Ordinary Trade Research Articles

Transactions Using the Cod (Cash on Delivery) Payment Method: Consumer Protection Legal Perspective

The widespread use of e-commerce services by the public shows that buying and selling activities that were previously carried out conventionally have become activities that can be accessed only via smartphones, laptops/computers with an internet network. However, it is not uncommon for consumers to object because goods purchased using the cash on delivery or COD payment method do not match the order when they arrive at the delivery destination. This illustrates that one side of the consumer is the party that is seriously disadvantaged. Meanwhile, business actors still make a profit from selling the goods they make. Based on the problems above, the problem formulation is how to legally protect consumers for losses that can be suffered in transactions via COD and what measures can be taken by consumers for losses suffered in transactions via COD. This research method uses normative legal research. The approach used is the statutory and regulatory analysis approach which is used to answer the problems that have been previously formulated. The analysis technique is carried out qualitatively by describing the issues and then organizing them systematically and connecting them with the legal materials that have been found. Cash on Delivery (COD) means pay on delivery is a payment method that is in great demand in e-commerce. As the name suggests, this payment method allows buyers to make payments in cash when the order arrives at the destination address. Trading by e-commerce actually has a legal basis for ordinary trade. Or in other words, e-commerce is conventional trade that is special because the role of media and electronic devices is very dominant. Transactions using the COD payment method were initially present to facilitate online buying and selling transactions. However, this mechanism also has the potential to cause significant losses for consumers. Enforcement of consumer rights is a necessity in order to ensure legal certainty to provide protection to consumers, including in transactions that use the COD payment method as regulated in Article 4 of the Consumer Protection Law. There are various reasons for goods being returned by consumers who have used COD payments such as products. damaged, non-functioning products, insufficient products, incomplete orders, inappropriate products, and counterfeit products. For disputes that arise due to the COD system, there is a method that has been determined by each marketplace to submit an objection or request a return of goods to the business actor by attaching proof that the goods received do not meet consumer expectations. Meanwhile, consumers who feel their rights have been violated can complain and process their case legally at the Consumer Dispute Settlement Agency (BPSK) or through court.

Made and created in China: the role of processing trade

AbstractThis paper examines the main participants of China's processing trade regime – firms that engage in both processing and ordinary exports. By matching several datasets from China, including a unique sample of transaction‐level customs data with firms' branding information, we uncover three stylized facts. First, these “mixed” firms exhibit superior performance in various margins such as revenue and physical productivity. Second, even within firms, there is a link between export mode choice and brand ownership – own‐branded products are typically exported under ordinary trade while products under other firms' brands are exported under processing trade. Third, there is a price premium associated with selling one's own‐branded products. To rationalize these findings, we present a simple theoretical framework where firms with multi‐attributes (i.e., “making” and “creating”) endogenously determine their specialization within a production network. We find evidence for the model's main prediction that firms in China intensified their branding activities when faced with favorable processing trade policies upstream.

Industrial automation and product quality: the role of robotic production transformation

ABSTRACT We investigate the impact of industrial automation, specifically robots, on product quality in international trade. By analysing detailed data from Chinese listed firms, we examine how the adoption of robots is associated with higher product quality compared to that of nonrobot users. This effect is more pronounced among heterogeneous products and in ordinary trade patterns. We identify several mechanisms through which robots contribute to product quality improvements, including resource reallocation, adaptability to complex production processes, and enhancement of input quality. Moreover, we demonstrate that replacing low-skilled labour with complex robots and employing high-skilled labour to collaborate with robots improved product quality, confirming that robotic displacement and reinstatement effects generate better product quality upgrading. Overall, our empirical evidence supports the positive influence of robot adoption on product quality and provides insights into the mechanisms underlying robotic production transformation.

Профсоюзы и общественное мнение в Республике Башкортостан в конце XX – начале XXI в.

The article examines the dynamics of public opinion regarding trade union organizations in Bashkortostan in the post-Soviet period. The analysis of the scientific literature indicates that the problem is insufficiently studied. The main sources used in the article, in addition to archival documents, were the materials of the periodical press. The work notes that during the transition to market relations, trade unions restructured their work with an emphasis on strengthening the protection of the rights of employees, began to interact with all branches of government, negotiated with employers and concluded agreements and collective agreements. Non-fulfillment of agreements by enterprises and the state forced trade unions to organize collective actions: rallies, strikes, pickets. In the early 1990s, as sociological studies showed, citizens’ trust in trade unions remained high, paradoxically combined, however, with distrust of all political forces. Most likely, it is precisely distrust of trade unions that explains the attempts to create new public organizations in the 1990s, uniting ordinary workers. Many workers expressed dissatisfaction with the indecisive actions of the trade unions, urging them to pay attention to protecting the interests of workers. Special studies have found a decrease in the authority of trade unions among workers from the early 1990s to the early 2010s. At the same time, trade union leaders noted the passivity and inertia of ordinary trade union members, their non-participation in collective actions. Thus, on the one hand, the workers recognized the trade unions as the only defenders of their interests, on the other, they assessed its activities poorly, reluctantly participated in collective events.

