Context Of International Trade Research Articles

STRUKTUR TATA KELOLA EKONOMI LOKAL DALAM SEKTOR KERAJINAN GERABAH

The declining export value of pottery in West Nusa Tenggara Province became a trend since 2006-2007. There are atleast two basic reasons of this significant decreasing, first the lessening numbers of export caused by global economic crisis, second the lack of competitiveness of the sector. The article questions about the structure of governance of the industry. Focusing on the issue will bring explanation what caused the industry has a quite low competitiveness in global market. The research itself is a qualitative research with global value chain approach. The study shows that there are two types of governance structure in the industry. The buyer-driven type of governance is built between local producer and global buyer in international trade context, while a more equal structure established in local market between local producer dan local buyer, or called as producer-driven with arms-length character. Meanwhile, the lack of competitiveness is also caused by the upgrading capacity, which tends to be a more static upgrading. The lack of upgrading capacity happened due to rents drain, where the rents that once existed in the community are getting dim due to the role of the government in building synergy and rents is considered small.

The agribusiness industry and the Brazilian soybean producers’ internationalization patterns

The Brazilian soybean producers, seeking competitive advantage and success in their business, understand that the foreign market becomes an alternative to diversify their activities, to seek new sources of income and to reduce dependence on their domestic market. However, the Brazilian context of international trade includes tariff and non-tariff barriers, which may jeopardize any deal, just because a simple price of goods increases or the withdrawal of a closing deal. This study analyzes three soybean exporting companies in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul, through a multiple case study, more specifically about the barriers encountered in their internationalization process. All three cases demonstrated a development path toward internationalization, in view of gaining more competitiveness. However, there is still a large intervention by intermediaries, such as trading companies and brokers, in the export of soybean from Rio Grande do Sul. Even though exports are predominant among the soybean producers, the results show elements of hurdling about technical, logistics, sanitary and phytosanitary matters and subsidies.

The Impact of the EU IUU Regulation on the Sustainability of the Thai Fishing Industry

In recent years, the implementation of and compliance with general values such as the protection of human rights, labor, environment, and democracy has become a very important agenda in global trade policy. The new Secretary General of the WTO emphasized her strong interest in the WTO negotiations in reforming various subsidies for fishing industries, which are to be concluded by the upcoming Twelfth MC (Ministerial Conference) in November 2021. Sustainability has become another critical issue in the international trade context. Plurilateral initiatives among 50 WTO member countries have already been taken regarding the Structured Discussion on Trade and Environmental Sustainability (SDTES). In these circumstances, this study on the EU’s IUU case toward Thailand helped to understand how Thailand’s compliance with the EU IUU Regulation has affected Thailand in achieving the goal of “sustainability” of both fishing practice and working conditions in its fishing industry. The EU’s imposition of the “Status of IUU Nations Carded“ has created the grounds to combat IUU fishing in Thailand by converting an issue of public interest into a private sector issue, for which the sharp decline in fish exports is a matter of concern. This EU–Thailand case also indicated that along with intensifying international cooperation and surveillance for improving the working environment, the inclusion of a human rights issue as a tool for correcting trade distortion is most urgent and essential. For the sustainability of both economic and societal values of developing countries such as Thailand, a firm and solid implementation of adequate working conditions should be employed among global trade participants.

International Trade and Human Capital Investment with Heterogeneous Firms and Workers: Modeling and Analysis

Though the importance of organizational behavior and human decision processes within firms for the firm performance has largely been recognized in the business and management literature, much less attention has been devoted to studying such implications in the international trade context. This paper develops a general-equilibrium trade model in which heterogeneous workers make an investment decision in acquiring advanced managerial skills and choose their optimal effort level based on their comparative advantage. In doing so, we show how globalization-induced human capital accumulation within firms leads to sustainable economic growth. We also show that workers’ organizational belief and CEO’s managerial vision may be an important element for the human capital formation within firms and for the performance of firms in a global economy.

