Regional Equality and National Development in China: Is There a Trade‐Off?

Despite high economic growth over the past 30 years, China's substantial and persistent regional disparities have been the subject of continuing concern to policy makers, as well as the target of a wide variety of policies. An important issue in the policy debate about whether and how best to attack these disparities is whether measures designed to improve regional equality come at a cost to national development, i.e., whether there is a trade‐off between the level of national output and the equality of its distribution across the regions. There is little analysis of this issue in the literature. We help fill this gap by setting up a two‐region model designed to capture some of the salient features of the Chinese economy. We subject this model to a number of policy shocks and assess the effects on regional disparities in per capita output, on the one hand, and on aggregate output on the other to investigate the trade‐off. We also consider income and welfare as alternatives to output. We find, first, that disparities in per capita output, income, and welfare may move in different directions so that it is important to specify which disparity is being targeted. Second, since both disparities and aggregate outcomes are endogenous, how they move together depends on the nature of the shock driving the model. Thus, some policies designed to reduce disparities face a trade‐off and others do not. Only a reduction in internal migration restrictions unambiguously reduces all three disparity measures and increases aggregate output, income, and welfare. All other policies considered face a trade‐off in at least one dimension. Third, whether there is a trade‐off depends also on the time horizon—some policies face a trade‐off in the short run and not in the long run and vice versa.     

Ever-transient FDI and ever-polarizing regional development: Revisiting conventional theories of regional development in the context of China,Southeast and South Asia

In this new age of globalization, regions attempt to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to achieve regionally balanced development. We revisit existing theories of regional development and FDI by analyzing recent data sets on FDI, employment, and trade in China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Using Chinese provincial data in 2004, 2008, and 2013 and applying panel estimations, our econometric results demonstrate that FDI remarkably influenced the concentration of employment in manufacturing, financial, and business services industries within the three Chinese macro-regions. We also find that FDI is ever transient, always moving away from high-cost to low-cost production bases across different regions. This transient nature of FDI is spatially selective and biased, and not able to generate the trickle-down effects to other neighboring regions. That is why FDI recently moved from China to Southeast and South Asia rather than from its coastal to inland regions. Furthermore, we show that this nature of FDI generally leads to polarization development for regions. As a synthesis or extension of the existing theories, we propose a leapfrog polarization pattern and strategy for vast developing countries in considering their regional development strategies.     

美国技术性壁垒对中美茶叶贸易影响的实证分析

为探究影响中国茶叶对美国出口的因素及其影响程度,根据1991—2010年相关茶叶贸易数据,分析了近20年中美两国的茶叶贸易情况。通过回归模型实证分析发现,技术性壁垒是中国茶叶对美出口的主要障碍,此外中国茶叶单位平均价格和总产量等也会对两国茶叶贸易产生显著影响。通过对这些因素之间的影响关系进一步定量分析,提出中国茶叶出口应对美国技术性壁垒的政策建议：政府健全中国茶叶管理的标准化体系,企业提高技术创新能力并增强标准化意识,行业协会自我改进信息服务工作。     

The Roles of Population,Place, and Institution in Student Diversity in American Higher Education

Student racial and ethnic diversity in higher education is an important and timely topic, as institutions, policy makers, and economists increasingly recognize the value that accrues at many levels of having a skilled and diverse student body and workforce. Students benefit from learning in a diverse environment; firms may benefit from a diverse workforce; and more demographically diverse regions may experience higher rates of economic growth. However, the forces governing institution‐level student diversity are poorly understood, as little prior research on the topic exists. This paper uses school enrollment data to parse out the contribution of institutional characteristics, geographical setting, and local demographic characteristics to student body diversity at each level of study. Results indicate that geographical location and local demographic composition play a role in student body diversity, as do the type and orientation of the institution. Institutional characteristics explain a lot of the variation in student body diversity and actual location of schools matters less than the demographic composition of young people around that location. Two broad conclusions emerge with regard to schools seeking to increase their student diversity. First, some may find their efforts hampered by circumstances outside their control (e.g., location). Second, the influence of public/private status and even school size suggests further research on the ways in which these factors influence student diversity so that eventual policy action can be more effective.     

