Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade?

Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade? PDF Author: Gabriel J. Felbermayr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade?

Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade? PDF Author: Gabriel J. Felbermayr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description


The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly But Unevenly

The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly But Unevenly PDF Author: Mr.Arvind Subramanian
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451859430
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
This paper furnishes robust evidence that the GATT/WTO has had a powerful and positive impact on trade. The impact has, however, been uneven. GATT/WTO membership for industrial countries has been associated with a large increase in imports estimated at about 40 percent of world trade. The same has not been true for developing country members, although those that joined after the Uruguay Round have benefited from increased imports. Similarly, there have been asymmetric effects among sectors, with WTO membership associated with substantially greater imports in sectors where barriers are low. These results are consistent with the history and design of the institution, which presided over significant trade liberalization by the industrial countries except in sectors such as food and clothing; largely exempted developing countries from the obligations to liberalize under the principle of special and differential treatment; but attempted to redress the latter by imposing greater obligations on developing country members that joined after the Uruguay Round.

China and the WTO

China and the WTO PDF Author: Petros C. Mavroidis
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691206597
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
"China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 was hailed as the natural conclusion of a long march that started with the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s. However, China's participation in the WTO since joining has been anything but smooth, and its self-proclaimed "socialist market economy" system has alienated many of its global trading partners - as recent tensions with the United States exemplify. Prevailing diplomatic attitudes tend to focus on two diametrically opposing approaches to dealing with the emerging problems: the first is to demand that China completely overhaul its economic regime; the second is to stay idle and accept that the WTO must accommodate different economic regimes, no matter how idiosyncratic and incompatible. In this book, Mavroidis and Sapir propose a third approach. They point out that, while the WTO (as well as its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT]) has previously managed the accession of socialist countries or of big trading nations, it has never before dealt with a country as large or as powerful as China. Therefore, in order to simultaneously uphold its core principles and accommodate China's unique geopolitical position, the authors argue that the WTO needs to translate some of its implicit legal understanding into explicit treaty language. Focusing on two core complaints - that Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefit from unfair trade advantages, and that domestic companies (both private as well as SOEs) impose forced technology transfer on foreign companies as a condition for accessing the Chinese market - they lay out their specific proposals for successful legislative amendment"--.

The Intensive Margin in Trade

The Intensive Margin in Trade PDF Author: Ana Fernandes
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484386175
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
The Melitz model highlights the importance of the extensive margin (the number of firms exporting) for trade flows. Using the World Bank’s Exporter Dynamics Database (EDD) featuring firm-level exports from 50 countries, we find that around 50 percent of variation in exports is along the extensive margin—a quantitative victory for the Melitz framework. The remaining 50 percent on the intensive margin (exports per exporting firm) contradicts a special case of Melitz with Pareto-distributed firm productivity, which has become a tractable benchmark. This benchmark model predicts that, conditional on the fixed costs of exporting, all variation in exports across trading partners should occur on the extensive margin. We find that moving from a Pareto to a lognormal distribution allows the Melitz model to match the role of the intensive margin in the EDD. We use likelihood methods and the EDD to estimate a generalized Melitz model with a joint lognormal distribution for firm-level productivity, fixed costs and demand shifters, and use “exact hat algebra” to quantify the effects of a decline in trade costs on trade flows and welfare in the estimated model. The welfare effects turn out to be quite close to those in the standard Melitz-Pareto model when we choose the Pareto shape parameter to fit the average trade elasticity implied by our estimated Melitz-lognormal model, although there are significant differences regarding the effects on trade flows.

The History and Future of the World Trade Organization

The History and Future of the World Trade Organization PDF Author: Craig VanGrasstek
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 704

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Book Description
This comprehensive account of the establishment of the WTO focuses on those who shaped its creation as well as those who have influenced its evolution. It also examines trade negotiations, the WTO's dispute settlement role, the process of joining, and what lies ahead for the organization.

