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This paper aims to examine the determinants of vertical intra‐industry trade (VIIT) in the automobile components industry between Portugal and the European Union 27 (EU‐27) and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) during the period 1995‐2006.

The paper formulates some theoretical hypotheses that may explain the fragmentation of the production in the automobile industry. These hypotheses are tested using a dynamic panel data analysis. The estimates are more reliable because the instruments used control for the potential endogeneity of the explanatory variables.

The results indicate that VIIT is a positive function of the difference in per‐capita GDP between Portugal and its trading partners, confirming the Linder hypothesis. Moreover, there is statistical evidence that geographical distance influences negatively this type of VIIT between Portugal and the EU‐27 only. The results do not confirm the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between differences in endowments and VIIT in the automobile components sector.

This paper confirms some relevant theoretical hypotheses on the causes of the fragmentation/outsourcing. The good results obtained with the Arellano and Bond GMM system estimator suggest that the building of dynamic theoretical models will be of interest to academic researchers in fragmentation theory.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the patterns and determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) in manufactures between Korea and selected ASEAN countries in the period of 1997-2011.

The effects of country-specific determinants of IIT in manufactures are examined using panel data approach.

The results show that the IIT of Korea-ASEAN manufactures is positively correlated with the average income levels and foreign direct investment inflow, while it is negatively correlated with the differences in factor endowments between Korea and selected partners. Overall, market size, income dissimilarity and factor endowments are indicated as most relevant determinants of IIT in manufactures between Korea and ASEAN countries.

Despites the importance of Korea-ASEAN IIT, studies on this subject are limited. This paper examines the pattern and determinants of IIT and its components in Korea-ASEAN manufactured trade. The paper also suggests the policy implications for the development of IIT between two parties.

This study investigates the patterns and determinants of Korea’s horizontal intra-industry trade by employing a dynamic panel data analysis. The main findings of the study are as follows. An increase in the market size of both trading partners is associated with a higher level of horizontal intra-industry trade. Dissimilar economic sizes and per capita incomes have a negative effect on trade in horizontally differentiated products. Geographical distance and trade imbalance serve as obstacles to horizontal intra-industry trade. These findings have policy implications for reconsidering the orientation of promoting trade. Inclusive economic growth in the region, taking advantage of neighboring nations and making efforts to reduce trade imbalances between trading economies, can accelerate further trade expansion through horizontal intra-industry trade.

This paper aims to explore whether India’s export basket in the bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT) with two of its top trading partners characterize robust export earnings or not. This is pertinent for two reasons. First, India has a persistent problem of current account deficit for over decades now. Second, whether India’s export diversification strategy by participating in global value chains to improve export share in the world market led to the problem of the fallacy of composition.

This study considers bilateral trade data between India-USA and India-China at the HS-6 digit level over the period 1990–2018. The magnitude of total IIT is computed using the Grubel and Lloyd (1971) index. This paper then uses the unit value dispersion criterion to disentangle the magnitude of total IIT into horizontal and vertical IIT. Through a stepwise econometric exercise, this paper explores the attributes of exported goods in the IIT basket in terms of the directions of ToT, export share and export-price elasticity.

Across the two country pairs, the major contributors to the upsurge in IIT are five manufacturing industry groups of chemical, plastics and rubber, textiles, base metals and machinery and mechanical appliances. Across the industry groups, the dominant form of IIT has been low vertical IIT. Most of the industry groups do not characterize robust export earnings as the commodity groups have an elastic demand and an increasing trend of Terms of Trade (ToT). The exceptions are the industry groups of chemicals and textiles in India-China and India-USA, respectively.

The concern of slim export earnings in most industry groups offers scepticism in maintaining the sustainability of the current account. The problem of the fallacy of composition also cannot be ruled out given the dominance of low vertical IIT. This study argues that these industry groups need to engage in labour market reforms and require access to easy credit to achieve competitiveness in the world market.

The analysis performed in this paper attempts to integrate the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis in the context of IIT. Empirical evidence to such an issue is not profound.

This paper aims to investigate the current state of biocomposites used in fused deposition modelling (FDM) with a focus on their mechanical characteristics.

The study presents a variety of biocomposite materials that have been used in filaments for 3D printing by different researchers. The process of making filaments is then described, followed by a discussion of the process parameters associated with the FDM.

To achieve better mechanical properties of 3D-printed parts, it is essential to optimize the process parameters of FDM while considering the characteristics of the biocomposite material. Polylactic acid is considered the most promising matrix material due to its biodegradability and lower cost. Moreover, the use of natural fibres like hemp, flax and sugarcane bagasse as reinforcement to the polymer in FDM filaments improves the mechanical performance of printed parts.

The paper discusses the influence of critical process parameters of FDM like raster angle, layer thickness, infill density, infill pattern and extruder temperature on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed biocomposite.

The purpose of this paper is to provide readers with the main findings and conclusions of papers presented at the 2011 CAER‐IFPRI International Conference held under the theme “Is China entering a high food price era?”

The authors conduct a desk review of papers presented at the conference and provide a brief summary of the analytical tools, and main findings and conclusions of each presentation.

