Trade Production Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF TERMS OF TRADE SHOCKS ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT IN IRAQ FOR THE PERIOD (1990 – 2022)

This research was aimed to study and analyze the impact of the shocks of the agricultural net terms of trade (NBTT) on agricultural product (AP) in Iraq during the period (1990 – 2021), which are among the shocks affecting the agricultural sector and foreign trade, the research used quantitative approaches in estimating the levels of impact, including VAR model, variance decomposition analysis (VDA) and impulse response function (IRF). The results showed that VDA of AP was weak in respect of agricultural NBTT and vice versa. While IRF of NBTT was negative in respect of Ap, and the same result was for IRF of AP. The study recommended the need to consider strategies to support smallholder farmers, such as providing access to credit, soft loans, technical assistance and markets for their products, in addition of support the technological advancements for their role in shaping the relationship between agricultural trade and agricultural production.

Functioning features of small enterprises in certain regions and opportunities for their innovative development

Small business played a significant role in maintaining the socio-economic situation of the country at the initial stage of the formation of a market economy. In the most difficult situation small business has allowed to develop market relations, provide broad segments of the population with consumer goods, and also served as a starting point for the creation and improvement of larger economic formations. Up to the end of the 2000s the importance of small business was constantly increasing. Then as the concentration trends of production and monopolization of transport, trade and industrial processes intensified, small businesses began to reduce their role in the economic development of the country. Nevertheless, its influence in a number of sectors is still great, and small enterprises are still significant in the economic field, especially as a tool for the territorial development of less successful regions and as an innovative potential concentration in a number of economic areas. Based on this, it is relevant to study regional processes in small business in the country, as well as to assess the current and potential innovative development of this sector. In the paper a regional features’ statistical analysis of the small businesses functioning is carried out, its role in certain economic areas and in the overall innovative development of the country is assessed.

The tax system is based on the principle of the source

The free movement of capital, goods, services and workers between countries creates new challenges for national tax systems. The problem is complicated by the growing importance of intra-firm cross-border trade and complex production chains, the growing contribution to added value of hard-to-assess and easily mobile intangible assets, as well as the growing digitalization of the economy. The interaction of national legislation, international norms and bilateral treaties has formed a very complex international tax architecture. This makes it necessary to distinguish between the countries of origin, residence and destination. The paper analyzes the problems of building a tax system based on the source principle, defines the criteria for identifying the source of income, which is equated with added value, which is determined by the sum of factor incomes – wages and profits. The transition to the application of the balance sheet method of calculating added value automatically identifies the source of income by the place of payment of wages and receipt of profit. The country in which the added value is created clearly determines the place where this value should be taxed. The place of taxation of added value and its components does not depend on the composition and origin of capital, the use of intangible assets, the ownership of shares and any components. All these features of capital must be used in the distribution of the remaining profit after paying all taxes, contributions and fees provided by the law of the source country. Due to the uncertainty of the concept of “resident” and the possibility of residence in many jurisdictions at the same time, the principle of taxation of distributed profits (dividends) based on residence should be replaced by the principle of citizenship. The application of the proposed changes to the Tax Code of Ukraine makes it impossible to transfer profits.

Analiza produktivnosti trgovine na malo na primeru malih samouslužnih formata u Republici Srbiji

Small trade formats, like traditional trade formats, play a significant role in the trade sector and on the consumer goods retail market in the Republic of Serbia with a network of around 12.000 retail stores. On the other hand, the issue of productivity in trade in the conditions of labor deficit in this sector is increasingly important. The paper deals with the research of the productivity of retail stores with an emphasis on smaller trade formats such as independent trade shops. An analysis of the productivity and differences in the productivity of these trade formats was carried out in relation to the size of these stores and the degree of urbanity of the locations where they are located, using the example of consumer goods retail stores of a trade chain in one of the largest cities of the Republic of Serbia. The research analyzed more than 4000 data on sales of these stores in 2022, which were put in relation to the number of employees of individual retail stores. The results of the analysis are given by month as well as by quarter for the entire 2022. The analysis was carried out using parametric statistical tests. Precisely, the t test was used to determine differences in productivity based on the urbanity of the location of the retail store and ANOVA was used to determine differences in productivity based on the size of the retail store. The work aims to determine the existence of differences in the productivity of retail stores of fast-moving consumer goods in relation to their individual size and the degree of urbanity of the location where these stores are located.