China's Growing Role in World Trade

China's Growing Role in World Trade PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226239721
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 603

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Book Description
In less than three decades, China has grown from playing a negligible role in international trade to being one of the world's largest exporters, a substantial importer of raw materials, intermediate outputs, and other goods, and both a recipient and source of foreign investment. Not surprisingly, China's economic dynamism has generated considerable attention and concern in the United States and beyond. While some analysts have warned of the potential pitfalls of China's rise—the loss of jobs, for example—others have highlighted the benefits of new market and investment opportunities for US firms. Bringing together an expert group of contributors, China's Growing Role in World Trade undertakes an empirical investigation of the effects of China's new status. The essays collected here provide detailed analyses of the microstructure of trade, the macroeconomic implications, sector-level issues, and foreign direct investment. This volume's careful examination of micro data in light of established economic theories clarifies a number of misconceptions, disproves some conventional wisdom, and documents data patterns that enhance our understanding of China's trade and what it may mean to the rest of the world.

product standards,harmonization,and trade: evidence from the extensive margin

product standards,harmonization,and trade: evidence from the extensive margin PDF Author: Ben Shepherd
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : CDI.
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
Abstract: The author uses a new database of EU product standards in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sectors to present the first empirical evidence that international standards harmonization is associated with increased partner country export variety. A 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of internationally harmonized standards is associated with a 0.2 percent increase in partner country export variety, whereas a 10 percent increase in the total number of standards is associated with a nearly 6 percent decrease in product variety. Although small, the harmonization elasticity is statistically significant, and proves highly robust to sample changes and instrumental variables estimation using instruments motivated by political economy considerations. Moreover, it is found to be around 50 percent higher for low income countries, which suggests that they may be particularly constrained in adapting products to meet multiple standards. Numerical simulations show that these findings are consistent with a heterogeneous firms model of trade in which harmonization is beneficial at the extensive margin provided that any increases in compliance costs are not too large.

Export Diversification in Low-Income Countries and Small States: Do Country Size and Income Level Matter?

Export Diversification in Low-Income Countries and Small States: Do Country Size and Income Level Matter? PDF Author: Dongyeol Lee
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498315658
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
Export structure is less diversified in low-income countries (LICs) and especially small states that face resource constraints and small economic size. This paper explores the potential linkages between export structure and economic growth and its volatility in LICs and small states, using a range of indices of export concentration differing in the coverage of industries. The empirical analysis finds that export diversification may promote economic growth and reduce economic volatility in these countries. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that the economic benefits of export diversification differ by country size and income level—there are bigger benefits for relatively larger and poorer countries within the group of LICs and small states.

Changing Patterns of Global Trade

Changing Patterns of Global Trade PDF Author: Nagwa Riad
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1463973101
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 87

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Book Description
Changing Patterns of Global Trade outlines the factors underlying important shifts in global trade that have occurred in recent decades. The emergence of global supply chains and their increasing role in trade patterns allowed emerging market economies to boost their inputs in high-technology exports and is associated with increased trade interconnectedness.The analysis points to one important trend taking place over the last decade: the emergence of China as a major systemically important trading hub, reflecting not only the size of trade but also the increase in number of its significant trading partners.

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO PDF Author: World Trade Organization. China Round Table
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107174473
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
Twenty-first-century Africa is in a process of dynamic economic transformation. However, challenges remain in areas such as structural reform, governance, market turbulence, commodity pricing, and geopolitics. There is a critical need for African economies to assess growth models and strategies to foster increased, sustained, and inclusive growth. The book contributes to contemporary debate on key questions facing the continent, such as: How can Africa achieve deeper integration into the rules-based multilateral trading system and the global economy? What approaches and next steps are possible, according to economic and trade policymakers? What supportive roles can multilateral and regional institutions play? This volume is a product of the Fourth China Round Table, which took place during the WTO's Tenth Ministerial Conference, held in Kenya in December 2015. Supported by independent expert analyses, the book proposes a range of African perspectives on the role of trade, the WTO, and its future agenda.