in quality. The industries that are confronted with tighter credit constraints impel firms to settle for low‐quality products. The model demonstrates that VAT refund provided a counterbalance force to credit constraints, thereby prompting firms to adjust quality. By increasing the refund granted to ordinary traders, firms leverage this excess cash flow to invest (in a fixed asset or innovative project) and improve the quality of products. This effect is reinforced for products exported to developed countries, heterogeneous products, or from larger industries. The Chinese policymakers formally introduced environmental objectives under the 10th and 11th FYP, respectively. The Party leaders put substantial weight on promoting products embedded with high‐added value or technological content. At the same time, they underscored the willingness to downscale the export share of energy‐intensive or polluting industries. We evaluate whether environmental and economic concern impacts product upgrading. According to the results of this study, the VAT refund is effective only for products produced in "cleaner" industries, for products necessitating technical skills, a range of know‐how in manufacturing, and high‐level technology or engaging in research and development activities. Our paper introduces a new and unexplored variable in the trade literature. We use the stock of non‐trade barriers to explicate the change in product quality. In the import market, Chinese exporters comply with the change in regulation by making upward adjustments in the quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a general equilibrium model in a world with two‐symmetric countries. It explains welfare gains from international trade and horizontal Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the economy with firm heterogeneity and variable markups stemming from oligopolistic competition. My model shows that the pro‐competitive effects of trade and horizontal FDI happen because trade openness induces an increase in product market competition that reduces markups and toughens selection, increasing aggregate productivity. The most significant contribution of the paper is that multinational firms, via horizontal FDI, produce the most significant welfare gains through the toughest selection and lowest markups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper assesses the ex‐post trade effect of sub‐regional trade agreements (RTAs), financial integration and other non‐tariff barriers on intra‐regional trade involving 43 Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. The objective is to find out if RTAs within SSA had increased trade flows to inform current efforts of establishing a successful continental free trade area in SSA. Estimating a gravity model augmented with measures of trade agreements and financial integration, the paper made use of bilateral trade flows and key gravity covariates from CEPII database over the period 1960–2015. After controlling for the endogeneity of the trade agreement dummy, multilateral price resistance and zero‐valued trade flows, we find RTAs within SSA and especially among Economic Community of West African States and Southern Africa Development Community members to have had a positive and significant impact on bilateral trade. Financially integrated trading partners also traded more, while we also found distance, landlockedness, common currency and colonial link to have an impact on trade costs and bilateral trade flows within SSA. The results indicate the need to focus on policies to expand and integrate regional markets in SSA by removing impediments to trade and improving on trade facilitation measures to significantly improve trade performance under the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an ex‐post impact assessment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on international grain and oilseed trade. We use a commodity‐level empirical model to assess the counterfactual trade effects and evaluate the region‐specific global trade reallocation effects. We find that grain and oilseed imports from Ukraine were 78.2% below the counterfactual between February and July 2022. The Russia–Ukraine war caused substantial trade diversion, mainly benefiting countries in North America and Europe. The adjustment of global grain and oilseed trade operates primarily through price adjustments, with considerable heterogeneity across commodity groups. Our ex‐ante analysis demonstrates that the Ukraine–Russia war had substantial trade implications for the directly involved countries but only limited ones for the global grain and oilseed markets in terms of traded quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the potential implications of the implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement for Ghana in terms of trade, welfare and revenue effects. By applying the WITS‐SMART simulation model on 2018 disaggregated international trade data, the paper finds that total trade effects in Ghana are likely to surge by US$ 148.3 million while promoting consumers' welfare by US$ 8.597 million. However, revenue losses are imminent as the country might experience a drop in tariff revenue of US$ 8.604 million. Overall, the free trade area is expected to improve on the country's trade balance as exports are envisaged to outweigh imports. In order to mitigate the revenue losses, the paper recommends that the country keep substantial portion of tariff lines for sensitive and excluded products over a longer period during the liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the