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Using Brazil National Household Survey 1995-2013 data, this paper examines how the education expansion in Brazil impacted the tertiary premium through the interaction of relative supply and relative demand. The identification of the impact of relative demand on education premium provides an empirical testing of the Heckscher-Ohlin model in the context of Brazil. The results suggest that the change in relative supply had converged the education premium thus converged the wage income distribution. The results also show that there was no decrease in relative demand for skilled workers in Brazil in the past two decades, which is inconsistent with what the Heckscher-Ohlin model predicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a model that combines within and across sector channels through which trade affects our environment by embedding heterogeneous firms and fixed costs into a two-sector framework with an endogenous response to environmental policy. In contrast to existing literature that tends to examine these channels separately, the combined framework developed here shows how cross-sector comparative advantage and within-sector responses to trade and environmental policy or factor endowments interact to affect our environment through three channels: changes in output, cross-sector market share, and emissions intensity. In contrast to a single-sector model with neutral productivity, consideration of two sectors allows for trade liberalization to affect the allocation of inputs in each sector and thereby affect total pollution output. The additional consideration of heterogeneous firm responses to falling trade costs will generate endogenous increases in productivity that increase output, reduce aggregate emissions intensity, and moderate the cross-sector resource adjustment, relative to a representative-firm model. Simulation results show how the combined framework can replicate existing empirical outcomes, and provide concise ceteris paribus insights regarding the potential role of trade and environmental policy changes and factor expansion in driving observed outcomes and their contribution to each of the three channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of preferences and technological differences between countries in determining dynamics of capital accumulation, wealth and income distribution within countries and between countries, and patterns of trade in a dynamic general equilibrium framework. The model is built by integrating Walrasian general equilibrium, neoclassical growth, and H-O international trade theories. The model is built for any number of countries and each country is composed of three production sectors and heterogeneous households. The national growth mechanism is the same as that in neoclassical growth theory. Labour and capital distributions among sectors and among countries are determined under perfect competition and free trade. The model synthesizes the well-known H-O and the Oniki-Uzawa trade models, Solow-Uzawa neoclassical growth theory, and Walrasian general equilibrium theory with Zhang's utility function. We simulated the model with three national economies and with two groups of households for each country. We identified the existence of equilibrium points and plot motion of the dynamic system. We also conducted a comparative dynamic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The chain version of the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem has only been tested by Cavusoglu and Elmslie (2005), with findings that fail to provide empirical support to its predictions. The present paper expands on that study and presents different results. Using data on capital-labor intensities, and exports and imports for ten manufacturing and three service sectors for the U.S. from 1970 to 2009, the predictions of the theory are confirmed by the data. These results are robust to different price indices, labor measures, and weight measures used to construct net export data. The difference in results between the two studies can be explained by the use of different capital stock data, as well as the longer time frame of the current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model with capital accumulation and discusses the role of endogenous time preference and consumption externalities in closed and small open economies. While the economy has a unique and saddle-point stable steady state under autarky, under free trade with decreasing marginal impatience (i.e., a household's discount rate is a decreasing function of its consumption), there might exist multiple steady states and indeterminacy of equilibrium paths. Specifically, if the degree of decreasing marginal impatience is sufficiently large and individuals' preferences exhibit admiration, the dynamic equilibria with diversified production might become indeterminate. We also analyze the economy's long-run trade pattern and its relationship with indeterminacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a dynamic two‐country model of trade with production externalities with an emphasis on the possibility of global indeterminacy, which means that the distribution of capital stocks in each country in the long run depends on households' expectations. Opening trade yields expectation‐driven fluctuations. Global indeterminacy may occur around the free trade steady states even when the autarkic steady states are saddle points in both countries, and it must happen when local indeterminacy occurs around the autarkic steady states in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We investigate migration and foreign direct investment (FDI) for a small trading economy. Historically, immigration in small countries has been accompanied by FDI inflows (complementary capital movements). Based