R. Bista, Josh Ederington, Jenny Minier, Brandon J. Sheridan
Recent papers have focused attention on the potential for expansionary austerity (i.e. that cutting budget deficits may increase growth in the short run). In this paper we investigate the impact of fiscal consolidation on trade using bilateral trade data. The use of bilateral trade data allows us to demonstrate three novel empirical results. First, while fiscal consolidation is associated with an increase in own‐country exports, it is also correlated to an equal extent with a decrease in foreign‐country exports (i.e. imports); indeed, simultaneous austerity has no statistically significant impact on bilateral trade. Second, the positive effect of austerity on exports disappears when trading partners share a common currency. Third, the increase in exports as a result of austerity is associated entirely with an increase in the range of goods exported (the extensive margin), at the expense of trade volume among existing trade relationships (the intensive margin).
{"title":"Austerity and Exports","authors":"R. Bista, Josh Ederington, Jenny Minier, Brandon J. Sheridan","doi":"10.1111/roie.12210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12210","url":null,"abstract":"Recent papers have focused attention on the potential for expansionary austerity (i.e. that cutting budget deficits may increase growth in the short run). In this paper we investigate the impact of fiscal consolidation on trade using bilateral trade data. The use of bilateral trade data allows us to demonstrate three novel empirical results. First, while fiscal consolidation is associated with an increase in own‐country exports, it is also correlated to an equal extent with a decrease in foreign‐country exports (i.e. imports); indeed, simultaneous austerity has no statistically significant impact on bilateral trade. Second, the positive effect of austerity on exports disappears when trading partners share a common currency. Third, the increase in exports as a result of austerity is associated entirely with an increase in the range of goods exported (the extensive margin), at the expense of trade volume among existing trade relationships (the intensive margin).","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"97 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126783698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper presents a model of international trade agreements in which the executive branches of each government negotiate agreements while the legislative branches, subject to political pressure from firms, can disrupt them. Lobbying is in the style of Grossman and Helpman (1994) with a new feature: all actors face uncertainty arising from the complexity of the legislative process. I demonstrate that the lower the executives set tariffs in a trade agreement, the more effort lobbies put forth to prevent its ratification. Thus trade agreements act as a domestic political commitment device: executives set relatively high tariffs to discourage lobbying and increase the chance that the agreement will be ratified. The model sheds light on the empirical puzzle surrounding governments' welfare weights in the Grossman and Helpman (1994) model and can speak to important trade policy-making events such as the four-year delay in the ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
{"title":"Trade Agreements in the Shadow of Lobbying","authors":"Kristy Buzard","doi":"10.1111/roie.12254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12254","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a model of international trade agreements in which the executive branches of each government negotiate agreements while the legislative branches, subject to political pressure from firms, can disrupt them. Lobbying is in the style of Grossman and Helpman (1994) with a new feature: all actors face uncertainty arising from the complexity of the legislative process. I demonstrate that the lower the executives set tariffs in a trade agreement, the more effort lobbies put forth to prevent its ratification. Thus trade agreements act as a domestic political commitment device: executives set relatively high tariffs to discourage lobbying and increase the chance that the agreement will be ratified. The model sheds light on the empirical puzzle surrounding governments' welfare weights in the Grossman and Helpman (1994) model and can speak to important trade policy-making events such as the four-year delay in the ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134239280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Walid Mensi, S. Hammoudeh, Seong‐Min Yoon, D. Nguyenc
This study investigates the asymmetric linkages between the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries’ stock markets and three country risk ratings (financial, economic and political risk) in the presence of major global economic and financial factors. Using the dynamic panel threshold models, we find evidence of asymmetry in most cases. However, the significance and the signs of the effects of these risk ratings on the BRICS market returns differ across the lower and upper regimes. Furthermore, improvements in the global stock, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and gold markets enhance the BRICS stock market performance. Increases in implied volatility indices lead to drops in the BRICS markets.
{"title":"Asymmetric Linkages between BRICS Stock Returns and Country Risk Ratings: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Threshold Models","authors":"Walid Mensi, S. Hammoudeh, Seong‐Min Yoon, D. Nguyenc","doi":"10.1111/roie.12201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12201","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the asymmetric linkages between the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries’ stock markets and three country risk ratings (financial, economic and political risk) in the presence of major global economic and financial factors. Using the dynamic panel threshold models, we find evidence of asymmetry in most cases. However, the significance and the signs of the effects of these risk ratings on the BRICS market returns differ across the lower and upper regimes. Furthermore, improvements in the global stock, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and gold markets enhance the BRICS stock market performance. Increases in implied volatility indices lead to drops in the BRICS markets.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130922855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper documents participation of special interest groups in negotiations of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Using data on the tari§ reduction schedules mandated by the agreement, it shows that industries represented by strong lobby groups were faced with more favorable tari§ reduction paths in both countries: phase-out periods were longer at home and shorter in the partner country. This result provides evidence on the involvement of industry lobbying in negotiation of regional trade agreements and suggests that countries negotiating trade agreements are responsive to the interests of lobbying groups from across the border. Both results provide important implications for the political economy theory of trade agreements.