Trade,Wage Inequalities and Disparities between Countries: The Technology Connection

ABSTRACT This paper takes seriously the idea that international trade has played an important role in explaining both some convergence between developed economies as well as rising inequalities at the personal level. Previous studies used traditional trade theory as a reference framework. The empirical consensus is now that differences in factor endowment explain at best a small fraction of rising wage inequalities. This argument, by contrast, builds on labor specialization and increasing returns. Deeper economic integration allows trade in differentiated intermediate goods and primary tasks, thus transforming local increasing returns into global increasing returns. This pushes towards geographical equalization. At the same time, deeper integration also increases the size of the pool of available skilled workers. This may lead them to a‘technological secession’as it makes more skill-demanding technologies more profitable. Technological secession in turn fosters wage inequalities at the personal level.     

科学理解农药最大残留限量的概念

农药在作物及食品生产中的有益作用已为世界所公认,但是食品中残留微量农药是否对人体健康有危害仍是目前人们关注的焦点。允许的农药残留不应该对人体健康产生影响,因为任何农药在可以使用前必须经过一个包括科学的风险评估在内的农药登记管理程序的评审。最大残留限量（MRLs）是指在优良农业措施（GAP）下使用某农药可能产生的在食物中的最高残留浓度（单位为mg/kg, 指每公斤商品中残留农药的毫克数）,其数值必须是毒理学上可以接受的。MRLs的主要作用是来检验食品生产过程是否严格执行GAP,以及帮助经农药处理的农产品在国际贸易中正常进行进出口活动。MRLs不是一个绝对的安全限量,即接触残留超标的食品并不一定肯定意味着对健康有危害。但是MRLs也经常作为食品安全管理的第一道防线,成为保障人类健康最初级的预警机制。MRLs是各国政府和联合国食品法典委员会设定的,这些设定的标准被应用于国际贸易中。     

Dynamics of the Russia–China Forest Products Trade

Relying primarily on English language scholarship, this paper seeks to highlight the dynamics of China's economic integration beyond its borders as Chinese economic actors extend their search for commodities—in this case into the Russian Federation for timber products. The paper considers the shifts in the political economy of Russian forestry exports from a predominantly domestic and Japan‐focused trade during the 1947–1991 Cold War era to a north–south trajectory increasingly emphasizing trade with China from 1993 to 2010. Chinese and Russian bilateral trade data, acting as a barometer of national forestry‐related policies, highlight the economic convergence and benefits brought to both the Russian and Chinese timber sectors over the past two decades. Far from being an environmentally deterministic process—one based on the physical geographic characteristics on the ground in both of these states—this binational commodity trade shows that the geography of the Russia–China forest product trade is highly dynamic, temporally variable, and intimately intertwined with national political and economic considerations.     

浅谈绿色贸易壁垒对我国玩具出口贸易的影响及应对措施

分析了绿色贸易壁垒对我国玩具出口贸易所产生的影响。从我国的国情出发,针对玩具出口面临的问题,从政府和企业两方面着重探讨了我国玩具出口应对绿色贸易壁垒的措施,以进一步促进我国玩具出口贸易的发展。     

中国贝类产品的国际竞争力分析

为研究中国贝类产品的国际竞争力,选用生产要素和进出口2个层面的4个指标,即资源禀赋系数、国际市场占有率、显示性比较优势指数和贸易竞争优势指数测算2001—2011年中国贝类产品的国际竞争力。综合分析得出中国贝类产品在生产要素层面具有突出的资源禀赋优势;在进出口层面中,代表市场占有率的国际市场占有率及代表进出口的贸易竞争优势都表现出极强的优势,而反映出口所占比例的显示性竞争优势指数则较弱。根据结果提出合理调整贝类产品贸易出口结构、加强实施品牌战略和设立贝类产品生产安全卫生管理体系3个对策。     

Empirical Study on the Sustainable Growth of the Public Companies in China

The sustainable growth is the corporation's final object to the maximum of the stock-holder's wealth. To validate the development of the Chinese public companies after Dengxiaoping's Nanxun speech ,this paper tests the sustainable growth status of the Chinese public companies during the period from 1993 to 2000 by using mathematical statistics method and sustainable growth model brought forward by Robert Higgins and James Van Herne. These companies are classified by trade. The test results show that no trade realized sustainable growth except electronic and electric trade. Results also indicate that public companies in light industry and agricultural sectors have a trend of under-investment while those in other sectors have a trend of over investment.     