on the skill composition of migrants, empirical evidence finds that skilled immigration is accompanied by FDI inflows but unskilled immigration is accompanied by FDI outflows (substitutable capital movements). We prove that the Heckscher-Ohlin model cannot reconcile these apparently contradictory observations. We introduce a theoretical model in which capital and unskilled labor are sector specific, and demonstrate that this model can reconcile the historical and empirical observations on migration and FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generalizes Miller's supply-side equilibrium argument to other forms of capital market imperfections and incompleteness. If corporations possess a comparative advantage in dealing with these imperfections, they have an incentive to act as financial intermediaries. Corporations' attempts to profit from these intermediation activities dictate an optimal capital structure for the corporate sector as a whole, but in equilibrium the capital structure of any single firm is a matter of indifference. In addition, the positive role that corporate finance plays in completing the market restores standard perfect market results on asset pricing and the associated portfolio separation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin models of international trade contend that firms do not play any role in shaping countries' export specialization. However, the evidence shows that few firms dominate exports in many countries. This paper analyzes the relative contribution of fundamental (country) and granular (individual) comparative advantage to the differences in specialization across countries in a particular activity: chess. Using data on the quality of around 146,000 chess players in 106 countries in 2015, I find that fundamental comparative advantage is the main contributor to the variation in countries' specialization in chess. However, the contribution of granular comparative advantage becomes larger when analyzing specialization in very high-quality chess players. Despite the appearance of chess servers that allow playing online and offer tools to improve chess skills, I do not find convergence in fundamental comparative advantage over the period 2001-2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a Heckscher-Ohlin nugget framework with both traded and non-traded goods. Traded goods are subject to tax whereas non-traded good does not pay tax but is beset with corruption related intermediation. Our motive is to investigate the comparison of the effects of corruption and tax cut. We assume only the non-traded sector to be corruption affected. We argue that a fall in the degree of corruption surprisingly increases the number of intermediators while tax change has no effect on it. But the size of the intermediation activities expands in both the cases. Low corruption diminishes the exportable production and raises importable production while a tax cut does not have any such effect. The welfare implication is ambiguous in case of a decrease in cost of corruption. A tax cut, however, raises welfare unambiguously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the medium- and long-run effects caused by an inflow of capital into a labor-abundant country. For that purpose, we incorporate directed technical change into a Heckscher-Ohlin model with a continuum of goods. This provides a comprehensive theory explaining the dynamics of comparative advantage based on differences in effective factor endowments, i.e. factor endowments adjusted by differences in technological levels. Our model constitutes an appropriate framework for understanding, e.g., the empirically observed changes in industrial structures of Central and Eastern European countries. Furthermore, we provide a theoretical foundation for the empirical Prospective Comparative Advantage index with new insights into the future dynamics of comparative advantage. Eventually, we show the importance of research spillovers and state dependence on the process of convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the direct effects of various measures of globalization on the structural unemployment in 87 countries for the period from 1991 to 2014. The model specifications are based on the Ricardian Comparative Advantage and the Heckscher–Ohlin models. It is found that one standard deviation increase in the trade openness approximately leads to 0.6 percentage point lower structural unemployment rate. The effects of economic, social, and political aspects of globalization on the structural unemployment are also negative, but they are found as statistically insignificant. The paper also implements various robustness checks and argues potential implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is the first empirical attempt using a panel-gravity trade model to analyze the bilateral trade patterns between China and 13 OPEC member countries over the period 1998–2014. Our findings reveal that the gravity equation fits the data reasonably well. We confirm the existence of long-term relationships between the bilateral trade flows and the main components of gravity model-GDP, income (GDPper capita), the difference in income, exchange rate, the openness level, distance, and WTO membership—through the Fixed effects (FE), Random effects (RE), and the FMOLS approaches. The estimation results show that the trade pattern between China and OPEC member countries relies on the Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) theory, thus being explained by difference in factor endowments such as energy resources and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This analysis of food imports used an enhanced gravity model of trade, with food imports from approximately 136 countries from 2004 to 2014. Using improved panel data techniques, we show that