Special Issue "International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment for Sustainable Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Andrzej Cieslik
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, 00-241, Poland
Interests: international economics; international trade; foreign direct investment; open economy macroeconomics; economic geography
Prof. Michael Ryan
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, 49008-5330, USA
Interests: international economics; international trade; foreign direct investment; open economy macroeconomics; economic geography

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The last two decades have seen a renewed interest in the theory of international trade and open economy macroeconomics. For many years, the concept of comparative advantage and simple two-country models were used to identify industries in which one country was relatively stronger than another country and to study the resulting patterns of specialization and trade. However, in recent years this view was challenged by the analysis of large firm-level datasets that revealed large differences among firms within the same industry in terms of their productivity and export performance. Contemporary research increasingly focuses on individual firms, plants, and products rather than on countries and industries. The firm-level evidence shows several new facts that were not previously observable at the aggregate level.

In particular, the evolution of aggregate trade is driven by two “margins”: the “intensive margin” that refers to average exports per firm and the “extensive margin” that refers to the number of exporting firms, the number of exported products, and the number of export destinations. The empirical evidence shows that the variation in aggregate trade between countries is mostly driven by the extensive margin. The exporting firms differ from non-exporting firms in a number of ways. They are bigger, generate higher added value, pay higher wages, employ relatively more skilled workers and more capital per worker, and their productivity levels are higher. These findings also have important trade policy implications. Trade liberalization leads to market share reallocations towards more productive firms and raises average industry productivity, as low-productivity firms exit and high-productivity firms expand their operations. The evidence shows that the opening of distant markets gives an additional opportunity only to the most productive firms within each industry, allowing them to enlarge their market shares to the detriment of less-productive competitors, some of which might be forced to exit the market or shut down. These facts have been explained by recent theoretical studies based on multi-country models. However, these models differ in terms of the features that cause only the most productive firms to export, and many issues still remain unresolved.

The main aim of this Special Issue will be to bring together a group of researchers who are doing original and interesting research on this important topic. Researchers will be invited to submit both theoretical and empirical contributions. In particular, we welcome papers related to the following topics:

  1. Theoretical and empirical research about firm-level or product-level trade;
  2. The impact of trade liberalization and competition on firm productivity and trade;
  3. “Extensive” and “intensive” margins of trade;
  4. Survival and duration of trade relationships;
  5. Learning-by-exporting;
  6. Trade, innovation, and productivity spillovers;
  7. Trade, migration, and worker heterogeneity;
  8. Trade, foreign direct investment, and environment.

Prof. Andrzej Cieslik
Prof. Michael Ryan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • international economics
  • international trade
  • foreign direct investment
  • open economy macroeconomics
  • economic geography

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Environmental Kuznets Curve and the Pollution-Halo/Haven Hypotheses: An Investigation in Brazilian Municipalities
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4114; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084114 - 07 Apr 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 728
Abstract
There is much discussion on the non-linear relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, the effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the environment are ambiguous, as both beneficial (i.e., pollution-halo) and harmful (i.e., pollution-haven) effects were found. [...] Read more.
There is much discussion on the non-linear relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, the effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the environment are ambiguous, as both beneficial (i.e., pollution-halo) and harmful (i.e., pollution-haven) effects were found. Therefore, the literature presents no consensus on either of these topics. This is especially problematic for developing regions, as these regions represent growing economies interested in receiving foreign investments, and their CO2-related research is limited. This study aims to understand the impacts of economic growth and FDI on the CO2 emissions of São Paulo state, Brazil. To perform this study, a unique dataset on regional FDI was built, and 592 municipalities were included. The analyses combine linear and non-linear estimations, and the results suggest a non-linear relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and CO2 emissions, along with a negative association between FDI and CO2. Finally, this study discusses possible policy implications and contributes to the international literature. Full article
Article
Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development through Multilateral Free Trade Agreements
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2519; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052519 - 26 Feb 2021
Viewed by 581
Abstract
For sustainable economic development, a continuous and successful economic transformation is critical, and supporting economic transformation requires a better understanding of the close interaction between technology and skill at the micro- and macro-levels. The technology-skill links should especially be important in today’s globalized [...] Read more.
For sustainable economic development, a continuous and successful economic transformation is critical, and supporting economic transformation requires a better understanding of the close interaction between technology and skill at the micro- and macro-levels. The technology-skill links should especially be important in today’s globalized world. This paper develops a large-scale global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model by incorporating recent theoretical advances in international trade: Heterogeneous workers endogenously sort into different technologies based on their comparative advantage, and aggregate productivity is determined by skill-technology assignment in equilibrium. We then calibrate our model to a real-world data set, and investigate how multilateral free trade agreements affect individual member states, as well as outside countries and regions in the case of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Overall, the results show considerable real productivity gains and economic transformation effects, due to technology-upgrading mechanisms. Full article
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