Developing Economies最新文献

This study quantifies the cost of unwanted pregnancy in relation to early childhood health in 62 developing countries. The endogeneity problem is dealt with through the household fixed-effects model that utilizes the variation in the degree of birth wantedness among children within a household. The study uncovers the serious health consequences of children born unwanted. Specifically, children from unwanted births tend to have lower height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height by 0.054, 0.065, and 0.04 standard deviations, respectively. We further present suggestive evidence that these health consequences might be ascribed to inadequate prenatal care and unfavorable postpartum behaviors among unintentionally pregnant women. Because poor health in early childhood can lead to long-term negative ramifications, it is urgent to make contraceptives accessible to reduce unwanted births as well as to implement effective measures to assist women facing unwanted pregnancies.

This study empirically investigates the effects of ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) tariffs on nontariff measures (NTMs) in Vietnam from 2012 to 2018. Our findings reveal the following: First, our gravity estimation demonstrates that although the reduction of ATIGA tariffs increases Vietnam's imports, the introduction of certain NTM types, particularly price control and finance measures, decreases them. Second, the reduction of ATIGA tariffs tends to introduce price control measures in particular. Third, when ATIGA tariffs decrease, the pre-shipment inspection, nonautomatic licensing, and finance measures are more likely to be eliminated for products in which Vietnam has high export competitiveness. Fourth, both ATIGA tariffs and ASEAN+1 free trade agreement tariffs have significant effects on the introduction of NTMs in Vietnam. Finally, we found that the reduction in ATIGA tariffs also results in decreasing most favored nation tariffs.

Recent studies on the China–US trade war surprisingly find complete tariff pass-through into import prices for both China and the United States. This paper provides additional evidence of tariff pass-through in China. Using firm-level monthly trade transaction data, we estimate the tariff pass-through for Chinese imports in the period of WTO accession during 2000–2006. Consistent with evidence during the trade war, tariff pass-through is also complete for tariff reductions induced by the WTO accession. Structural estimates of export supply elasticity also imply complete tariff pass-through. Additionally, we find the complete pass-through result holds regardless of firm ownership types, product end-use, or China's market share in world imports.

This study empirically examines how a reduction in input tariffs changes firms' choices between domestic and foreign inputs. In order to do so, we employ Indonesian manufacturing surveys from 2002 to 2010 and compute the share of imported inputs among total inputs at the firm-product level. With this dataset, we examine the effect of preferential tariffs for ASEAN countries—that is, ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) tariffs. Our findings can be summarized as follows: First, we found that a reduction in AFTA tariffs in Indonesia encouraged plants to raise their share of foreign inputs. Second, such an effect of AFTA tariffs was observed only for indigenous plants, or those whose primary sales market is the domestic market. Third, we found that the more productive plants experienced a greater impact of AFTA tariffs on foreign inputs. In short, the reduction in AFTA tariffs encouraged input reallocation, at least in some specific firms in Indonesia.