total income, inflation in the food exporting country, corruption perception in the food exporting country, trade openness in the food exporting economy, GCC membership are important determinants of food imports by Qatar. In addition, we show that Qatari food imports mostly originate in countries with, on average, similar economic sizes. Finally, Qatar's factor endowment is dissimilar to those of most of its trading partners, a situation that potentially fosters international food trade in accordance with the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Heckscher-Ohlin model based on Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage maintains that countries should specialize in the production and exportation of products that they have relative factor endowments. Therefore, Nigeria has taken advantage of its favourable climatic condition to become among the largest producers and exporters of cocoa products in the world. Given that cocoa is also the topmost non-oil export product and earnings in Nigeria, this paper assesses its performance and determines the effects of external factors on production in the country. Nigeria's performance in the global cocoa market has been somewhat below expectations. Using OLS and Granger causality, the OLS regression results reveal that exports, trade openness, area harvested and domestic consumption have a positive influence on cocoa production in Nigeria. The Granger test shows that there exists bidirectional causality between the world price, trade openness and yield per hectare to cocoa production in the country. The results further confirmed a unidirectional causality running from cocoa output to exports. The government of Nigeria and trading partners should create a sound environment and some incentives to stimulate cocoa producers and exporters to increase production for export performance and revenue generation in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the political and economic consequences of signing preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in authoritarian countries. Based on the Heckscher–Ohlin model of international trade and theories of inequality and regime transition, this paper argues that dictators sign PTAs as a means of consolidating their authoritarian rule. Specifically, PTAs help dictators reduce economic inequality by enriching poor laborers and thereby attenuating the threat of regime collapse. We support our theory with the data from seventy-odd authoritarian regimes from 1960 to 2006, and contribute to ongoing debates about the effects of both income inequality and economic globalization on autocratic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Indices to determine the flow of goods trade among countries is well established. But an important issue that demands attention is whether the RCA indices reflect the essentials of comparative advantage theory. Deb and Basu Foreign Trade Rev 46(3):3-28, (2011) examined the consistency of alternative RCA indices with the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of comparative advantage, leaving scope for re-examination of the indices in the context of the Ricardian comparative advantage theory, which insists on relative factor productivity differences among countries contrary to Heckscher-Ohlin's relative factor endowment differences. The other issue which has been overlooked in much of the existing literature is the importance of value-added trade. With the growing importance of global production chains, RCA indices based on gross export values may not portray an accurate picture of the underlying comparative advantage of countries. In this context, adjusting the RCA indices to incorporate domestic value-added in exports seems to be quite relevant. This paper explores the consistency of RCA indices based on domestic value-added in exports with the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage using a panel data approach. A brief review on the structures of alternative RCA indices is also provided. The Log-of-Balassa index is found to be the best performer in this empirical examination, although the deficiencies of the index for cross-country or cross-commodity comparison must be acknowledged. The index of Yu et al. Ann Reg Sci 43(1):267-282, (2009) does possess the latter feature but in our study its performance is quite poor and hence its consistency with the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage is questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insightcs on the approach to the theory and practice of free trade market in Japan and Australia. Topics discussed by the author include comparative advantage in the concept of international trade, differentiation of free trade under the Heckscher-Ohlin model, and imperfection of economies of scale.

Numerous models are proposed to model international trade and promote it. Vanek, instead of designing a trade pattern based on the production, introduced a pattern based on the factor content of trade. In the present study, apart from the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) theorem, we attempt to determine the factor content of Iran's trade without factor price equalization by using internal input-output tables. Net trading is positive only for 7 sectors of Iran's economy, including oil and gas. It is negative for 91 percent of sectors that accounts for 78 percent of the economy. Moreover, Iran's factor content of trade is positive for 50 percent of industries, negative for 48%, and it is zero for two ones. In general, the factor content of trade for raw and mineral materials, services, electricity, gas and water infrastructure sectors are positive. In contrast, the factor content of trade is negative for activities like manufacturing of machinery and equipment and in general for sections that require