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1 – 10 of over 2000Jiehong Zhou, Yu Wang, Rui Mao and Yuqing Zheng
As technical barriers gradually become the important tools of trade protection, it is important to understand whether intensified enforcement of border controls is adopted as a…
Abstract
Purpose
As technical barriers gradually become the important tools of trade protection, it is important to understand whether intensified enforcement of border controls is adopted as a hidden tool of trade protectionism and differs across periods and industries.
Design/methodology/approach
This article applies a panel structural vector autoregression (PSVAR) model to investigate the potential role of trade protectionism motives in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) import refusals on China's agricultural exports, utilizing newly constructed monthly data at the industry level.
Findings
The results show that import refusal is mainly driven by the inspection history, highlighting the importance of the intrinsic product quality and maintaining an excellent inspection history in border inspection. The novel finding is that US employment contractions would also lead to a small increase in FDA import refusals, especially those taking place within ten months and made without sampling tests. Such an association is driven by industry-specific employment shocks and becomes stronger after the financial crisis. It is also more evident in industries where the US lacks competitiveness against China, being manufactured without mandatory safety regulations, and with negative skewness of employment growth.
Originality/value
This research is one of the preliminary attempts to understand whether the de facto border controls are worked as a hidden tool of protectionism to agricultural products, and what the specific trajectory and duration of the impacts at the monthly level. This study provides empirical evidence showing the role of protectionism motives in FDA import refusals and is heterogeneous across industries, which generate new insights and policy implications to predict and cope with additional barriers on agricultural trade.
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Keywords
Post-crisis trends in global trade and protectionism.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB196964
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Walter Block and Robert W. McGee
Explores the question of whether protectionist policies must always violate someone’s rights, or whether it is possible to have a protectionist policy that does not violate…
Abstract
Explores the question of whether protectionist policies must always violate someone’s rights, or whether it is possible to have a protectionist policy that does not violate rights. Discusses the weaknesses of a utilitarian approach to trade theory, then goes on to examine the major forms of protectionism, including tariffs, quotas, anti‐dumping laws, and the deliberate manipulation of exchange rates. Discusses rights and makes a distinction between positive and negative rights. Applies rights theory to trade policy and concludes that protectionism necessarily violates someone’s rights to property, contract or association ‐ unless it is done on a voluntary basis.
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The purpose of this paper is to establish the benefits of free trade, to examine the reasons and outcomes of protectionist policies, and to evaluate the rationale behind trade…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the benefits of free trade, to examine the reasons and outcomes of protectionist policies, and to evaluate the rationale behind trade protectionism.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used in this paper includes review of the literature and empirical studies published from 1967 to 2008, and descriptive statistical analysis of data published by international organizations.
Findings
International trade has been growing faster than growth of world gross domestic product, and countries with freer trade policies benefit more than countries with restricted policies. Yet, trade protectionism continues to be exercised in response to pressure from select industries and political constituencies. The paper also establishes that trade restrictions are harmful to the economies of the trading partners.
Originality/value
This paper establishes the benefits of free trade, the harms of trade restrictions, and challenges the popular rationale for protectionism.
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Economic integration is an agreement among countries in a geographical region or unification of economic policies between different states aiming to reduce and ultimately remove…
Abstract
Economic integration is an agreement among countries in a geographical region or unification of economic policies between different states aiming to reduce and ultimately remove tariff and non-tariff barriers on trade. The fruit of globalization is the tremendous rise of economic integration as globalization loosens barriers among the nations through reduction in cross-border duties and eases trade policies. Trumponomics is defined as the economic policies of US President Donald Trump that prefers high import tariff to bring “America First.” There is a debate among the researchers about the choice between free trade and protection or imposition of tariff. Some of them prefer free trade because during the start of the great depression, the world economy experienced a huge shift toward protectionism. Choice between no-tariff and tariff represents a prisoner’s dilemma situation whereby each player’s best response is to employ tariffs. This results in a sub-optimal outcome for all where the total volume of world trade falls, which is a Nash solution. The present chapter deals with theoretical discussions on trade war and throws light on the developing country’s choice between non-protectionism supported by globalization and Trump’s protectionism.
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Keywords
Fears of a period of imminent 'deglobalisation' involving more protectionism and less integration.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB214467
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Apartheid is identified as the outcome of a form of (cultural)protectionism. Understanding the protectionist nature of apartheid inthe context of the use of state intervention to…
Abstract
Apartheid is identified as the outcome of a form of (cultural) protectionism. Understanding the protectionist nature of apartheid in the context of the use of state intervention to protect or promote an interest group, allows one to establish criticisms of this system based on a set of principles. While this analysis provides the means for evaluation of consequences, criticisms based on these principles do not require an evaluation of either the intentions or the consequences of protectionist policies. Most forms of interventionist protection are vulnerable to the same objections which are correctly raised against apartheid. Thus, public choice analysis provides evidence and arguments which suggest that evaluation of interventionist policies should be subjected to stringent criteria.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the economic impact of a rising US trade protectionism on the economies of China, Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN countries and draw out…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the economic impact of a rising US trade protectionism on the economies of China, Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN countries and draw out some policy and strategic implications for the USA and East Asia.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ a computable general equilibrium approach supplemented with qualitative analyses based on empirical evidence.
Findings
An increase in US import tariffs would result in economic losses for the USA and the corresponding country or region to which the import tariff increase is applied. An increase in US import tariffs for Chinese goods alone would not have any spillover effects on other East Asian countries. But, an imposition of a border adjustment tax (BAT) for all countries and for all products would actually boost US economic growth. Advanced economies would enjoy GDP increases, but China, Korea and the ASEAN countries would face an economic loss in a longer term period, although they would enjoy some growth in the short term. However, when the BAT only applies to a specific East Asian country, USA would suffer an economic loss, with the exception of a BAT specifically targeted at the ASEAN countries. ASEAN countries would not experience any economic loss under all scenarios except in the case of import tariffs specifically targeted at ASEAN.
Research limitations/implications
From the US perspective, it is beneficial to adopt a BAT for all countries and across the board. Under this arrangement, there would be an economic loss for China, Korea and the ASEAN countries in the longer term. An increase in US trade protectionism would only push the East Asian countries towards deeper economic integration, with serious implications for global pattern of trade and investment.
Originality/value
The existing literature on the likely economic impact of US trade protectionism on East Asia is very scarce and based on surveys and subjective speculations. This study uses a quantitative method based on empirical evidence.
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The US administration has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), threatened punitive tariffs against several trading partners and started renegotiating the North…