СУТНІСТЬ І СКЛАДОВІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО МЕХАНІЗМУ РОЗВИТКУ СФЕРИ ТОРГІВЛІ

In general, the combination of organizational and economic methods of influence on the processes of improvement of the sphere of trade constitute the organizational and economic mechanism of its development. The main elements of the mentioned mechanism include principles, organizational and economic methods, tools corresponding to the methods, and the system of public administration bodies. Among the principles are: organizational and economic independence, civility, openness, self-sufficiency, competitiveness, regulation, controllability. Organizational and economic tools are singled out, the use of which ensures the achievement of the main goals of the functioning of the trade sphere, namely: the development of domestic trade and trade infrastructure, the protection of the domestic consumer market, the introduction of innovative technologies, ensuring the quality of goods and services, and stimulating solvent demand. The relevance of the selection of regulatory instruments is based on the results of the analysis of the existing problems of the functioning of the trade sphere in Ukraine. On the basis of the targeted approach, a model of the organizational and economic mechanism of the development of the trade sphere is proposed, which allows focusing attention on solving the most pressing issues, including: the predominance of imported goods on the consumer market, the unsatisfactory quality of Ukrainian goods, the imperfection of the trade infrastructure, the unsatisfactory connection of the trade sphere and production, the need to ensure innovative development and wider application of IT technologies. It has been proven that the processes of market self-regulation of the trade sphere are not capable of providing solutions to the mentioned problems on their own, which necessitates the development of economically justified plans for the implementation of measures of state regulation of modernization and innovative development of the trade sphere using appropriate tools of influence on the conditions of operation of trading enterprises.

Диджиталізація бізнес-процесів ТОВ «Епіцентр К» як інструмент їх удосконалення

The article is devoted to the relevant topic of development and improvement of the enterprise’s business processes. The aim of the article is to study the practical aspects of improving business processes using the example of «Epicenter K» LLC through the implementation of digital technologies. It is clarified that there is a significant improvement in the field of business process classification. The article offers the author’s view of their division into development processes, main business processes, management processes and auxiliary business processes. The directions of development of the «Epicenter K» LLC group of companies within each of the groups were considered. The main business processes, which were improved by the company «Epicenter K» LLC, have been considered. The main methods of improvement and optimization of business processes of «Epicenter K» LLC have been determined. Examples of the use of modeling and description of business processes are provided: benchmarking, process engineering, and business process reengineering. It is determined that the main instrument for improving the business processes of «Epicenter K» LLC is their digitalization and digitization. It is clarified that the company is actively using digitalization to improve its business processes and to meet the needs of customers in both food and non-food products and services to the maximum extent. Examples of digitalization of business processes of «Epicenter K» LLC are provided: communications, trade process, work of employees of trade departments, document flow and production process. It is concluded that «Epicenter K» LLC is a leading domestic company in the field of retail and production, which every year more and more applies the strategy of diversification and optimization of its business processes, allowing to maximally satisfy customer requests in quality goods and services. The main directions of the company’s development in the field of digitalization and digitization of business processes are outlined in order to ensure profitability, reduce costs and increase labor productivity.

A Review on Exchange Traded Products: Taxonomy, Risk and Mitigations

A Review on Exchange Traded Products: Taxonomy, Risk and Mitigations

Research on the Management Model and Performance Evaluation of Guangxi ASEAN Cross border Agricultural Product Supply Chain

With the proposal of the "Belt and Road Initiative", China's cross-border trade has been further developed. In order to comply with the development trend of "double cycle", the trade of agricultural products can make full use of "two resources and two markets" both at home and abroad. However, the supply chain of cross-border trade of agricultural products involves many links and has a wide range of chain coverage, showing relatively complex characteristics. In order to realize the sustainable development of cross-border agricultural products trade, an empirical study on the management model and performance evaluation of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border agricultural products supply chain was carried out. On the basis of defining the concept of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border agricultural product supply chain, this study first analyzed the management mode of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border agricultural product supply chain, designed the performance evaluation model of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border agricultural product supply chain according to the importance of cross-border logistics and demand of agricultural products, and then set evaluation indicators on the basis of target level and criterion level through the selection rules of evaluation indicators. Principal component analysis was used to evaluate the scores of each index, so as to obtain the evaluation level of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border agricultural supply chain performance, and complete the empirical analysis of performance evaluation. The empirical analysis results are as follows: The logistics system of Guangxi-ASEAN cross-border trade is gradually improved, the delivery timeliness and accuracy of cross-border trade are constantly increasing, the quality of cross-border agricultural products is gradually enhanced, and the information exchange of cross-border trade is becoming more transparent. This improves the satisfaction of consumers, increases the profits of enterprises, reduces the customs clearance time and finished products of agricultural trade, and strengthens the close trade cooperation between Guangxi and ASEAN countries.