Foreign Ownership and International Trade Performance in China

AbstractWe investigate the causal relationship between foreign ownership and international trade performance by comparing foreign‐acquired firms with similar domestic‐acquired firms in China with regard to changes in their post‐acquisition international trade performance. Our findings indicate that foreign ownership significantly enhanced the probability of both exporting and importing, and strongly increased trade value. Foreign ownership took effect from the year of the acquisition and persisted for at least 2 years. It stimulated both processing trade and ordinary trade, and expanded products and trading partners. Post‐acquisition trade performance also exhibited heterogeneity based on the different pre‐acquisition and post‐acquisition ownership. As for the underlying mechanisms, we show that firms experienced significant output expansion, increased export dependence, and eased financial constraints after foreign acquisition.

How does bank competition affect trade-mode transformation? Evidence from Chinese export enterprises

This study investigates the effect of banking competition on the transformation of Chinese firms' export trade mode. We use matched data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database and the Chinese Customs Trade Statistics between 2007 and 2013 to measure export firm trade-mode, and apply the number of commercial bank branches at the prefecture level to gauge bank competitiveness. With a large firm-level dataset, we find that bank competition affects a company's transition from processing mode to ordinary trade. The validity of our findings is confirmed through several robustness tests. Furthermore, we examine the underlying processes through which bank competition influences trade-mode transformation by means of firms' financial constraints, the regional marketization process and banking structural characteristics. Finally, we investigate the heterogeneity conditions and find that firms with distinct ownership structures and in different geographical locations demonstrate diverse performances in the aforementioned connection. The empirical findings provide crucial evidence to enhance the understanding of the relationship between banking institutions and company exports in emerging economies.

Import competition and sustainable development of global value chains: Evidence from China

AbstractAs the largest developing country and the second largest importer, China provides meaningful research on import competition and the global value chain (GVC). This article uses theoretical models and empirical tests to explore whether and how import competition affects the sustainable development of Chinese firms' GVCs. Moreover, we utilize China's entry into the WTO as a quasi‐natural experiment for import competition to further test the robustness of our findings. Ultimately, we find that import competition reduces the sustainable development of GVCs by decreasing the quality of imported intermediate inputs, which inhibits technology spillover, and by increasing the substitution of foreign inputs for domestic materials. Heterogeneous analyses show that import competition negatively affects ordinary trade and mixed trade firms while having no significant impact on processing trade firms. Moreover, this negative effect is especially significant for firms in eastern and central regions.

Processing trade and credit constraints

We provide firm-level evidence that processing trade helps relax credit constraints on exports. We show that firms engaged in processing trade have better export performance than those engaged in ordinary trade in financially vulnerable sectors. The results are not driven by firm size, time, or other sector characteristics. The findings are consistent with the fact that processing trade is less credit-constrained due to its lower upfront costs and less working capital needs. Our findings highlight the importance of processing trade in firm exports, particularly in developing countries with imperfect capital markets.

Does financial liberalization matter for domestic value added in exports? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Upstream stages of production chains are often capital intensive, so financial liberalization which improves the availability of financial resources may expand the supply of domestic inputs and then raise domestic value added in exports of downstream firms. After China’s accession to the WTO, China’s government removed the restrictions on foreign banks’ business and allowed foreign banks in China to offer Chinese currency (RMB) services to Chinese firms. We utilize this policy change to test the effects of financial liberalization on Chinese firms’ domestic value added in exports. We have three main findings: (1) domestic value added in Chinese firms’ exports is positively associated with the removal, (2) the removal of foreign bank business restrictions leads to a general change of local financial markets, which facilitates firms’ financing activities and (3) the improvement in domestic value added following the removal is not mainly driven by export mode switching from processing trade to ordinary trade but by the increase in domestic inputs.

