Search Results (3)

This paper divides the Silk Road Economic Belt into four regions. Based on the economic characteristics of these regions, the authors construct a regional equilibrium gravity model with a multilateral resistance variable. The results of the theoretical analysis show that China’s three measures (trade liberalization, financial assistance, and technological assistance) will lead to different trade effects and welfare effects. This paper conducts numerical simulations to analyze these effects among regions under different circumstances, and the authors confirm that the simulation results are consistent with real trade changes. The main results are: (1) Trade liberalization can greatly increase China’s exports to the four major regions, and the welfare of all regions will also increase (Simulation 1). (2) Technological cooperation and assistance can continuously improve local production technology, which in turn leads to a slight decline in China’s exports to the four major regions, but in the long run, the welfare of all regions has improved (Simulation 2). (3) The financial assistance from international institutions will increase the regional trade and welfare linearly (Simulation 3). Finally, this paper draws some conclusions based on the numerical simulation results. Full article

This paper investigates the impact of multilateral trade liberalization on resource revenue, using an unbalanced panel dataset comprising 57 countries, including both developed and developing countries, over the period 1995–2015. By means of the two-step system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) estimator, the empirical analysis suggests that multilateral trade liberalization exerts a negative effect on resource revenue, probably at the benefit of non-resource revenue. However, this effect over the full sample hides a positive effect of multilateral trade liberalization on resource revenue in poorest countries, and a negative effect of multilateral trade liberalization on resource revenue in non-poorest countries of the sample. Additionally, the negative effect of multilateral trade liberalization on resource revenue over the full sample appears to be dependent on the degree of domestic trade liberalization. In fact, multilateral trade liberalization genuinely induces a reducing effect on resource revenue only if countries liberalize their domestic trade regime beyond a minimum level. Full article

Food security is increasingly influenced by multilateral trade systems and foreign trade policies implemented by national governments. Many of them are now concerned about the sustainability of food supply and the vulnerability of domestic food markets to price volatility, and seek to support domestic producers and protect themselves from increasing food imports. Such restrictions improve food self-sufficiency, but decrease food security. It is important to understand any changes that may have occurred in the food consumption pattern due to trade protectionism and to observe any nutritional implications of these changes. This paper employs the rational food security (RFS) assessment approach, which differentiates sources of food supply on the domestic market, assesses the influence of agricultural and trade frameworks on food consumption patterns, and complies consumption with the appropriate food intake threshold. In the case of Russia, the study demonstrates that the conventional consumption approach to self-sufficiency (FSCA) underestimates the food insecurity level by not accounting for nutrition factors. In addition, the gap between the FSCA and the RFS increases in times of protectionist trade policy and decreases when the agricultural and trade policy framework turns to liberalization. The paper concludes that trade protectionism challenges the sustainability of food supply by decreasing food availability and quality of food products, causes dietary changes, and threatens the food security of the country. Full article