Cross‐investments by multinationals: A new perspective

AbstractResearch SummaryCross‐flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) occur when firms invest in each other's home countries, affecting the terms of competition in each market. They are explained by internalization theory but have never been comprehensively investigated. This article models cross‐investment in a duopoly with differentiated products. The firms decide whether to enter each market and whether to serve it through trade or local production. The model combines firm‐, country‐, and industry‐level factors. It places cross‐investment in the wider context of cross‐sourcing, including cross‐trading and asymmetric sourcing. It reveals different forms of cross‐investment rather than being limited to cross‐multidomestic. Overall, cross‐investment is favored by highly differentiated products, low comparative advantage, large markets, high trade costs, and low costs of FDI.Managerial SummaryCross‐investment, where firms conduct FDI into each other's home countries, is an important phenomenon but has received little recent attention in international business literature. This article seeks, through mathematical modeling, to establish a better understanding of it in the wider context of cross‐sourcing. This helps to show how the strategy of the individual firm fits with those of the other firms in an international industry and how different possible industry structures and performance levels result. It includes choices over the locations from which markets are served being a potential source of first‐mover advantage. For instance, committing to producing in a country could reduce the cost of serving its market, potentially altering the equilibrium outcome in favor of the first mover.

A Comparison of Maximum Permissible Concentrations for Pesticides in Brazilian Water Supply

Abstract Pesticides have been used for a long time in agriculture to prevent the growth of undesired organisms. However, depending on the type of production (i.e., conventional, organic, and regenerative), they might not be applied. Adequate types and uses of pesticides should not cause any damage to any non-target species or environments due to the exposure to it, especially if all farming operations have been done properly. Reversely, when pesticides are applied in inappropriate time, amount or technique, they may cause several impacts, among which is water contamination. Brazil stands out worldwide for its agricultural potential, but it is exposed to risks concerning the water supply security to its population. The current study is a comparison of the Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) for pesticides in potable water supply in Brazil with the values set in the United States, Canada, European Union countries, Japan, and the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization. The regulations of each country were used, as well as the trading, consumption and agricultural production data. The Brazilian regulation is the one accounting for the largest number of pesticides. However, their MPC is 5,000 times more permissible than that from the European Union for the herbicide known as glyphosate, 300 times than that for 2,4-d and 20 times than that for atrazine. Finally, it was possible to observe the relevance of revising the regulation and public policies in place to minimize the indiscriminate use of pesticides in Brazil and adapt these compounds to the standards in a global level.

China's wood-based forest product imports and exports: trends and implications

This paper presents trends in China's forest product imports and exports during 1998–2019, by analyzing trade data from China's General Customs Administration (GCA). It was found that over the past two decades both imports and exports of forest products have experienced huge growth, making China an important player in the global forest products market. China's imports are dominated by raw materials such as logs and lumber, while exports are dominated by processed wood products like plywood and furniture. Sources of imports are diverse among different products. While softwood logs and lumber have been largely from the global north, where forests have mostly been sustainably managed, tropical hardwood have been dominated by unsustainable sources. Changes in the structure of trading products, import sources and export markets, which have been impacted by policies both at home and from the trade partners, have great implications for sustainable forest management and global actions in halting and reversing deforestation.

Friction or cooperation? Boosting the global economy and fighting climate change in the post-pandemic era

In the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, the world faces a choice between trade protection and cooperation. However, current literature provides very little information on the benefit or loss of trade friction or cooperation on global economy and climate mitigation. This study applied the Global Trade Analysis Project model to assess the impacts of trade friction on global economic recovery and climate change. The results indicated that international trade friction can both delay global economic recovery and affect CO2 emission reduction. The shocks of consumption reduction and production suspension have a higher marginal effect in developing and emerging economies, whereas trade friction has a higher effect on developed countries. Trade friction has more negative economic effects for developed countries, but developing countries cannot reduce CO2 emissions proportionally with the decrease in trade and related production. In the post-pandemic era, if the global trade barrier increases, the world may face a co-occurring economic decline and an increase in or low abatement of carbon emissions.