Access to overseas information and domestic value added: Evidence from China

This study identifies information accessibility as a determinant of domestic value added (DVA). To establish causality, we use the sudden termination of Google’s search services in China to conduct a difference-in-differences estimation. Given that ordinary trades rely more on foreign market information than processing trades, we classify firms with high (low) ordinary trade exports as treatment (control) group and show that Google’s exit has a significant and persistent negative impact on DVA for treated firms. Our findings are more pronounced for firms in industries dominated by foreign technology and firms with more types of goods or higher capital intensity. The alternative access to foreign sources can weaken the impact of Google’s exit. Three underlying mechanisms associated with the falling accessibility of foreign information are the downward export growth, the rising costs of overseas intermediate inputs, and the decreasing innovation. Overall, this study enriches our understanding of a fundamental but neglected factor in driving DVA.

Enhancing export product quality through innovative cities: A firm-level quasi-natural experiment in China

China plays a significant role in the global product supply chain through its exports. To remain competitive, Chinese firms need to manufacture products cost-effectively. Revamping innovative cities can contribute to this goal, but empirical evidence in this area is limited. Therefore, this paper scrutinizes the innovative city pilot policy’s consequences on firms’ export performance and product quality. We employ the time-varying Difference in Difference (DID) model and harness a comprehensive firm-by-product level database to estimate the co-movement between the pilot intervention and the performance of the export product. Based on the findings, we unveil that a smart intervened city can significantly boost firms’ export product quality, which still holds after multiple robustness checks. Furthermore, innovative cities heighten the quality of the manufactured products when we consider firm-level (i.e., private, foreign, and ordinary trade enterprises), industry-level (i.e., low-polluting, capital-intensive, and technology-intensive industries), and regional (i.e., Middle, and Western regions) heterogeneities. In addition, the intervened smart city strategy impacts the efficacy of export product quality through policy and innovation-driven effects. Over and above, policymakers and experts should support state-of-the-art ideas while considering local conditions, providing guidance for decision-making in China’s innovative development strategy.

Application of Speech Recognition in English PronunciationCorrection

In the context of economic globalization, countries are beginning to conduct ordinary trade transactions, so English, asthe most frequently used language, has been incorporated into the education system of each government and studentsare being taught English systematically, but the fastest way to improve English must be for a student to have a one-onone lesson with a native English speaker. However, with the world’s advanced educational resources, teaching Englishto students on a one-to-one basis is obviously not practical. Therefore, implanting a speech recognition system intoeducational software to help the software track or correct students’ English learning in real time is possible. However,replacing a real English teacher with the current speech recognition accuracy rate is still a challenge. Therefore, thispaper explains in detail how to improve speech recognition accuracy through lip motion tracking and MFCC and to givelearners the corresponding vocabulary ratings and suggestions for improvement through this model. In the long run, theknowledge tracking model is used to help students find the most suitable learning style.

Insights from ASEAN-wide emissions trading schemes (ETSs): A general equilibrium assessment

ASEAN has not yet had any joint policy to constrain emission levels in the context of global efforts to tackle climate change and studies on such issues in the region are still scarce. This study employs a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) climate change policy-focused and electricity-detailed model to examine the impacts of emissions trading schemes (ETSs) on the ASEAN member economies. We found that Indonesia (a permit buyer) experiences much lower economic costs in the regional ETS scenarios rather than in its closed ETS market (−9% compared to −16% in real GDP). Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam act as permit sellers and experience higher economic costs in the regional ETS scenarios. It is because the balance on the current account, which is equal to the sum of the ordinary trade balance and net emissions trading revenue, is assumed to be fixed. Furthermore, the change in ratio of trade balance to regional income is also fixed. Such a setting indicates that if the net permit trading revenue is used to fully compensate for the trade balance, which is also maintained along with the changes in the regional income, permit selling countries will be worse off and vice versa if they move from their domestic ETS markets into a regional ETS market. Results also show that technological improvements can help reduce economic costs of the ETSs. In addition, renewable energy sources show strong expansions in their production levels, but they are still far from becoming dominant in ASEAN in order to significantly reduce economic costs of climate change policies. Households will also increase their demand for renewable energy in all ASEAN countries while lowering demand for fossil-based energy; however, this sector will still experience reductions in the overall electricity demand due to previous strong reliance on fossil-based energy.

At the BAM We Had Everything! Consumption Good Supplies for Workers of the All-Union Komsomol Сonstruction Project

The paper analyzes trade and supply services for the Baikal-Amur Mainline Railway (BAM) builders during the years 1974-1989. It describes the distribution system of goods, the forms of consumer behavior as well as consumption practices among participants of the project. The sources used for this study include office documents and statistics of the Soviet Ministry for Transport Construction, of building companies and municipalities, as well as of party and public organizations, next to oral testimonies given by former BAM construction workers that the author recorded during fieldwork. The author analyzes the establishment of trade enterprises and their technical equipment. Important is that the BAM trade network was created in a short time, and was meant to be temporary. During the whole period the system was plagued by a shortage of retail and warehouse facilities, and by insufficient support. At the same time, a special supply regime was in place to attract labor to BAM, and also to contribute to the subsistence of the population in the new development areas. While personal testimonies described trade services exclusively as privileged, the documentary evidence shows that the supply system faced difficulties similar to problems in ordinary Soviet trade. As a privilege regime came in combination with systemic malfunctions in the trade industry, specific practices were developed for the distribution and consumption of goods. Many of these practices were continued by local residents in the post-Soviet period.