These reviews show that, while there seems to be an increase in the prices of agricultural commodities on the Chinese market, in real terms, these rises fall far below the increases in the prices of industrial commodities. Thus, expert views remain divided on whether China is entering an era of high food price.

The discussions initiated by the conference theme aroused researchers' curiosities for further studies into understanding the current level of food prices in China.

Comprehensive studies examining how Korean e-commerce trade works are currently limited. This study seeks to explore whether Korea’s e-commerce trade is more applicable to traditional trade theory or to modern theories. According to our analysis, the share of intra-industry trade (IIT) in modern trade theory is less than that of general trade for Korean e-commerce. Therefore, trade based on comparative advantage can be more valid in explaining e-commerce trade. From results in analyzing the gravity model, it was found that Korea’s e-commerce exports are higher as IIT with its FTA partners. In contrast, it is found that the lower the proportion of e-commerce trade, the higher chance for the import growth. Lastly, this study looked at what kind of comparative advantage is realized through imports. While Korea has been mostly exporting goods of high quality, its major trading partners import products based on price and selection of goods. In order for Korea’s e-commerce to grow, a more strategic approach is necessary. A strategy of high price based on superior quality is not effective, and as e-commerce has radically reduced sales and marketing costs, so a price reduction needs to be reflected in the price of goods for consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between trade integration and intra-regional business cycle synchronization using value-added trade data. Most empirical studies analyzing the relationship between trade integration and business cycle synchronization use gross trade data which suffer from double-counting. Double-counting distorts the empirical results on the estimated relationship between trade integration and business cycle synchronization. This paper explores the relationship using value-added trade data to be free from distortions caused by double-counting.

Gross trade data on exports and imports are decomposed into sub-categories following Koopman et al. (2014). Then, value-added data on exports and imports without double-counted terms are built to measure value-added bilateral trade intensity and value-added intra-industry trade intensity. Using this value-added trade intensities, the author run panel regressions for Europe and East Asian countries to examine how value-added trade intensities are correlated with output co-movements.

The paper finds that for European countries, the positive association between trade and business cycle co-movements is more evidently observed and the role of intra-industry trade increasing the business cycle synchronization is also more clearly revealed by value-added trade data. On the other hand, for East Asian countries, value-added trade data reveal that it is very uncertain whether increased trade contributes to stronger synchronization of business cycles and intra-industry trade is truly the major factor which deepens the business cycle co-movements.

First, the paper examines the relationship only by running static panel regression. There is a need to employ different methodologies such as instrumental variable regression or dynamic panel regression. Second, financial integration and policy coordination within a region are also other relevant factors which influence the intra-regional business cycle synchronization. There is a need to examine the relationship using value-added trade data with the variables measuring the degree of financial integration and policy coordination. Third, value-added trade data used in this paper has limited coverage of East Asian countries. There is also a need to extend the value-added data set to cover more countries and industries.

Most empirical literature studying the relationship between trade integration and business cycle synchronization rely on gross trade data. This paper would be the first attempt to study the relationship using value-added trade data. Duval et al. (2014) also use value-added data, but their value-added data are not supported by a solid accounting framework which decomposes a country’s gross exports into various value-added components by source and additional double-counted terms. Value-added data in this paper computed based on Koopman et al. (2014) are the total domestic value exports that are ultimately consumed abroad via final and intermediate exports. The author believes that value-added data in this paper are most relevant in estimating the relationship between trade integration and business cycle synchronization.

This paper aims to examine the influence of exchange rate risk on the bilateral trade of two closely connected East Asian open economies – Malaysia and Singapore – at industry level.

This study estimates import and export demand models considering 65 import and 65 export industries of Malaysia, with Singapore using monthly data over the period 2000-2014. Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model is used to measure the exchange rate risk, and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration is used to examine the study empirical models.

The findings suggest that exchange risk has an impact on a moderate number of industries in the short run; however, this influence endures in very few industries in the long run. It is interesting to note that exchange rate volatility expedites import demand for the large Malaysian import industries like gas and plastic.

No prior study has explored the topic at industry level focusing on the bilateral trade flows between Malaysia and Singapore. This research serves important implications while thinking about exchange rate risk and trade linkage in a case of open economies trade pairs that are highly integrated in presence of a variety of bilateral trade agreements and economic groupings.

In the run‐up to the 1992 single‐market deadline, there were concerns that inter‐industry adjustment pressures among EU member countries would increase. Such expectations were due partly to a perceived reversal of the post‐Second World War growth in intra‐industry trade (IIT). Finds that average IIT levels continued to rise during the implementation of the single market. It is argued that the concept of marginal IIT(MIIT) is of greater relevance to adjustment than “static” IIT. Some evidence is shown to support this proposition, and a comprehensive set of intra‐EU MIIT indices is calculated for the 1980s. Since average MIIT levels in the 1988‐92 period were higher than in the early 1980s, this analysis also supports the conclusion that, on average, adjustment to the single market was no more disruptive than that experienced during earlier stages of European integration. It also appears that the forces for inter‐industry adjustment are stronger in traditional, declining industries, whereas the expansion of relatively advanced industries tends to be more evenly shared by the EU member countries.