Optimal Tariff and Endogenous Drivers for Trade Liberalization

Trade liberalization requires institutional coordination and openness,and is driven by a multitude of factors.This paper simulates endogenous optimal tariffs under different model structures to uncover the underlying drivers of trade liberalization.Parametric calibration and simulation methods based on the numeric general equilibrium model are employed to estimate the optimal tariff rates of countries with and without trade retaliation.Then,near-reality assumptions are added into the standard general equilibrium model structure,including the cross-border capital flow,multi-country assumption and trade cost,to simulate decreasing optimal tariff rates.The simulation results suggest that world economic development has increased the economic ties and interdependence among nations,making trade liberalization an endogenous optimal choice.The backlash against globalization in recent years is motivated by short-term factors,but will not persist in the long run since it goes against the law of economic growth and socio-economic development.

How Trade Liberalization of Intermediates Contributes to China's Technology Upgrade

Under a heterogeneous firm analysis framework,this paper creates a theoretical model to investigate how trade liberalization of intermediates influences the technology choice of firms based on the data of Chinese manufacturers during 2000-2006.According to our empirical result,after China's WTO entry,trade liberalization of intermediates significantly induced Chinese exporters to apply advanced technologies.In our further consideration of the differentiated productivity of firms,we found that such an effect is related to the initial productivity of firms and only significantly induces mediumproductivity firms to upgrade their technologies.In addition,the technology-promotion effect of trade liberalization of intermediates is the most significant for technology-intensive exporters and the least significant for labor-intensive exporters.

Input Trade Liberalization and Welfare Loss of Manufacturing Enterprises:Based on the Perspective of Efficient Market Power

Considering that upstream monopoly will lead to an exponential increase in the loss of social welfare,this paper investigates the impact of intermediate goods tariff concession on the welfare loss of manufacturing enterprises from the perspective of input trade liberalization and effective market power.It has been discovered that input trade liberalization significantly reduces the welfare loss of manufacturing enterprises.Due to the game condition in which oligopolies check each other and small businesses“gain from fishing”,the inhibitory impact increases as market share decreases.The mechanism test demonstrates that input trade liberalization boosts the effect of technical competition and minimizes welfare loss through promoting market development degree and reducing factor distortion.In addition,this paper also finds that the effect of input trade liberalization on high monopolistic power enterprises is obviously stronger than that of low monopolistic power enterprises.Furthermore,the impact on non-high-tech industries and capital-intensive enterprises is significant,while that on high-tech industries and labor-intensive industries is not.Therefore,the welfare loss should be investigated from the dual perspective of market structure and marker power.Competitiveness has an important effect,while trade liberalization of intermediate inputs has a pivotal effect on promoting market development and improving resource allocation efficiency.

Trade Liberalization and Wage Inequality： Evidence from the U.S. States

This paper examines the relationship between trade liberalization and wage inequality for 50 U.S. states during the period from 1999 to 2008. The Difference-in-Differences and fixed effects methods are employed to evaluate the effect of trade liberalization on wage inequality in the U.S. states. Empirical results reveal that trade liberalization and de-unionization do increase the wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers. Evidence shows skill-biased technological change has no significant impact on rising wage inequality. As Difference-in-Differences estimation on time-series cross sectional data involves many years, the conventional standard errors often understate the standard deviation of the estimators. This paper employs the standard bootstrapping procedure and the clustering error procedure to correct the problem, and all sign patterns still hold.

Examining the Trends and Influencing Factors of International Trade in the Era of New Economic Globalization

In the context of the new era of economic globalization,the development of international trade holds immense significance in fostering global economic recovery and advancing the process of global economic integration.Against this backdrop,aspects such as trade liberalization,digital trade,trade in services,and the influence of multinational companies are becoming increasingly prominent.Concurrently,factors encompassing economic,political,technological,and environmental considerations,as well as regional economic integration,will exert influence on the trajectory of international trade development.This paper aims to comprehensively explore the development trends of international trade and the myriad influencing factors within the framework of the new economic globalization.

Inter-Industrial Trade on Iran’s Air Pollution

The related issues to trade liberalization and its impact on the environmental quality have become important since late 1996. The previous studies have shown that there has not been consensus among the economists in this field. Paper is analyzing the effect of inter-industrial trade on the Iran’s air pollution. Also in this paper, the pollution haven hypothesis is tested in Iran. To study the effect of inter-industrial trade on the environment in two ways: 1) direct effect on the environment and 2) an indirect effect through growth and the effect of growth on the environment were examined. The model has been estimated by using the panel data method for Iran’s various industrial sectors over 1980-2014. The results show that inter-industrial trade has positive effect on Iran’s air pollution. Also, pollution haven hypothesis is valid in Iran.

Whether to Abolish or Introduce Dual Regulation as Trade and Environmental Policy?

China,which has already introduced an environmental tax in an effort to decarbonize,has recently begun emissions trading and is using two environmental policies in tandem,but there are concerns about the impact on growth and trade.Trade and environmental policies affect firms'entry and exit,resulting in changes in aggregate productivity and pollution emissions.This study compares the impacts of single regulation and dual regulation on welfare,using a research-and-development based growth model with heterogeneous firms.Under single regulation,the cleansing effect of trade liberalization could be undermined.Under dual regulation,trade liberalization decreases pollution and improves average productivity whereas decreasing total permits reduces pollution.From the perspective of improving welfare it is desirable to choose dual regulation because trade liberalization can reduce total pollution emissions via the cleansing effect of trade liberalization.

How Do China's Importing Firms Respond to Non-taritf Measures?

After the formation of the World Trade Organization(WTO)in 1995,most countries gradually reduced their import tariffs to a fairly low level.However,the reduced tariffs could not he simply read as a reduction in trade barriers.Indeed,many suspect that countries tend to use more non-tariff measures(NTMs),substituting them for tariff barriers,to protect their domestic economies.This paper uses newly compiled and detailed Chinese NTM data,together with highly disaggregated firm import data and manufacturing firm operational data,to investigate the impact of China s import-related NTMs on firm imports.The main empirical results show that,as in the case of tariff barriers,China s trade policy NTMs mainly inhibit firms'intermediate imports.In contrast,China s public policy NTMs significantly improve the intensive and extensive margins of firm s intermediate imports and raise the prices and quality of imported inputs.The greater the extent to which a firm engages in processing trade,the larger is the promoting effect of public policy NTMs on the firm s import margins far intermediate inputs,and the greater is the restricting ejfect on the prices and the quality of the firm's imported inputs.

An Evaluation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement:Market Access and Trading Rules

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP)agreement was signed on November15,2020.This marks the formal conclusion of the world's largest free tradeagreement in terms of population and economic scale.The RCEPagreement covers new liberalization commitments in goods,services,investment,and movement of natural persons,and addresses some emerging behind-the-border trade issues,to forge more transparent,open,and inclusive trade rules.Its aim is to build a comprehensive,modern,inclusive,and high-quality free trade agreement.This paper summarizes the framework and highlights of the RCEP agreement,measures the extent of tariff reduction from various perspectives,makes a quantitative assessment of the level of service trade liberalization of the member states adopting positive list commitments,and makes an in-depth analysis of trade rules and provisions in the RCEP agreement.Furthermore,this paper also makes a comprehensive comparison of main provisions among the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership,RCEP,and US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.The paper concludes with policy recommendations for Chinatopromote the implementationof the RCEPagreement.