Gambling-like digital assets and gambling severity: a correlational study with U.S. sports bettors consuming cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and fan tokens

ABSTRACT This paper explores the relationship with gambling severity of a relatively new set of speculative digital products, namely cryptocurrency trading, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and fan tokens. These products have gained notoriety in sports marketing strategies (among other realms) and are considered to be potentially problematic because, disguised as non-gambling products, they include gambling-like design features that might make sports fans more vulnerable when consuming them. A sample of regular sports bettors (N = 525) based in the U.S. was recruited in 2023 via an online panel to understand the association between these types of consumptions. The findings revealed a significant overlap between experiencing gambling problems and consuming cryptocurrency trading products, NFTs, and fan tokens. The results indicate a modest relationship between the severity of gambling and the likelihood of owning the studied digital assets, of holding positive attitudes toward them, and of being more frequently exposed to their advertising and marketing promotions. The relevancy of these findings resides in the fact that sports bettors might be perceiving and treating gambling and gambling-like assets as part of the same product category, when in reality the latter are legally required to comply with fewer consumer protection measures than gambling products.

The impact of transfer pricing and thin capitalization on tax avoidance in the advertising, printing, media, wholesale trade, and production of goods listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2020 – 2022 period

One of the revenues received by a country comes from tax payments. However, some people consider taxes a burden, which becomes a reason to engage in tax avoidance practices. This research aims to identify the impact of transfer pricing practices and minimal capital use on tax avoidance efforts in the advertising, printing, media, wholesale trade, and goods production subsectors during the 2020-2022 period. This quantitative research method collects secondary data from companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) annual reports. This data was obtained from official sources, including the company's official website and the IDX website, and succeeded in collecting a sample of 30 companies. Data was analyzed using multiple linear regression and IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software. The research results show that setting transfer prices and using minimal capital significantly influences tax avoidance efforts in the advertising, printing, media, wholesale trade, and goods production subsectors. Listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange during the 2020-2022 period. These findings have important implications, emphasizing the importance for all parties concerned to comply with tax obligations without trying to avoid them.

Corporate income taxation and multinational production

AbstractThrough the lens of a quantitative general equilibrium model of international trade and multinational production, this paper studies corporate tax competition and cooperation among asymmetric countries. The model theoretically supports the empirical regularities that corporate income taxation influences multinational firms' location and production decisions. Calibrating the model to three asymmetric countries for a hypothetical tax competition, I find that race to the bottom occurs in the Nash equilibrium. Furthermore, counterfactual analysis of the global minimum corporate tax shows welfare reduction compared to the equilibrium of tax competition but welfare improvement compared to the current tax regime.

Relatedness in the era of machine learning

Relatedness is a quantification of how much two human activities are similar in terms of the inputs and contexts needed for their development. Under the idea that it is easier to move between related activities than towards unrelated ones, empirical approaches to quantify relatedness are currently used as predictive tools to inform policies and development strategies in governments, international organizations, and firms. Here we show that the standard, widespread approach of estimating Relatedness through the co-location of activities (e.g. Product Space) generates a measure of relatedness that performs worse than trivial auto-correlation prediction strategies. In this paper, working on data about countries’ trade, technologies, and scientific production, we show two main findings. First, we find that a shift from two-product correlations (network-density based) to many-product correlations (decision trees) can dramatically improve the quality of forecasts, allowing the possibility to assist policymakers in optimizing decisions to promote growth. Then, we propose a new methodology to empirically estimate Relatedness that we call Continuous Projection Space (CPS). CPS, which represents a general network embedding technique, vastly outperforms all the co-location, network-based approaches, while retaining similar interpretability in terms of pairwise distances. Depending on the dataset the best approach is always either CPS or machine learning algorithms based on decision trees.