dynamics of trade induced income convergence depend on the nature of bilateral trade between nations. To justify this argument, the paper presents a comprehensive approach that explicitly accounts for trade among OECD countries (north–north trade), trade between OECD and SSA countries (north–south trade) and trade among SSA countries (south–south trade). The approach also allows for the identification of the direct and indirect effects of bilateral trade on income convergence. The results show that bilateral trade among OECD countries accelerates income convergence both directly and indirectly. This result appears to be consistent with the new trade theories by Krugman, Journal of International Economics, 1979, 9, 469–479; Krugman, American Economic Review, 1980, 70, 950–959. and the intuitions of Heckscher, The effect of foreign trade on the distribution of income 1919, 1950, 1–32 and Ohlin, Interregional and international trade, 1933. The trade‐convergence relationship for OECD to SSA trade is the strongest both directly and indirectly. This is the empirical evidence that the nature of this bilateral trade, promotes one directional knowledge spillover from developed to developing countries, which enables developing countries to adopt new technologies and grow faster than their rich counterparts. However, bilateral trade among SSA countries does not have any significant effect on income convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade in commercial services is large and is growing as fast as merchandise trade. The liberalization of service sector activity, often characterized hitherto by incumbent monopolies, can produce major welfare gains. Reaching multilateral agreement in liberalizing services runs into problems of definition and quantification. The General Agreement on Trade in Services, though complex and partial in its coverage, has highlighted the importance of multilateral commitment in the pursuit of domestic reform. The agreement on basic telecommunications in particular has had a catalytic effect on domestic policy. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐native plant pests and pathogens threaten biodiversity, ecosystem function, food security, and economic livelihoods. As new invasive populations establish, often as an unintended consequence of international trade, they can become additional sources of introductions, accelerating global spread through bridgehead effects. While the study of non‐native pest spread has used computational models to provide insights into drivers and dynamics of biological invasions and inform management, efforts have focused on local or regional scales and are challenged by complex transmission networks arising from bridgehead population establishment. This paper presents a flexible spatiotemporal stochastic network model called PoPS (Pest or Pathogen Spread) Global that couples international trade networks with core drivers of biological invasions—climate suitability, host availability, and propagule pressure—quantified through open, globally available databases to forecast the spread of non‐native plant pests. The modular design of the framework makes it adaptable for various pests capable of dispersing via human‐mediated pathways, supports proactive responses to emerging pests when limited data are available, and enables forecasts at different spatial and temporal resolutions. We demonstrate the framework using a case study of the invasive planthopper spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). The model was calibrated with historical, known spotted lanternfly introductions to identify potential bridgehead populations that may contribute to global spread. This global view of phytosanitary pandemics provides crucial information for anticipating biological invasions, quantifying transport pathways risk levels, and allocating resources to safeguard plant health, agriculture, and natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers alternative measures of a country's trading gains, i.e., the extra income that it earns (or loses) as the result of changes in the relative prices relevant for international trade, and which makes up the difference between real gross domestic product (GDP) and real gross domestic income (GDI). Looking at both the Laspeyres and the Törnqvist aggregation, we show that the trading gains really consist of two components, a terms‐of‐trade effect and a real‐exchange‐rate effect. Nearly all national statistical agencies, receiving no firm guidance from international organizations in this matter, merely consider the first effect, which suggests that the so‐called trading‐gain estimates they publish are incomplete and misnamed. Even more seriously, it implies that the corresponding measures of real GDI they derive are conceptually flawed. A straightforward way to circumvent these difficulties is to use the gross domestic final expenditure price index as deflator when computing real GDI and the trading gains. Some numerical estimates for Australia are provided as an illustration. The paper also identifies the underlying linear and Translog real GDI functions for which the Laspeyres and Törnqvist terms‐of‐trade and real‐exchange‐rate effects are exact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gravity equation is the workhorse model of trade. Despite solid theoretical foundations and clear gains from theory‐consistent policy analysis, there are still gaps between gravity theory and empirics. This paper focuses on domestic trade flows, and I argue that there are significant benefits from adhering to theory by