{"title":"Regional Trade Agreements and Cross‐Border Lobbying: Empirical Evidence from the Canada–US Free Trade Agreement Negotiations","authors":"Andrey Stoyanov","doi":"10.1111/roie.12205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12205","url":null,"abstract":"This paper documents participation of special interest groups in negotiations of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Using data on the tari§ reduction schedules mandated by the agreement, it shows that industries represented by strong lobby groups were faced with more favorable tari§ reduction paths in both countries: phase-out periods were longer at home and shorter in the partner country. This result provides evidence on the involvement of industry lobbying in negotiation of regional trade agreements and suggests that countries negotiating trade agreements are responsive to the interests of lobbying groups from across the border. Both results provide important implications for the political economy theory of trade agreements.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134274369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The sources of the balance of payments imbalances in the Euro area can be characterized by a combination of four phenomena: (i) the credit imbalances between the core and the periphery of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) (ii) the credit misallocation between the tradable and the nontradable sectors in the periphery (iii) the rapid increase in the output and the price of nontradable goods in the periphery since the beginning of the EMU and (iv) the current account imbalances within the EMU. This paper explains all four of these stylized facts within a single model as a result of the interaction between the common monetary policy, inflation heterogeneity and a relaxation of the credit constraint in the nontradable sector of the periphery. When nontradable goods are used as collateral, an increase in their prices can initiate an overborrowing spiral and lead to a balance of payment imbalances. Furthermore, the model endogenizes differences in unit labor costs between the core and the periphery of the Euro area.
{"title":"Overborrowing and Balance of Payments Imbalances in a Monetary Union","authors":"Mouhamadou Sy","doi":"10.1111/roie.12208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12208","url":null,"abstract":"The sources of the balance of payments imbalances in the Euro area can be characterized by a combination of four phenomena: (i) the credit imbalances between the core and the periphery of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) (ii) the credit misallocation between the tradable and the nontradable sectors in the periphery (iii) the rapid increase in the output and the price of nontradable goods in the periphery since the beginning of the EMU and (iv) the current account imbalances within the EMU. This paper explains all four of these stylized facts within a single model as a result of the interaction between the common monetary policy, inflation heterogeneity and a relaxation of the credit constraint in the nontradable sector of the periphery. When nontradable goods are used as collateral, an increase in their prices can initiate an overborrowing spiral and lead to a balance of payment imbalances. Furthermore, the model endogenizes differences in unit labor costs between the core and the periphery of the Euro area.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115507717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper uses plant-level data from the manufacturing sector of Chile for the period 1995–2007 to examine the effect of real exchange rate (RER) volatility on imports of intermediate inputs at the micro level. Using input–output tables, we construct sector-level RERs relevant for input import decisions and find that increases in the RER and its volatility reduce the fraction of imported intermediate inputs used by plants, while plants' probability of importing is not affected. Thus, fluctuations in the RER affect the intensive margin of imports (the amount of inputs imported) but not the extensive margin (the decision to import).
{"title":"Real Exchange Rate Volatility and Imports of Intermediate Inputs: A Microeconometric Analysis of Manufacturing Plants","authors":"Ricardo A. López, Huong (Vina) Nguyen","doi":"10.1111/roie.12192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12192","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses plant-level data from the manufacturing sector of Chile for the period 1995–2007 to examine the effect of real exchange rate (RER) volatility on imports of intermediate inputs at the micro level. Using input–output tables, we construct sector-level RERs relevant for input import decisions and find that increases in the RER and its volatility reduce the fraction of imported intermediate inputs used by plants, while plants' probability of importing is not affected. Thus, fluctuations in the RER affect the intensive margin of imports (the amount of inputs imported) but not the extensive margin (the decision to import).","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129529877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Using a specific-factors' model, with two goods (a shift-working good and a non-shift-working good), three factors (capital specific to shift-working, land specific to non-shift-working and labor) and two countries (Home and Foreign), which are located in different time zones, we highlight the impact of trade in labor services via communication networks on factor prices and production patterns. If two countries are identical in size, then under free trade in labor services, all workers work only in their local daytime, and night shift in each country is performed by imported labor services supplied by residents of the other country in their local daytime. Night-time wage becomes the same as daytime wage (a wage equalization result). Other factor prices are also equalized. In both countries, capital rental rate increases, while land rent decreases. However, if two countries are different in size, trade in labor services does not equalize wages: in the large country, wages for night-shift workers are higher than daytime wages and some residents work at night; in the small country, daytime wages become higher than night-time wages and no one works at night, and night-shift work is done by imported labor services from the large country. Land rent in the small country decreases. Land rent in the large country may or may not decrease, but it is always higher than in the small country. Capital rental rates in both countries are equalized and increase.