Prioritisation of quarantine pest list for the Caribbean using a multi-criteria decision approach

Quarantine plant pests are socially, economically and environmentally important due to their impact on food security, human health, global trade and crop production costs. The increase in global trade and tourism, frequent occurrence of natural disasters and climate changes have exacerbated the rate of entry, establishment and spread of plant pests regionally and globally. It has, therefore, become exigent to develop a list of pests of quarantine importance at the regional and national levels to prioritise and allocate the limited available resources to manage the associated risks. In the present study, the Technical Committee on the Formulation and Prioritisation of a Regional Priority Pest List for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the National Plant Protection Organisation of the Caribbean countries and the United States Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), developed and prioritised a quarantine pest list using a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The technical committee successfully evolved the process in 2014 and 2018 and developed a list of the top 10 pests of quarantine importance for the Caribbean Region, employing the Delphi Technique (DT) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) through the assignment of criteria that are relevant to the region. The Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), frosty pod rot (Moniliophthora roreri) and the tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta), listed as top quarantine pest threats, were subsequently detected in the region. This exercise guided the authorities in advance to allocate resources and to develop response plans including capacity building for surveillance and detection of priority pests. This has demonstrated the significance and appropriateness of the multi-criteria decision approach to determine priority pest lists and prepare the region for development of better management practices.

Innovation in thinking and practice path of digital economy based on big data analysis to promote high-quality development of agricultural service trade

Abstract In order to coordinate the digital geographic planning of agriculture and clarify the grasp of agricultural integration and digital development, by building a connected coordination model of the digital economy and the high-quality growth of the agricultural services trade, this article is confirmed. First, the fundamental workings of the digital economy and their spatial spillover effects on the high-quality growth of the agricultural services sector are examined. To evaluate each method’s level of development, the TOPSIS methodology and the entropy value method are linked, and a coupling coordination model is created. The production of the high-quality agriculture service trade and digital economy index system follows. In the end, the empirical study of coupling coordination was carried out using data from each province in China from 2010 to 2020 as the original sample. The findings indicate that before 2015, in all provinces, the coupling coordination degree of the development of the agricultural service trade and the digital economy was less than 0.2. The coupling coordination degree showed a tendency of moderate expansion from 2016 to 2020, increasing by 583.33% from 2010 to 2020. This shows that as the digital economy has expanded, the agriculture services sector has also developed in a high-quality manner.

Comparative Analysis of Trade’s Impact on Agricultural Carbon Emissions in China and the United States

Accelerating economic globalization is a major driver of the transfer of embodied pollutant emissions from trade. China and the United States are currently the largest importers and exporters of agricultural products, respectively, and are also major producers and consumers of these products. This paper aims to analyze and compare the patterns of embodied agricultural carbon emissions (ACE) in the two countries, which is crucial for understanding how trade influences the transfer of such emissions. In this study, we calculated the embodied ACE of China and the United States from the perspectives of production and consumption for the years 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2016 by establishing a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model. Additionally, we employed the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition method to analyze the driving factors behind the changes in embodied ACE over time. The findings indicated that the embodied ACE associated with imports and exports in China and the United States followed a pattern of increase and subsequent decrease during the period 1970–2016, with net imports escalating from −18.79 million tons and −3.62 million tons to 40.35 million tons and 51.22 million tons, respectively. This study identified two main factors contributing to the reduction in embodied ACE in both countries: the declining intensity of embodied ACE per unit of traded products and the diminishing proportion of the primary industry. The growth in GDP per capita, population expansion, and an increase in the proportion of agricultural products in international trade are predicted to promote an increase in embodied ACE imports and exports in both countries. This paper advocates for the reduction of embodied ACE through the continuous promotion of research and application of energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, an optimized industrial structure, and the implementation of relevant energy-saving and emission-reduction policies.

In Search of Zora Neale Hurston in Hollywood

Zora Neale Hurston was an author, playwright, anthropologist, and, briefly, a screenwriter. Paramount Pictures hired Hurston in 1941, but there is little documentation of her work for the studio. The brief mentions that exist reveal that Hurston worked on the script for an unproduced musical called Very Hot in Haiti. Yet, information about the unfilmed project is scarce. In this essay, I explore Hurston’s work for Paramount through a speculative approach: I analyze the documents that are known—trade papers, newspapers, production data, and Hurston’s writings—to inform speculation about the unknown, and potentially unknowable, aspects of her experience. In short, I ask: What might Hurston have worked on at Paramount? And what do those possibilities suggest or reveal about Hurston and studio-era Hollywood? The results demonstrate the power of taking a speculative, contextual, deductive approach to analysis of underdocumented historical figures.