intermediate investment and high-tech goods. Sign and rank tests are employed to assess the validity of HOV theorem. The sign test was found to be satisfied for 67% of cases. Rank test showed satisfaction in about 47% of the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the popular Heckscher-Ohlin model of international trade, a country is expected to export (import) those products whose production requires the intensive use of the factor of production that is in relative abundance (scarcity). Leontief (1953), using input-output data of the US economy for the year 1947, found that the US, an overwhelmingly capital-abundant country, exported labour-intensive products and imported capital-intensive ones. Clearly, the results contradicted the predictions of the Heckscher-Ohlin model and they were characterised as 'Leontief's paradox'. A number of explanations for the so-called paradox were offered and this paper briefly, but critically, evaluates these explanations as it examines whether or not Leontief's results persist in the case of the US economy during the period 1998-2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that income convergence in an open-economy setting hinges upon how the time discount rate of the households is determined. As opposed to the case of constant time discount rate where cross-country income divergence may emerge, the small open economy may catch up with the rest of the world if the time discount rate increases with consumption. In contrast, if the time discount rate decreases with consumption, then the small open economy fails to catch up with the rest of the world under free trade of commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the role of preferences and technological differences between any number of national economies in determining the dynamics of capital stocks, gender-differentiated human capital, pattern of trade and gender-differentiated time distribution in a reformed H-O model. The trade model studies endogenous wealth and human capital accumulation and labor and capital distribution between sectors and between countries under perfectly competitive markets and free trade. It is an integration of the H-O model, the Solow-Uzawa neoclassical growth model, the Uzawa-Lucas twosector model, and the Oniki-Uzawa trade model. It synthesizes these well-known economic models with Zhang's utility function for describing household behavior. The paper simulates the model, demonstrating the motion of the dynamic system and the existence of equilibrium point. We also examine the effects of changes in the total factor productivity of a country's industrial sector, the productivity of country's education sector, one country's propensity to consume another country's global commodity, man's propensity to stay at home, woman's propensity to receive education, and a country 1's population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how authoritarian leaders employ trade openness as a response to rising inequality. Based on the Heckscher-Ohlin model of international trade and models of democratic transition, I argue that unskilled laborers in authoritarian regimes can benefit from engaging in international trade, thus becoming more compliant to the authoritarian rules as their countries integrate into the world economy. Therefore, dictators in labor-abundant countries expand trade to neutralize democratization threats initiated by rising inequality. My argument uses supporting data from around eighty authoritarian regimes during the period from 1963 to 2003. I address endogeneity problems with dynamic panel data and instrumental variable regression models in this paper. My analyses suggest that economic globalization helps strengthen authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a two-country infinite-horizon model, with two traded goods and two factors of production and no international borrowing and lending, there is no convergence of incomes if there is factor-price equalization. With factor-price equalization, the Euler equations of the two economies become identical. I show that in such a set-up if agents have a non-zero probability of death, then we do get convergence. In the steady state the two economies have identical capital–labor ratios and revert to autarky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the export destinations of Malaysia and top six trading partners (an average from 1995 - 2012) using gravity model and pooled ordinary least square (OLS) analysis. As suggested by the pioneer of gravity model (Tinbergen, 1962), the vibrancy of trading activities depend on the resemblance of exporting and importing countries which in parallel with Staffan Linder theory of trade(1961). These include similarities such as GDP per capita, international language, and border sharing and taste in product consumed (Morales, Sheu and Zahler, 2014).The theory also highlights that the distance between the two trading countries have significant effect on trading activities. However, the empirical study in the case of Malaysia proven opposite effect thus allowing Heckscher-Ohlin theory to be highlighted in contrast to Linder theory as H-O theory suggests that a particular country will trade with another country with dissimilar economic performance level. The general finding of this study suggest that Malaysia is more towards Linder theory based on the coefficient sign of GDP per capita differential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how differences in regional development arise through technological variations and changes. Previous Ricardian-model-based considerations of this phenomenon, known as rational underdevelopment, have ignored migration, elasticities, multidimensional factors and inputs. This study thus re-examines rational underdevelopment in light