estimating gravity equations with domestic (in addition to international) trade flows. I review the related literature and synthesize 15 arguments for using domestic trade flows in gravity estimations. The analysis reveals the need for further theory contributions and new data developments, and points to opportunities for more policy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, increased availability of services trade data and measures of non‐tariff barriers has enabled more detailed analysis of trade patterns, including the relationship between different modes of service delivery across international borders. This paper uses a detailed, sector‐level structural gravity model to shed light on the question of whether services trade via foreign affiliate sales (also known as mode 3 trade) is a complement or substitute for cross‐border services trade (modes 1, 2, and 4) in 13 services sectors. In 9 of the 13 sectors considered, there is a negative and significant relationship between trade policies that limit foreign affiliate sales and cross‐border trade, indicating a complementary relationship between the two types of trade flows. This suggests that when services firms export, they rely on multiple modes of supply to deliver their products, considering factors such as the degree of service tradability over the internet, levels of customer interaction, and complexity of particular tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first to analyse the impact of free trade agreements (FTAs) and the harmonisation of rules of origin (RoO) on Middle East and North African (MENA) countries' exports differentiating between final and intermediate goods for a global sample of trade partners. Data on exports from four MENA countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) to 61 destinations over the period 1995–2016 are used to estimate a structural gravity model applying a Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator. Moreover, the paper estimates the effect of the progressive adoption of the Pan‐European‐Mediterranean RoO. Results show that FTAs have been overall successful in increasing MENA exports. This is particularly true for FTAs that eliminate protection on agricultural products. In contrast to the existing literature, we find that the agreements concluded with European countries raise MENA exports, whereas no significant impact is found for the application of the Pan‐European RoO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world has been experiencing dramatic demographic change since the 1950s, with almost all countries facing ageing challenges this coming century. However, the timing and speed of this demographic transition are significantly asymmetric across countries. This paper examines the impacts of global demographic change on macroeconomic conditions, international trade and capital flows in major economies in a global multi‐region and multi‐sector general equilibrium model. We separately simulate demographic shocks in six regions of the world economy to understand how each shock individually affects the world economy and then combine these shocks to obtain the consequences of global demographic change. The paper finds that future demographic change will significantly impact each region's GDP, changing the landscape of the world economy. However, the spillover effects on GDP across the countries are relatively small. In young economies such as emerging Asia and Africa, while economic growth will significantly benefit from demographic dividends, demographic change does not improve per capita GDP. In ageing economies such as Japan and Europe, population ageing will decrease the real interest rate. However, this impact will be offset by rising interest rates in young economies. Due to the differential real interest rates, capital will flow from more ageing to less ageing economies. These capital flows can be substantial and beneficial for all economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical indications (GIs), one of a subset of intellectual property rights (IPR), have recently assumed significant role in regulating variety of sectoral policies and national and regional, and international levels. Its relevance makes it one of the critical agenda in areas such as agriculture and international trade. Internationally, the articulation of GIs under TRIPs Agreement remains unclear and leaves policy and regulatory space for each country to choose their own path. The Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa—2018–2023 has introduced a new dimension about GIs. Legal instruments governing the East African Community (EAC) proffer a harmonized policy and regulatory framework for IPR as one of the means to attain the regional objectives. However, laws governing GIs in the partner states of EAC vary in terms of the nature and scope of protection and the underlying regulatory structures, resulting into heterogeneity in GIs protection in each country. Amid this regulatory dilemma, this paper examines the GIs laws in EAC by bringing to the fore the obtaining substantive and procedural differences amongst the partner states to EAC. The paper, among others, proposes a centralized regional approach for GIs protection to attain EAC's objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a Japanese legislation on cross-border insolvency as compared with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law model law. Reason behind the criticism of the rule by foreign lawyers; Summary of the legislation; Definition of several terms specific to cross-border insolvency.