Emission reduction and value‐added export nexus at firm level

AbstractThis paper aims to investigate the effects of the share of domestic value added in exports on firm‐level emission intensity in China. It shows that the ratio of domestic value added in exports is negatively associated with firms' emission discharges. This relation is more profound for firms in ordinary trade than those in processing trade. Further analysis illustrates that the observed relationship is especially prevalent in eastern regions, technology‐intensive industries and non‐state‐owned firms.

Quality response to real exchange rate shocks: A panel SVAR analysis on China's agricultural exports

AbstractThis article applies a panel structural VAR model using complete data of China's monthly agricultural exports to uncover both the dynamics and interproduct and intermarket differences in the responses of product quality to real exchange rate (RER) shocks. It finds that RER appreciation promotes the quality of China's agricultural exports on average compared to discouraging exports, but the effect is fully shown in the short run. The average response peaks in the month immediately after the shock and the average cumulative response converges to a constant level in three months. The quality response to RER shocks substantially differs across both products and markets. More sensitive responses of quality upgrading are found among exports that are less competitive, relatively primary, more reliant on ordinary trade, and exported with nearby and less developed partners. Therefore, greater supports on R&D activities and the adoption of advanced technologies might be needed among other exports.

FDI, Export Sophistication, and Quality Upgrading: Evidence from China's WTO Accession

This paper identifies a positive effect of FDI liberalization on manufacturing export sophistication, exploiting China’s adjustment of its Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries upon its accession to WTO. It further investigates the underlying causes in the lines of firm ownership type, trade mode, product type, and intensive vs. extensive margins. The positive effect comes from, e.g., the increase in the export share of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and firms with processing trade, and the increase in the export sophistication of privately-owned enterprises (POEs), of ordinary trade, and of intermediate goods. The intensive margin rather than extensive margin is accountable for the effect. Liberalizing FDI does not seem to have any significant effect on product quality.

How political conflicts distort bilateral trade: Firm-level evidence from China

Abstract We examine how political conflicts affect trade, using both the Goldstein score that scales all political conflicts daily worldwide and the firm-country-product level data of Chinese imports. We find that political conflicts reduce Chinese imports in general. Specifically, (i) the imports of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are most reduced, and the effects mostly fall on imports of intermediate goods while not so much on capital goods; (ii) foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) are less negatively affected, because most of their trade is processing, which is less negatively affected by political conflicts than ordinary trade. These results are obtained via mechanisms in the mode of trade (processing vs. ordinary), variations in broad economic categories (BEC) and import boycotts and export controls.

Huawei, Internet Governance, and IEEPA Reform

This paper examines the U.S. International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) as a source of authority for President Donald Trump’s recent Executive Order restricting the use of telecommunications equipment manufactured by the Chinese company Huawei. The paper concludes that President Trump’s action would likely be upheld under IEEPA as currently written and interpreted by the courts. This conclusion reinforces calls in Congress to reform IEEPA. An “emergency” power should not provide authority for ordinary trade policy or for large policy questions relating to global Internet governance. The U.S. should develop a more consistent, regular process for ensuring the security and reliability of Internet infrastructure, in coordination with the international community.

Learning to import from neighbors

This study examines the impact of learning from neighboring firms on new importers' behaviors. We first develop a learning model in which firms update their beliefs concerning import prices in foreign markets. These beliefs are based on the number of neighboring firms that import from that market and the level and heterogeneity of import prices. The updating proceeds according to the Bayesian rule. The model predicts that a positive signal regarding import prices revealed by neighboring importers encourages importing entry from the same country. Such signals play a stronger role when revealed by a greater number of neighbors. In addition, the model predicts that a positive signal increases firm-level initial imports and survival rates, but decreases post-entry import growth. Using a transaction-level dataset of Chinese importers during 2000–2006, we find supporting evidence for the model's predictions. Furthermore, importer learning displays heterogeneous effects on different firms and exhibits a spatial decay structure. Our robustness checks include controlling for various fixed effects, employing an alternative entry definition, and using subsamples comprising ordinary trade firms and direct importers.