of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem, considering two regions, with two sectors, in two periods. The regions have different factor and technology endowments. The first region has a technology sector, and the second is a technology laggard. Once a new technology that can potentially benefit both regions is introduced, the technology-endowed region offers financial transfers to the technologically lagging region. This equalizes regional incomes but also reduces the possibility that the laggard will adopt the new technology and decrease its developmental disadvantage. We also discuss the influence of mobile factors, which reduce regional inequality. The results show that rational underdevelopment extends beyond wage subsidies to mobile factors and capital. The analysis has implications for economic policies aimed at reducing inter-regional inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of preferences and technological differences between two countries in determining dynamics of global wealth and pattern of trade in a reformed H-O model of international trade. The paper builds a trade model with endogenous wealth accumulation and labor and capital distribution between sectors and between countries under perfectly competitive markets and free trade. The model is based the H-O model, the Solow-Uzawa neoclassical growth model and the Oniki-Uzawa trade model. Each country has three sectors, producing one globally homogenous tradable capital good, specifying in producing one-tradable commodity, and supplying non-tradable goods and services. The study simulates the model for the economy to demonstrate existence of equilibrium points and motion of the dynamic system. It examines effects of changes in output elasticity of an industrial sector, population expansion, and propensities to consume the domestic commodity, to consume the other country's commodity, to consume services, and to hold wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a country's comparative advantage in exports depends on both the factor abundance and the allocation efficiency of the endowments. However, the latter is not considered in the traditional Heckscher- Ohlin model. In line with the 'sand' view of corruption, this paper empirically studies the role of corruption in shaping a country's export pattern by distorting the allocation of financial resources. We find that the resource misallocation resulting from corruption undermines the export growth promoted by the positive external financial shock. The negative effects are realized by the extensive margins instead of the intensive margins of heterogeneous firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the interaction between production and R&D patterns in a $$2\times 2\times 2$$ open-economies model of endogenous growth. Unlike existing studies, we treat the two industries entirely symmetrically-both are imperfectly competitive, and engage in sector-specific expanding-product-variety or quality-ladder innovation activities. To achieve a more satisfactory analytical characterization, we eliminate scale effects and impose strict concavity rather than linearity on the contribution of skilled labour to industry R&D. With imperfect international knowledge spillovers, an increase in one country's skilled-labour endowment above the other's affects production and R&D activities in both countries, with the resulting increased production and research specialization across countries raising world innovation rates in both industries. Surprisingly, increasing one country's skilled-labour endowment towards the other's can reduce world innovation rates in both industries, on account of the resulting reduced specialization. Broader implications of the analysis are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper pursues the idea that the relationship between foreign and domestic investments may be not as uniform as many studies suggest. By examining the case of Taiwanese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), this paper is marked out from existing studies in the following three respects. First, it examines the extent to which the relationship between OFDI and domestic investment varies with the location of investment. Second, this research allows the results to vary between Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) industries and Schumpeter industries. Finally, its breakdown of data will reveal sub-relationships in the data that up to now have remained hidden within the aggregate relationships reported in most studies. This study suggests that OFDI in China has a positive impact on domestic investment in H-O industries, while OFDI in other countries (OFDIO) has a negative impact on domestic investment in the same industries. These findings are in marked contrast to Schumpeter industries where a positive effect is observed only for OFDIO. Our findings also suggest that the Taiwanese government should design policies to adjust the level of liberalisation for overseas investment through legislation on an industry-by-industry basis in order that OFDI stimulates domestic investment in relevant industries more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does factor accumulation affect an open economy's pattern of international specialization and returns to capital? We provide a new integrated treatment to this question using a panel of 44 developing and developed countries over the period 1976-2000. The data confirm the Heckscher-Ohlin prediction that, with sufficient differences in country endowments, there is no factor price equalization and countries specialize in different subsets of goods. Innovatively, we obtain the returns to capital implied by this model: these are consistent with the Lucas paradox, which we explain after accounting for cross-country differences in the cost of capital goods. Our findings