Effect of conformism on firm selection, product quality and home bias

• Conformism affects intrinsic demands for products. • Lower conformism reduces demand for each variety. • Lower conformism forces firms with the lower demand and quality to exit. • Lower conformism raises average quality and diminishes product diversity. • The home consumption bias is amplified with a lower degree of conformism. This paper discusses the effect of conformism on the demand for products that differ in quality and studies its implications for firm selection, entry, average quality, and trade patterns. Demand for each variety is shown to fall when consumers have a lower degree of conformism or when the distribution of conformism becomes more concentrated. This induces firms facing lower demand and of lower quality to exit the market, which raises average quality and diminishes product diversity. In an international trade context, home consumption bias is amplified when there is a lower degree of conformism. Home consumption bias is mitigated by the presence of global conformism, in which individuals tend to conform to people across the world rather than within their own country.

Interactions Between Cybersecurity and International Trade: A Systematic Framework

Issues of international trade policy have gained increased attention while cybersecurity has not been a key issue for trade policy until recently. Cybersecurity concerns have presented significant challenges, and cybersecurity-related allegations have become a major source of growing commercial disputes. The future of cybersecurity in international trade will shape not only cyberspace for the countries directly, but also the broader globalized society. However, it is still not clear how cybersecurity and international trade can impact each other, whether the current implemented policies can sufficiently resolve problems, and what can be done to retune the negative impacts of cybersecurity concerns on international trade. To investigate these influences, this paper uses real-world case study, in-depth domain subject expert interviews and workshop practices to develop a systematic framework to understand the relations between cybersecurity concern and international trade. We focus on the different types of cybersecurity concerns, national and organizational actions for cybersecurity concerns and global supply chain management. From these we identify three scenarios (regulation compliance scenario, supply chain strategy scenario and geopolitical scenario) and three mechanisms (the gap between national cybersecurity concerns, public-private cybersecurity management and supply chain risk management) which represent the interaction between cybersecurity concern and international trade. This study reveals that cybersecurity concerns in international trade are not just a regulation compliance issue but should be considered a business strategy issue and geopolitical issue. More importantly, to return the current “tit for tat” circle, businesses should not only passively react to cybersecurity concerns in international trade context, but need to actively involve themselves in cybersecurity concerns mitigation and policy implementation procedures. In this way, cybersecurity concern pressure can even be used to improve the global supply chain and create competitive advantage.

The determinants of product lines

AbstractWe study product line choice allowing for cost asymmetries but ruling out strategic motivations such as a desire to soften competition. We identify two forces that interact with asymmetric competition to shape equilibrium product lines. Possible outcomes range from head‐to‐head competition to complete separation of product lines and include the intermediate case of partial separation. In an international trade context, we predict which qualities a disadvantaged foreign producer will specialize in. If cost factors drive quality‐based discrimination then foreign firms sell only lower qualities. However, if demand factors are the main drivers then foreign firms sell only high qualities.

NMR and multivariate data analysis to assess traceability of argentine citrus

Argentine citrus industry stands out among the top ten largest producers of citrus of the world. Traceability is a key point of the quality control in the international trade context. Discrimination between orange juices produced from different geographical regions in Argentina (San Pedro and Entre Ríos), has been achieved by applying principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares – discriminant analysis (PLS–DA) to 1H NMR spectra of the juices. Different regions of the spectra were analyzed in view of the large range of signal intensities and the chemometric treatment of the NMR data has successfully distinguished the juice of different origins/varieties, as well as the metabolites responsible for their separation. Examination of the PCA loadings showed that citric acid and ethanol levels were the main chemical variables for sample discrimination.

Heterogeneity in Conformism, Firm Selection, and Home Bias

This paper discusses the impact of conformism on product quality, firm selection, and trade patterns. It shows that when consumers have a higher degree of conformism and/or their distribution of conformism becomes more concentrated, the equilibrium average demand falls while product quality rises in a closed economy. In an international trade context, this strengthens the home consumption bias when consumers conform to the behavior of local people. The home bias is mitigated under globalization where individuals tend to conform to people worldwide. The paper also discusses the conditions under which conformism and conspicuousness are reconciled.

Why Country of Origin Still Matters in Food Retailing: Implications for Promotion Management Research

ABSTRACTDespite considerable focus on the role of country image (CI) and country of origin (COO) in international marketing and consumer behavior research over the past fifty years, several meta-analyses suggest that knowledge of the impact on consumer decision-making is limited. Even though they are among the most commonly traded items, food products (have not received as much attention from researchers as other product categories (i.e. consumer electronics, cars, apparel and footwear). Further, most of the research that focuses on food was conducted prior to the introduction of mandatory labelling requirements in many major retail markets. This critical review contributes to the literature examining the role that this information plays in food retailing within the context of international trade in food. From this critical review, a research agenda is developed, highlighting several major avenues and methodological approaches with the aim of enhancing the relevance and validity of COO research in food retailing and promotion management.

