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232. Wholesalers and Retailers in US Trade
- Author:
- J. Bradford Jensen, Andrew B. Bernard, Peter K. Schott, and Stephen J. Redding
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- International trade models typically assume that producers in one country trade directly with final consumers in another. In reality, of course, trade can involve long chains of potentially independent actors who move goods through wholesale and retail distribution networks. These networks likely affect the magnitude and nature of trade frictions and hence both the pattern of trade and its welfare gains. To promote further understanding of the means by which goods move across borders, this paper examines the extent to which US exports and imports flow through wholesalers and retailers versus producing and consuming firms.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States
233. Do Developed and Developing Countries Compete Head to Head in High Tech?
- Author:
- Robert Z. Lawrence and Lawrence Edwards
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Concerns that growth in developing countries could worsen the US terms of trade and that increased US trade with developing countries will increase US wage inequality both implicitly reflect the assumption that goods produced in the United States and developing countries are close substitutes and that specialization is incomplete. In this paper we show on the contrary that there are distinctive patterns of international specialization and that developed and developing countries export fundamentally different products, especially those classified as high tech. Judged by export shares, the United States and developing countries specialize in quite different product categories that, for the most part, do not overlap. Moreover, even when exports are classified in the same category, there are large and systematic differences in unit values that suggest the products made by developed and developing countries are not very close substitutes—developed country products are far more sophisticated.
- Topic:
- Development, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Science and Technology, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- United States
234. The Margins of US Trade
- Author:
- J. Bradford Jensen, Andrew B. Bernard, Peter K. Schott, and Stephen J. Redding
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Recent research in international trade emphasizes the importance of firms' extensive margins for understanding overall patterns of trade as well as how firms respond to specific events such as trade liberalization. In this paper, we use detailed US trade statistics to provide a broad overview of how the margins of trade contribute to variation in US imports and exports across trading partners, types of trade (i.e., arm's length versus related party) and both short and long time horizons. Among other results, we highlight the differential behavior of related-party and arm's-length trade in response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States
235. Intra-Firm Trade and Product Contractibility
- Author:
- J. Bradford Jensen, Andrew B. Bernard, Peter K. Schott, and Stephen J. Redding
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the determinants of intra-firm trade in US imports using detailed country-product data. We create a new measure of product contractibility based on the degree of intermediation in international trade for the product. We find important roles for the interaction of country and product characteristics in determining intra-firm trade shares. Intra-firm trade is high for products with low levels of contractibility sourced from countries with weak governance, for skill-intensive products from skill-scarce countries, and for capital-intensive products from capital-abundant countries.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States
236. Revisiting the NAFTA Agenda on Climate Change
- Author:
- Jeffrey J. Schott and Meera Fickling
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- A year ago, we wrote a policy brief titled Setting the NAFTA Agenda on Climate Change, which explored issues of energy and environmental cooperation among the three North American countries in light of the climate legislation that had recently passed the US House of Representatives. Similar legislation did not pass the Senate, and Congressional leaders are now considering much more modest measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reforming US energy policy.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States and North America
237. Deepening China-Taiwan Relations through the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement
- Author:
- Daniel H. Rosen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- On Sunday, June 13, 2010 representatives from China and Taiwan held a third round of talks in Beijing on an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that would liberalize important aspects of cross-Strait economic relations. Details of what was agreed and what remains under negotiation are still trickling out, and in any case the nature of this framework is that various elements will be agreed upon on an ongoing basis rather than at once. But it is clear from available details that ECFA will be an ambitious accord that fundamentally changes the game between Taiwan and China and hence affects the regional economy and even the transpacific tempo for the United States.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Taiwan
238. Hobbling Exports and Destroying Jobs
- Author:
- Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Theodore H. Moran
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The US House of Representatives has just passed the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR 4213). This bill will hurt American workers, reduce American exports, and make American companies less competitive in the international marketplace. Since the US Senate has already passed companion legislation, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act (S 3336), these ill-considered bills could soon be reconciled in conference and become the law of the land. If so, American firms and workers will pay the price.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
239. A Trade Agenda for the G-20
- Author:
- Jeffrey J. Schott
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- For the past 18 months, the G-20 summit countries have worked together to contain the global economic crisis and encourage a sustainable economic recovery. As part of these efforts, the G-20 leaders have sought to constrain the protectionist pressures that invariably arise during times of economic stress and to maintain an open international trading regime. The G-20 trade agenda, as enunciated in the three summit declarations, has covered two specific trade actions: a “standstill” on new protectionism and a charge to complete the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Rights, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Washington
240. Higher Taxes on Multinationals Would Hurt US Workers and Exports
- Author:
- Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Theodore H. Moran
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- As presidential candidate, Barack Obama repeatedly advocated tax “reforms” aimed squarely at US-based multinational enterprises (MNEs). As president, he again declared—in the same State of the Union address that laid out an ambitious goal for export expansion—that “it is time to finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the United States of America."
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States