{"title":"The Distributional and Allocative Impacts of Virtual Labor Mobility Across Time Zones Through Communication Networks","authors":"Noritsugu Nakanishi, Ngo van Long","doi":"10.1111/roie.12185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12185","url":null,"abstract":"Using a specific-factors' model, with two goods (a shift-working good and a non-shift-working good), three factors (capital specific to shift-working, land specific to non-shift-working and labor) and two countries (Home and Foreign), which are located in different time zones, we highlight the impact of trade in labor services via communication networks on factor prices and production patterns. If two countries are identical in size, then under free trade in labor services, all workers work only in their local daytime, and night shift in each country is performed by imported labor services supplied by residents of the other country in their local daytime. Night-time wage becomes the same as daytime wage (a wage equalization result). Other factor prices are also equalized. In both countries, capital rental rate increases, while land rent decreases. However, if two countries are different in size, trade in labor services does not equalize wages: in the large country, wages for night-shift workers are higher than daytime wages and some residents work at night; in the small country, daytime wages become higher than night-time wages and no one works at night, and night-shift work is done by imported labor services from the large country. Land rent in the small country decreases. Land rent in the large country may or may not decrease, but it is always higher than in the small country. Capital rental rates in both countries are equalized and increase.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124015458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The literature on the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model has concentrated on the production side, particularly the unrealistic assumptions of identical techniques and factor price equalization. However, less is known about the demand side. In this paper, we compare the supply side assumptions versus the demand side assumptions as a cause of the empirical failures in the HOV prediction. While the relaxation in the supply side assumptions is crucial to predict the direction of factor trade, the demand side assumptions are shown to play an important role in explaining why factor trade is “missing” in relation to the HOV prediction. For example of the slope test for labor, the supply side repair improves from 0.026 to 0.162, whereas the demand side repair improves significantly from 0.162 to 0.891.
{"title":"Per Capita Income and the Mystery of Missing Trade","authors":"J. Cassing, Shuichiro Nishioka","doi":"10.1111/roie.12180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12180","url":null,"abstract":"The literature on the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model has concentrated on the production side, particularly the unrealistic assumptions of identical techniques and factor price equalization. However, less is known about the demand side. In this paper, we compare the supply side assumptions versus the demand side assumptions as a cause of the empirical failures in the HOV prediction. While the relaxation in the supply side assumptions is crucial to predict the direction of factor trade, the demand side assumptions are shown to play an important role in explaining why factor trade is “missing” in relation to the HOV prediction. For example of the slope test for labor, the supply side repair improves from 0.026 to 0.162, whereas the demand side repair improves significantly from 0.162 to 0.891.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127751522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We analyze the implications of labor market reforms for an open economy’s human capital investment and future production. A stylized model shows that labor market deregulation can imply more positive current account balances if financial markets are imperfect and labor market institutions not only distort labor allocation, but also smooth income. Empirically, in OECD country-level panel data, we find that labor market deregulation has been positively related to current account surpluses on average and more strongly so when and where financial market access was more limited. These results are robust to inclusion of standard determinants of current account imbalances, and do not appear to be driven by cyclical phenomena.
{"title":"Reforms, Finance, and Current Accounts","authors":"G. Bertola, Anna Lo Prete","doi":"10.1111/roie.12176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12176","url":null,"abstract":"We analyze the implications of labor market reforms for an open economy’s human capital investment and future production. A stylized model shows that labor market deregulation can imply more positive current account balances if financial markets are imperfect and labor market institutions not only distort labor allocation, but also smooth income. Empirically, in OECD country-level panel data, we find that labor market deregulation has been positively related to current account surpluses on average and more strongly so when and where financial market access was more limited. These results are robust to inclusion of standard determinants of current account imbalances, and do not appear to be driven by cyclical phenomena.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133454246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates whether trade and financial openness has weakened the inflation–output trade-off and caused a shift in the preferences of monetary authorities. Based on the backward-looking Phillips curve and a Taylor-type interest rate rule, our results for France, the UK and the USA for the 1970–2012 period do not provide support for the relevance of globalization in making inflation less responsive to output expansions. Moreover, the change of preferences of Central Banks towards growth-oriented objectives is neither due to higher trade nor to financial globalization.
{"title":"Is Globalization Weakening the Inflation–Output Relationship?","authors":"Antonia López‐Villavicencio, S. Saglio","doi":"10.1111/roie.12130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12130","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates whether trade and financial openness has weakened the inflation–output trade-off and caused a shift in the preferences of monetary authorities. Based on the backward-looking Phillips curve and a Taylor-type interest rate rule, our results for France, the UK and the USA for the 1970–2012 period do not provide support for the relevance of globalization in making inflation less responsive to output expansions. Moreover, the change of preferences of Central Banks towards growth-oriented objectives is neither due to higher trade nor to financial globalization.","PeriodicalId":351939,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Review of International Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131170298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}