are also consistent with Ventura's hypothesis that the growth of small open economies can be promoted by "beating the curse of diminishing returns" -- indeed we find no decrease in the return to capital at any given capital-labor ratio despite capital accumulation by most countries within a cone of diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs an oligopolistic dynamic Heckscher–Ohlin (H–O) model of a small open economy to analyze the relationship between the saving rate and the upgrade of the trade commodity structure. The analysis shows that the saving rate determines the trade commodity structure of a country in the long-run equilibrium. Furthermore, a developing country with a low capital–labor ratio in the initial state will change from exporting labor-intensive goods in the initial state to exporting capital-intensive goods in the long-run equilibrium if it has a higher saving rate, and this upgrade of trade commodity structure has a social welfare effect under an oligopolistic market structure. The effect of trade policy on the upgrade of the trade commodity structure is uncertain in our model; therefore, a high saving rate is the irreplaceable driving force for trade commodity structure upgrades in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the predictions of the 2 × 2 × 2 Heckscher-Ohlin model, empirical evidence shows that the skill premium increased in some developing countries and decreased in others after trade liberalisation. This paper attempts to reconcile the empirical evidence with the theoretical predictions by introducing a model where South-South trade can produce the observed patterns of skill premia in the South. In this context, South-South trade expands the import range of the country that reduces the tariff. This increases the demand for and the cost of skilled workers in the other country. This also leads the country that reduces the tariff to expand its export range and reduce its import range. Therefore, the country that reduces the tariff experiences an increase in its export range, which leads to an increase in the skill premium. As the impact on the import range is ambiguous, it is possible that the other country experiences a decline in the skill premium. Thus, trade liberalisation between Southern countries can cause an increase in the skill premium in one and a decrease in the skill premium in another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of economic integration over the past two decades has been accompanied by expanding skilled wage premia—a key measure of wage inequality—in most countries. This was also the case for Ugandan wage employees during the 1990s, a period of abrupt trade opening, market reforms and improved relations with neighbouring Kenya. As in other unskilled labour abundant countries, this is a surprising result in light of the standard Heckscher–Ohlin (H–O) framework. By using a novel district-level analysis, I find that in fact increased trade reduced wage inequality in line with the H–O predictions. During the 1990s districts more exposed to the trade boom experienced a rise in wage premia 2.8 percentage points lower relative to less-exposed districts. On the other hand, the intensification of domestic trade across districts and the increase in average education were associated with increased wage premia during the period of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the predictions of the 2 × 2 × 2 Heckscher–Ohlin model, empirical evidence shows that the skill premium increased in some developing countries and decreased in others after trade liberalization. Khalifa (2014) attempts to reconcile the empirical evidence with the theoretical predictions by introducing a theoretical set-up that includes the additional aspect of South–South trade. The model shows that South–South trade openness can cause the skill premium to increase in the Southern country that is relatively more skill abundant, and to decrease in the Southern country that is relatively less skill abundant. This article introduces an empirical analysis to test the theoretical predictions of Khalifa (2014) using threshold estimation techniques introduced by Hansen (1999). The results suggest the presence of a statistically significant skill abundance threshold, below which the estimate of the coefficient of the relationship between South–South trade openness and wage inequality is negative, and above which the point estimate is positive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several prominent political economy models of trade policy, at first glance, seem to suggest that leftist governments in Latin America have strong incentives to sign preferential trade agreements (PTAs). The Heckscher–Ohlin model, for instance, predicts that the ideological left in the developing world will favour trade liberalization. Other research, specifically on trade agreements, suggests that leftist governments sign such treaties to credibly signal a commitment to sound economic policies. In light of these predictions, it is perhaps surprising that many left-wing Latin American governments have been especially averse to signing PTAs. In this article, I provide an explanation for the partisan left's disposition toward trade agreements. First, I identify the ways in which PTAs can be difficult to reconcile with hardline or populist left-wing governance. Second, I explore the conditions under which left governments are most inclined to sign trade agreements. I anticipate that regional commonalities and shared partisanship increase the prospects for cooperation. A statistical analysis of PTA signing in 18 Latin American countries, as well as a more in-depth treatment of several cases, yields results consistent with my expectations. These findings have implications for the literature on the political economy of