The main focus of this paper is the relationship between export diversification and export performance. The key difference with respect to the previous literature is that export diversification is measured and related to export volume by destination country. The approach is empirical and an aggregate export demand setting is adopted to test the significance and influence of export diversification, measured via the Herfindahl index, on export performance by destination country. The econometric estimation is performed using export data for Spain to its partner countries for the period 1999–2011. The main finding is the positive relationship between Spanish export concentration and export performance by destination market. This finding is shown to be robust to several econometric specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep trade agreements (DTAs) are widespread and have taken the world beyond tariff liberalization in goods trade. As the importance of global supply chains and the services sector has increased across the world, shallow tariff reductions have given way to deeper commitments that address non‐tariff barriers and behind‐the‐border barriers to trade. This paper shows that DTA commitments undertaken since the Uruguay Round have increased trade in goods and trade in services by over half in the long term. Taking reduced‐form trade elasticity estimates to a general equilibrium quantitative model, DTAs contributed over 40% to the welfare gains from trade globally and even more for advanced economies. China, India and the Eastern European bloc benefited the most from trade agreements. While most of the gains in China and India came from tariff reductions, the gains to Eastern Europe came largely from deep commitments during its accession to the EU. Applying the DTA estimates to ex ante analysis of Brexit, the losses to the UK from its departure from the deepest trade agreement in the world would not be offset by new deep trade deals with key non‐EU trade partners. This paper is part of the Economica 100 Series. Economica, the LSE "house journal" is now 100 years old. To commemorate this achievement, we are publishing 100 papers by former students, as well as current and former faculty. Swati Dhingra is an Associate Professor of Economics at the LSE. Rebecca Freeman is a Senior Economist at the Bank of England and a Trade Associate at CEP, LSE. Hanwei Huang is a an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in Economics from the LSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how global trade shapes and intensifies disasters. Juxtaposing three basic, everyday consumer goods – a t‐shirt, a brick, and a tea bag – with disasters manifesting in their respective global supply chains, it highlights how climate change, local environmental degradation, and carbon emissions are dynamically shaped by consumption. Analysis of data collected in South and Southeast Asia reveals that local environmental degradation linked to international trade interacts with global climate change and the policies intended to mitigate it, influencing how and where disasters manifest. Underpinning this analysis is the physical and conceptual presence of the container. With more and more of the natural environment packaged and redistributed for global trade, the container thinking that underpins these logistics is increasingly imbricated in environmental processes. Indeed, as this paper aims to show, the container logic that frames analysis of these processes – linked to and drawn from the logistics of global trade – serves as both obfuscator and actor in the global landscape of environmental risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review 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.)

Considers the conceptual underpinnings, the objectives and instrument of regional social protection (SP) strategy used by the World Bank (WB) in its regional development projects. Activities covered by the lending and non-lending schemes by the WB in the SP area; Analysis of the risks arising from the globalization of trade in goods, services, and factors of production; Advantages to using social risk management as the analytical framework for SP; Reasons for the World Bank's concern with social risk management.