Food Labels, Information, and Trade in GMOs

Abstract This article focuses on the economics of labeling of genetically modified (GM) products in an international trade context with coexistence of both GM and traditional products and asymmetric information. Even though the scientific consensus is that GM food products are safe for human consumption, there has been a lack of acceptance by a growing segment of consumers, which has resulted in reduced or curbed demand for GM food products. The size of the anti-GM consumer segment differs across countries and suggests that coexistence will continue in a subset of countries for the near future. Many countries have developed regulations, approval processes, and labelling policies that largely reflect the economics and politics specific to each country. Hence, different labeling policies have emerged across countries. These differences in policies will continue to create difficulties, and may lead to the dominance of private standards.

Natural Resources for National Reconstruction: A New Generation of Investment Contracts

This article offers the first major systematic account of resources-for-infrastructure (R4I) investment contracts and their terms and conditions, modeling their organic workings and reconstructing their formal structure. R4I contracts combine a mining or oil venture and an infrastructure project in order to extract minerals or hydrocarbons and to pay for major infrastructure projects with revenues generated from those extractive activities. Under this ring-fenced agreement, the host state gets the infrastructure and the foreign investor gets the extracted resources. These contracts are thus deceptively akin to barter trade agreements. The technical yet crucial difference is that barter takes place in the context of international trade whereas a R4I contract is structured as a foreign investment deal.R4I contracts are born of China’s dramatically increasing interest in Africa and its under-explored, under-exploited natural resources. Successive summits on China-Africa cooperation have led to loans, credit and development aid from China to Africa; trade and investment treaties between China and African states; and a new wave of R4I contracts. What are the risks and costs of long-term foreign direct investment (FDI) that these contracts diminish or exacerbate? This question canvasses the resource curse, the costs and the investment risks that may keep investment contracts from being fully enforced according to the intentions of the contracting parties. Contract breaches, expropriations, confiscations, restrictions on currency exchanges, political violence, are among the factors that may undermine the proper enforcement of investment contracts. Lastly, what are the financial terms of R4I contracts? The financial arrangements woven through R4I contracts have attracted the most attention – and criticisms.This article explores the intentions of the parties in entering into these contracts; the extent to which contracts can structure commercial transactions and foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the mining sectors of resource-rich countries; the economic sectors covered by R4I contracts; and their commonalities and differences with other investment contracts. In six sections, the article (i) provides the theoretical and methodological background of R4I contracting; (ii) unpacks the notion of resources-for-infrastructure; dissects (iii) the resources side of the R4I model, (iv) the R4I deal's reimbursement of infrastructure investments, and (v) the infrastructure side of the R4I model; and finally (vi) marks out the characteristics that distinguish R4I contracts from traditional investment contracts.

The topology of African exports: Emerging patterns on spanning trees

This paper is a contribution to interweaving two lines of research that have progressed in separate ways: network analyses of international trade and the literature on African trade and development. Gathering empirical data on African countries has important limitations and so does the space occupied by African countries in the analyses of trade networks. Here, these limitations are dealt with by the definition of two independent bipartite networks: a destination share network and\ a\ commodity share network. These networks - together with their corresponding minimal spanning trees - allow to uncover some ordering emerging from African exports in the broader context of international trade. The emerging patterns help to understand important characteristics of African exports and its binding relations to other economic, geographic and organizational concerns as the recent literature on African trade, development and growth has shown.

Friendly Foreigners: International Warfare, Resident Aliens and the Early History of Denization in England, c.1250-c.1400

The search for the origins of the process of denization in England has traditionally focused on the needs of merchants and the context of international trade, and no credible explanation has been given for why denization emerged as a recognisable Chancery form in the 1380s and 1390s. A new consideration of wartime treatment of aliens demonstrates the slow emergence, between c.1250 and c.1400, of an official policy towards lay foreigners that sought to minimise the disruptions arising in moments of national emergency and to accord rights of denizen equivalence to foreigners whose presence was profitable to the realm. In certain exceptional conditions during the 1270s and 1340s, alien residents with good connections at court could secure more developed statements of their rights as denizens. However, it was a series of events set off by the announcement of an intention to expel all French residents in 1377–78 that generated letters of protection containing specific reference to a change of allegiance, and thus established the principle that the recipient should renounce his former commitment and became a subject of the English Crown. Applied to other nationalities and outside the immediate context of war, these developments would give rise to the form known as letters of denization during the decades that followed.