trade agreements as well as the scholarship on globalization in the Latin American context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the implications of international outsourcing in the Heckscher–Ohlin model of general equilibrium by explicitly expounding the external effects to the outsourcing firms. With its focus paced on the labor-augmenting effect of outsourcing, it shows that (a) the standard result of welfare-enhancing outsourcing always holds in the absence of external effects, and (b) in the presence of external effects, however, (i) outsourcing may be welfare-reducing for the outsourcing country; (ii) the effects of outsourcing on sectoral outputs, employment and factor prices depend on factor-intensity ranking, and the signs and the relative magnitudes of the sectoral returns to scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-war period, the goods composition of trade in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries has changed considerably. We analyze the evolution of comparative advantage using a detailed trade data set and a new analytical tool: the Harmonic Mass index (HM index), which enables us to identify periods of structural change. We then discuss which forces may be responsible for the main structural changes, which primarily took place in many OECD countries in the mid 1980s. The advantage of the HM analysis is that it indicates when structural breaks occur in history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study, both theoretically and empirically, how trade imbalances affect the structure of countries' exports and wage inequality. We show that, in a Heckscher-Ohlin model with a continuum of goods, a Southern (Northern) trade surplus leads to an increase (reduction) in the average skill intensity of exports, in the relative demand for skills and in the skill premium in both countries. We provide robust support for the mechanism underlying these predictions using a large panel of countries observed over the past 30 years. Our results suggest that the large and growing North-South trade imbalances arisen over the last three decades may have exacerbated wage inequality worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend a dynamic Heckscher-Ohlin model with production externality presented in recent work by Nishimura and Shimomura by assuming a consumable capital good. Following work by Bond, Iwasa, and Nishimura, we define a steady-state excess demand function and derive the locus of home and foreign capital stocks that are consistent with a steady-state equilibrium under free trade. Also, we examine the relationship between externality and local dynamics in autarky or under free trade, which includes a phase diagram analysis. Then we show that opening trade can generate expectation-driven fluctuations in a world trade market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines empirically how the multiple-cone version of the Heckscher- Ohlin ( HO) model fits the 'flying geese' patterns of industrial development: a series of industries appear, prosper, then decline and finally disappear one after another. Using Japanese manufacturing data from 1975 to 2006, the analysis shows that the multiple-cone model fits well with the flying geese patterns of Japanese industrial development. The result suggests that part of the industrial upgrading can be explained by the multiple-cone HO model. This also implies that an underlying mechanism of macroeconomic growth is industrial upgrading, part of which can be attributed to capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies on income convergence estimate the convergence equation derived for autarkic economies using data from the world that is increasingly integrated. This paper derives a convergence equation for a world integrated by trade from the standard Heckscher- Ohlin model with factor price equalization. The convergence equation for an integrated world differs from the autarkic one in that (1) the growth rate of each economy is increasing in the global growth rate; (2) the rate of convergence is increasing in the global growth rate; and (3) the rate of convergence, under conventional parameter values, is much lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Ethiopia's trade with the North versus the South and uses the trade patterns that emerge to derive policy implications for the country's industrial development. Descriptive statistics in the form of tables and figures are used to reflect the emerging trade patterns. Grubel-Lloyd intra-industry trade indices are calculated for high technology manufactured goods so as to examine intra-industry trade opportunities between Ethiopia and its major trading partners. The Heckscher-Ohlin model, post- Heckscher-Ohlin models, as well as, tariff and non-tariff barriers currently in place are used to try and explain the trade patterns that emerge. The research finds that Ethiopia trades relatively more intensively with Asia and the Middle East than with countries in the North, thus depicting a "look East strategy". This is despite both the EU and the USA levying much lower applied tariffs on most of Ethiopia's exports. The geographical nearness of Asian and Middle East markets makes them more attractive, whilst non-tariff barriers like phytosanitary regulations, packaging and quality standards in markets in the North and the geographic distance make Ethiopia's exports less competitive. Ethiopia's intra-industry trade opportunities in high technology products lie mainly with countries in the North, especially Italy. Pursuing such trade opportunities with countries with well developed industrial bases would help Ethiopia to build a stronger manufacturing sector through an interchange of knowledge, skills and advanced up-to-date technology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]