We examine the interaction between the relative inter‐industry pollution externality and resource stock externality of harvesting in deciding trade patterns and welfare gains from trade in a two‐country model (less‐developed countries) with renewable resources in the absence of resource management. This paper focuses on the impacts of trade policies on resource conservation and welfare outcomes in two countries with different environmental management regimes. Differences in pollution management standards between both countries determine the direction of trade flow and gains from trade in a diversified production case. The country with a lower pollution intensity parameter, an exporter of resource goods, certainly experiences welfare loss in the post‐trade steady‐state and may also suffer a decline in utility throughout the transition path. However, a country with higher pollution intensity and importers of resource goods tend to gain from trade. Under national open‐access resources, given that pollution is regulated up to a certain point in both countries, this study finds that implementing better restrictions on only one externality factor is not optimal from a post‐trade welfare perspective. Lastly, from the point of view of policy suggestion, this paper offers an optimal trade policy that the economic and environmental effects of enforcing import tax on resource goods are likely to be Pareto‐improving consequences compared to the implications of using an export tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the direct and indirect trade volume and trade cost effects of uncertainty on international trade and economic welfare using a structural gravity framework for a panel of 97 developed and developing countries from 2000 to 2018. We find that the sign and magnitude of the effect depend on whether uncertainty originates from the importing or exporting country. Moreover, applying a cross‐sectional gravity model, we show that an uncertainty shock directly reduces cross‐border trade flows. The paper illustrates the suitability of the proposed modelling approach by means of two counterfactual scenario analyses in which we calculate the general equilibrium trade and welfare effects of uncertainty induced by the unexpected outcome of the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue brings together 13 papers that examine a variety of central topics in the field of international economics and finance. These papers were presented at the 23rd Conference on International Economics held in Málaga (Spain) on 16th–17th June 2022. The conference was organised by the Spanish Association of International Economics and Finance (AEEFI) and the University of Málaga. The selected papers make up an interesting and revealing set of information to study the new challenges of the international economics and finance in a context especially marked by the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the climate change, the challenge posed by the COVID‐19 crisis and the instability unleashed after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. From different perspectives, the papers analyse how events that have particularly affected the evolution of the world economy have substantially altered the rules of international trade, foreign direct investment, as well as monetary, fiscal or sectoral policy. The conference included two keynote lectures by Per Krusell (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University) and Fabio Canova (Norwegian Business School and Budapest School for Central Banking Studies), as well as 97 selected contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of agricultural trade stretches back more than ten millennia, but it became more inter‐continental from the 17th century and much denser in the 19th century following the repeal of Britain's protective Corn Laws in 1846 and major declines in international trade costs. Trade was chaotic in the period bookended by the two world wars, but trade policy anarchy gave way to greater certainty after the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was signed in 1947. This paper seeks to identify the forces that shaped that history, and to re‐examine the case for continued openness to trade in farm and processed food products. It does so in the wake of uneven economic growth and structural transformation and as agri‐food systems respond to increased market and policy uncertainties this century—and to growing pressures for agricultural production to become more sustainable and for its food outputs to be safer and more nutritious. The paper points to better policy options than trade measures for achieving most national objectives—options that can simultaneously benefit the rest of the world. Areas for further economic research are noted before the paper concludes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post‐1945 global trading system was designed around the principle of non‐discrimination. During the 1947–94 GATT era, regionalism and multilateralism were often viewed as antagonistic approaches to international trade, and preferential treatment within regional blocs was to be deterred. Since 1995, although regional trade agreements are monitored by the WTO Secretariat and presented as a threat to the system, regionalism poses little threat to the multilateral trading system. This paper argues that major twenty‐first century RTAs go beyond preferential tariff treatment to focus on deeper integration issues. Such issues are addressed outside the WTO because, despite new features of the international trade map since 1995 such as Internet use and global value chains, extension of WTO rules has proved difficult due to the requirement for consensus. The paper analyses the rise of megaregional agreements such as CPTPP and RCEP, the shift in EU policy from protecting domestic producers to facilitating imports from best global suppliers and the use of WTO plurilateral agreements within the context of providing rules fit for purpose in the modern global trading system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between markups and international trade at the firm level using a large sample of French manufacturing firms for the period 1995–2007. In particular, the paper investigates the effect of increasing import competition from China on firms' price–cost margins and the way in which exporting interacts with this effect. The results show robust evidence that firms in more direct competition with Chinese imports decrease their markups. However, firms that become exporters experience a smaller reduction in their price–cost margins. Consistent with these findings, the results also show that firms facing tougher competition from China are more likely to start exporting to avoid such competitive pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the World Trade Organization (WTO), the co‐sponsors of the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation signed the Declaration at the conclusion of the negotiations. Incorporating disciplines developed by a group of members into the WTO rulebook is fraught with certain difficulties because of the plurilateral nature of the outcome and possible resistance from non‐participating WTO members. Russia is a member of this initiative, which aims to reduce regulatory barriers to trade in services and does not address market access issues. Despite the significant role of the service sector in the economy, Russia faces systemic restrictions on increasing services trade, although the need to change the structure of foreign trade and diversify the economy has long been overdue. The paper argues that the implementation of disciplines in line with the common intention to improve domestic regulation will help improve Russia's trade in services performance and the business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Common Market Studies 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.)