Cities of Commerce, Cities of Constraints. International Trade, Government Institutions and the Law of Commerce in Later Medieval Bruges and the Burgundian State

This article argues that, to do justice to the institutional context of international trade in the later medieval Low Countries, a legal-historical study is necessary. Instead of considering commercial exchange from the perspective of mono-causal explanatory frameworks that assume the primacy of either the state or the city, all institutions that had an impact on the transaction costs of merchants’ activities should be studied in their own right. The pattern that thus emerges for the Low Countries between 1250 and 1500 is one in which arrangements concerning international trade were characterized by a strong complementarity of the central and the local level, rather than an antithesis between benevolent cities and predatory states.

Pål Thonstad Sandvik, Multinationals, Subsidiaries and National Business Systems: the Nickel Industry and Falconbridge Nikkelverk

Norwegian historiography has brought some really relevant contribution in the field of economic history. This is especially true in the direction of business history, which approaches economic issues through the history of the development of companies, of business and development in the mirror of economic efficiency. Such an example is this present monograph signed by Professor Pål Thonstad Sandvik, having as main subject the development of a subsidiary of the Canadian Falconbridge company, the nickel refinery of Kristiansand. The complex synthesis has in its focus the mentioned refinery, dealing at the same time with economic and social processes related to this industrial unit, but not only: its evolution is also placed in the socio-economic and political context of international trade. The reader can follow the development of the refinery step by step, in a chronological succession of events, with all of its “good” and “bad” moments, from its foundation until the Norwegian Øyvind Hushovd became the president of the Falconbridge corporation during the 1990s, not only because of the efficiency of the refinery from Kristiansand, but also due to the increase of the Scandinavian capital within Falconbridge.

Importer-specific elasticities of demand: Evidence from U.S. exports

This paper investigates whether the elasticity of demand systematically changes from one importer country to another in an international trade context. Evidence from U.S. exports supports this view by suggesting that the elasticity of demand in an importer country among the products purchased from the U.S. significantly decreases in GDP per capita and distance to the U.S. of the importer country. In terms of policy implications, using a common elasticity measure would overestimate the gains from reducing trade costs with developed or distant countries and underestimate them with developing or remote countries.

Importer-Specific Elasticities of Demand: Evidence from State-Level U.S. Exports

This paper investigates whether the elasticity of demand systematically changes from one importer country to another in an international trade context. Evidence from U.S. exports supports this view by suggesting that the elasticity of demand in an importer country among the products purchased from the U.S. significantly decreases in GDP per capita and distance to the U.S. of the importer country. In terms of policy implications, using a common elasticity measure would overestimate the gains from reducing trade costs with developed or distant countries and underestimate them with developing or remote countries.

The Expressive Free Trade Agreement

In the international investment context, this paper focuses on the power of the FTAs or BITs; expression of them may impact the players in the games. First, the paper examines the boost of the BITs and FTAs. The main focus is to test the application of game theory to the FTAs or BITs; the one is sequential game and the other is simultaneous (two-by-two) game, which the FTA would have the same setting. The question is how the states would play in the game table of the FTAs. In games, this paper tries to find Nash equilibrium in pure strategies. It assumes perfect to simplify the games. Calculating the probability in mixed strategy and in the imperfect information is out of the scope of the paper. Second, the paper tests the expressive law, which includes point. It delves into the creation and function of the focal points and what their implications to the FTAs are. The paper assumes that the FTA may be an power for the players when they form the future agreements. I take the example of newly signed: the Korea-US FTA, putting put into the Hawk-Dove (HD) game, which would lead to two potential equilibriums. The prevalence of one of them depends on which one is more salient. Also, traders' game and naked traders' game applies the logics in the prisoner's dilemma to international trade context. Last, the paper shows the impact of the FTAs after they are signed.

International Trade Law – The GATT/WTO system and environmental standards

The author assesses provision in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) system for interpreting and resolving matters concerning environmental issues in the international trade context. Article published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.