非洲“棉花四国”棉业发展分析与开发合作建议

弄清非洲“棉花四国”生产、贸易发展情况和中国与其合作的成效,可为中国相关机构和企业推进合作提供参考。笔者依据联合国粮食及农业组织数据库查询的非洲“棉花四国”棉花生产和贸易数据,分析了上述四国1961―2017年的57年间,尤其是2011年以来的棉花生产动态和贸易形势。自与中国在棉花领域开展合作以来,非洲“棉花四国”通过国内政策支持和中国的援助,实现了棉花总产、收获面积的大幅增加,持续提升了“四国”在非洲植棉中的比重;近年出口到中国的棉花呈减少趋势;马里和布基纳法索的已梳棉出口从无到有,增长迅猛。反映出在“四国”植棉发展政策和中国合作援助的共同推动下,其国内棉花生产积极性提振,产能得到快速提升,且棉花加工业初步发展。在上述分析基础上,结合四国棉业政策,提出在这些国家进行棉业开发的相关建议。     

The Economic Status of Areas Surrounding Major U.S. Container Ports: Evidence and Policy Issues

ABSTRACT This article examines the current economic status of the areas surrounding major U.S. container ports. We define a “port district” as the geographic area within a 7.5‐mile radius of a port. Our sample includes the 10 largest container ports in the U.S. We find that when we compare port districts to their surrounding metropolitan areas, household unemployment and poverty rates are significantly higher in port districts. Thus, the same ports that serve as “economic engines” for the region and nation may be the cause of economic decline and deterioration in the immediate areas that surround them. This presents a challenge for policy makers who want to preserve the benefits of international trade while facing increasing opposition to port expansion by local communities.     

The Spatial Dimension of Trade‐ and FDI‐driven Productivity Growth in Chinese Provinces: A Global Cointegration Approach

This paper analyses the major determinants of long‐ and short‐run labour productivity evolution for Chinese provinces between 1978 and 2010. The role played by openness to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) constitutes the main focus of this analysis. From a methodological perspective, our main contribution is the inclusion of spatial effects into a dynamic error correction modelling framework. The results show that, in addition to domestic factors such as investment intensity and infrastructure use, trade openness and inward FDI also exert a direct impact on labour productivity. Furthermore, the geographical environment has a strong indirect influence on productivity: The more a region is surrounded by high‐productive regions with good infrastructure and linkages to the world economy, the higher are its productivity level and growth rate. The magnitude of these impacts varies by spatial regime (coastal, interior provinces) and time period in focus. Especially in the recent past, trade and FDI activity appear to be increasingly important drivers of regional productivity evolution, both for coastal and interior regions. These findings have important policy implications: In order to fully exploit the benefits from such spillovers, coordinated industrial policies which foster regional complementarities and support the free movement of production factors across regional borders are crucial.     

Is There a Trade and Defense Perimeter? The Regional Impacts of Trade and Defense Spending in the United States, 1978-1986

Using an expanded shift share technique to impute international trade-related industrial job change, the extent to which structural changes in trade and defense spending appear to explain state economic performance differentials is explored. The findings show there is limited support for the “trade perimeter” argument, but strong support for the hypothesized relationship between military procurement spending and state trade performance. To the extent that defense commitments, especially to private sector procurement and R & D, have operated as an informal industrial policy, particularly by guaranteeing strong domestic sales, they have enabled a significant number of states peripheral to the traditional industrial heartland to build a strong international trade posture. The conclusion offers observations on the economic development implications of these findings.     

Regionalisation or Globalisation of Automotive Production Networks? Lessons from Import Patterns of Four European Countries

The automotive industry has long had a reputation for organising its production networks on a macro‐regional scale. However, over the 2000–2012 time span, extended vertical disintegration of both carmakers and mega‐suppliers, and the 2008–2009 trade collapse suggest that this geographical organisation pattern could have weakened, giving way to a genuine globalisation of auto‐parts trade. This paper first reviews arguments likely to explain why automotive production networks are multi‐scalar, ranging from local to global. Empirical analysis of international auto‐parts trade data from Germany, France, UK, and Spain suggests that there has been little progression in globalisation of production networks. General data features can be best explained as follows: 1) the auto‐parts import level of a given country is mainly driven by its automobile production level, and by the degree of presence of foreign headquartered carmakers; and 2) the breakdown of imports into procurement flows from near‐distant and far‐distant countries is mainly driven by the degree of presence of carmakers headquartered in far‐distant countries.     