Abstract: This paper reflects on the career contributions of Professor Chris Milner to the literature on international trade and economic development. As such, it not only provides an overview of a life's work, but also sets the context for the nine papers which follow. All of these were specially written for this Special Issue of The World Economy, and all relate to different areas that Professor Milner worked in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper documents a negative relationship between country size and the share of final consumption goods in total exports. A model is developed, based on the division of labour and comparative advantage, to explain this relationship. Labour is used to produce traded intermediate inputs which are used in the production of traded final goods. Large countries gain relatively more from comparative advantage than from the division of labour, while the opposite is true for small countries. As in the data, large countries export a smaller share of final goods and a larger share of intermediate goods than small countries. It is shown that the model developed in the paper yields the same results as a model based on monopolistic competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU iron and steel industry has undergone rapid transformation since the early 1980s. Privatization programmes, rationalization, increased international trade in raw materials and steel products and pressures for energy reduction and improved environmental protection have all led to significant structural changes. To remain competitive, EU firms have had to improve productivity, develop niche markets and foster client relationships. Alongside the restructuring, environmental regulations and market and stakeholder demands relating to the environment have brought new pressures to bear, increasing investment and operating costs. This article focuses on firm responses and two points are made. The first is that EU sectoral restructuring is a response to increased global competition and that steel sales are increasingly determined by price. As prices become more competitive and costs are pared, particularly labour, there has been an important relative increase in environmental expenditure for firms. Awareness of these costs, also the market and public relations issues relating to the environment, has led to firm responses that range from minimal compliance to proactive ‘first mover’ strategies. Scale of operation and process type are important factors in determining these environmental strategies. The second point is that, in the longer term, there will be a need for better regulator – firm coordination in order to move beyond the current drivers of compliance and public pressure. To promote cleaner production approaches and improved environmental performance evaluation across the sector will require greater flexibility and economic awareness from regulators, and a more innovative and integrated approach to environmental protection by firms. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in the theoretical literature on international trade have shown considerable interest in the demand side of the general equilibrium. This paper supplements the literature by highlighting the role of non‐marketed complementaries. Individuals derive utility by consuming two marketed commodities and a non‐marketed commodity. The non‐marketed commodity affects the relative demands of the marketed commodities by acting as complement to one of the marketed commodities. Considering "information" as an exemplar of the non‐marketed commodity, this paper derives a number of insightful results that relate the volume and pattern of trade to the stock and flow of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of globalization in the commodity trade aspects of agriculture in the U.S. Three papers that tackle the subject of agricultural globalization are examined. One study summarizes a large body of work intended to inform directly on the deliberations of the global trade talks in Doha, Qatar. Another research suggests that the world would be better served by greater access to agriculture markets, particularly for rice, sugar and meats. In addition, another study reports empirical estimates of the local and rest-of-world consequences of removing domestic subsidies in the corn sector in the U.S.