世界大蒜贸易以及中国出口动态分析

分析了世界大蒜区域贸易状况、世界大蒜主要进出口国家的贸易状况、世界大蒜进出口价格以及中国大蒜的出口总量、出口流向和出口国际竞争力,有助于深入了解世界大蒜贸易格局和中国大蒜出口动态。     

The impact of climate changes on agriculture export trade in Pakistan: Evidence from time‐series analysis

Agriculture is one of the primary contributors to Pakistan's economy. However, over the last few decades, the atmospheric carbon dioxide emission has been amplified to a great extent in Pakistan. This amplification may cause climate change, global warming, and environmental mitigation in Pakistan. This paper empirically investigates the impact of CO₂ emissions on the agricultural export trade of Pakistan over the period 1975–2017. Evidence suggests that climate change could be a primary cause for the decline in Pakistan's agriculture export trade; no studies have been carried out for this specific issue, particularly over time. In this paper, the empirical analysis suggests the negative coefficient of agriculture export trade with CO₂ emissions subsequently decreases agriculture export trade, which leads to direct impact on Pakistan's economy. Both theoretical and empirical outcomes suggest that the adaptation of clean and green energies and technologies are the key to reduce pollution in Pakistan. Overall, the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on agriculture export trade are stronger in the long‐run dynamics, thus making the finding heterogeneous. Possible initiatives should be taken by the government of Pakistan to improve the agriculture sector and it should also introduce new policies to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide.     

东盟国家大豆种植及其大豆产品进出口结构分析

为了更好的开展大豆科研工作,本研究对1996—2019年间东盟国家大豆种植规模和2010—2019年间东盟国家的大豆、豆油、豆粕的进出口贸易额数据进行统计分析。结果发现东盟十国的马来西亚、新加坡和文莱未种植大豆,因此本研究中的东盟国家指的是缅甸、老挝、越南、泰国、柬埔寨、菲律宾、印度尼西亚这7个东盟国家（以下简称“东盟七国”）。东盟七国的大豆总收获面积、总产量呈下降的趋势（但缅甸、老挝和柬埔寨的大豆收获面积和总产量总体上升）,东盟七国的大豆平均单产总体提高。2010—2019年间,东盟七国大豆、豆油和豆粕的进出口贸易额都在大幅增长,但均呈贸易逆差;其中豆粕进口贸易额占比最大、进口依赖度高。东盟七国的进口大豆和豆粕来源国主要是转基因大豆生产大国;大豆是东盟七国的主要出口类型,且主要出口目的地为欧盟、中国和日韩等地区。东盟七国大豆、豆油、豆粕自中国进口贸易额均下降,出口中国的大豆和豆油贸易额均上升,但几无豆粕出口。建议云南省农业科学院在科技力量和品种资源优势的基础上,进一步加大与东盟七国的科研技术合作与投入,开展秋大豆科技联合攻关,并进行产业化开发示范和替代种植。本研究对维护中国大豆进口来源国多元化和区域粮食安全具有十分重要的意义。     

The U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement and Commodity Transportation Services among U.S. States

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) implemented beginning in 1989 by the United States aid Canada will have significant impacts on bilateral trading patterns. In addition to its long-term, investment-related repercussions, the FTA will affect the volume, commodity composition, and spatial distribution of trade and, consequently, the transportation services required to move commodities between the two nations. This paper examines the changing spatial structure of U.S.-Canadian trade under the FTA. It employs commodity-specific analyses of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as price and income elasticities of demand, to estimate sectoral and special changes among U.S. states in total, land, water, and airborne commodity flows since 1988 attributable to the FTA. The analysis details the assumptions and methodology used, elaborates upon the likely consequences for me nation's ten largest customs districts, particularly New York, and concludes with some comments on other forces that may alter the expected results.