This paper examines the impact of the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on a large dataset of service trade using recently developed Poisson pseudo‐maximum likelihood (PPML) estimator regression models with multiple high‐dimensional fixed effects to estimate the structural gravity equations. The model in this paper theoretically demonstrates that BITs reduce service trade from foreign direct investment (FDI) source countries by decreasing the additional variable costs of operating a foreign affiliate. This paper also empirically confirms that BITs decrease service exports from developed to developing economies through analysing a comprehensive WTO‐OECD Balanced Trade in Services Data from 1995 to 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of the standard gravity model variables and of various multinational agreements—namely the Euro, the European Union (EU), the Schengen Agreement and other regional trade agreements (RTAs)—on the volume of air cargo flows. To compare the impacts, the data set created for this analysis contains intra‐ and extra‐European air cargo flows as well as data on air passenger and total trade flows. The results suggest that the impact of the analysed multinational agreements on air cargo flows diverges completely from their impact on total trade flows—however, the effects on air cargo flows are more similar to the effects on air passenger flows. Whereas the Euro and the Schengen Agreement affect air cargo volumes positively, EU membership and other RTAs do not significantly affect trade by air. Methodology‐wise, different dynamic structural gravity models are formulated and estimated with Poisson pseudo‐maximum likelihood (PPML). Including intranational flows and controlling for multilateral resistance, endogeneity and globalisation effects reverses the impact of some of the policy variables compared with an estimate based on a simple structural gravity model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of Covid‐19 lockdowns on exports by Chinese cities. We use city‐level export data at a monthly frequency from January 2018 through April 2020. Differences‐in‐differences estimates suggest cities in lockdown experienced a ceteris paribus 34 percentage points reduction in the year‐on‐year growth rate of exports. The lockdown impacted the intensive and extensive margin, with higher exit and lower new entry into foreign markets. The drop in exports was smaller in (i) coastal cities; (ii) cities with better‐developed ICT infrastructure; and (iii) cities with a larger share of potential teleworkers. Time‐sensitive and differentiated goods experienced a more pronounced decline in export growth. Global supply chain characteristics matter, with more upstream products and industries that had accumulated larger inventories experiencing a smaller decline in export growth. Also, products that relied more on imported (domestic) intermediates experienced a sharper (flatter) slowdown in export growth. The rapid recovery in cities' exports after lockdowns were lifted suggests the policy was cost‐effective in terms of its effects on trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite contributions, most of the studies on electronic‐telecommunications trade are conducted within the framework of a global value chain and mainly based on an enterprise‐level. The global trade structure and dynamics of electronic‐telecommunications are still mysterious. In this paper, by deriving trade data of electronic‐telecommunications between countries (regions) from the UN Comtrade Database, characteristics in product, space and network of the global electronic‐telecommunications trade from 2000 to 2017 are explored, and the factors influencing its evolution. The results indicate that telecommunications equipment is gradually replacing electronic integrated circuits, thus leading the development of global trade on electronic‐telecommunications. In space, the global import pattern of electronic‐telecommunications has always been a tri‐polar pattern dominated by Asia‐Pacific, Europe, and North America, while the geography of global electronic‐telecommunications export has undergone fundamental changes, most notably the rise of the East Asia region represented by Mainland China. The global trade center in electronic and communication products has changed from USA to China. In terms of network structure, the global electronic‐telecommunications trade network continues to expand, showing significant small‐world and core‐peripheral characteristics, and a more competitive multi‐centric core is observed. In addition, Quadratic Assignment Procedure analysis indicates that culture proximity, innovation differences, and manufacturing differences have a positive effect on the international trade, while geographical distance, economic gap, openness gap, trade gap, and infrastructure gap play negative roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International affairs has a gender problem. Despite a rise in feminist‐informed foreign policy in some corners of the globe, gendered (and racialised, heteronormative, classist, and so on) power structures continue to impact women's representation internationally. This paper seeks to know why. Using Australia as a case study, it explores four premier international affairs agencies, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence (inclusive of the Department of Defence and Australian Defence Force), Department of Home Affairs, and the Australian Federal Police, to answer: Why do women remain under‐represented in international affairs? Using feminist institutionalist theory, this article argues that three core reasons underline women's under‐representation: (1) historical legacies that maintain masculine supremacy in the field; (2) contemporary layering and duplication of gendered challenges across individual, agency, diplomatic field, and society contexts; and (3) the compounding effect of challenges at different stages of women's careers, lives, and posting cycles. In addition, this paper reveals surprising findings, including that more militaristic agency structures result in more proportional representation of women compared with more bureaucratic agency structures, inverting conventional theory on militaries as the most male‐dominated and patriarchal spheres of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]