Open Economies Work Better!

Open Economies Work Better! PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa, Sub-Saharan
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description

Open Economies Work Better!

Open Economies Work Better! PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa, Sub-Saharan
Languages : en
Pages : 44

Get Book Here

Book Description


Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause its Marginalization in World Trade?

Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause its Marginalization in World Trade? PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Sub-Saharan Africa has de ...

Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause Its Marginalization in World Trade?

Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause Its Marginalization in World Trade? PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
August 1996 Sub-Saharan Africa has declined in importance in world trade mainly because it has not remained competitive. External protection has not played a major role in this decline; indeed, OECD trade preferences gave Africa an advantage over many exporters. But Africa's own trade barriers are too high. Many studies show that liberal trade policies generally lead to superior growth, an important finding if Africa is to reverse its diminishing role in world trade. In the mid-1950s Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 3.1 percent of global exports. By 1990 this share had fallen to 1.2 percent. The reasons for this decline are important for policymaking. If external protection in OECD markets was an important contributing factor, the solution to Africa's trade problems requires liberalizing industrial countries' trade barriers. But if Africa's marginalization resulted primarily from inappropriate domestic policies that reduced the region's ability to compete internationally, changes in Africa's own policies are crucial for a reversal of adverse trade trends. Ng and Yeats find that Africa's extensive loss of competitiveness played a key role in its decline in world trade. If Africa had merely retained its 1962-64 OECD market shares, its exports now would be 75 percent ($11 billion) higher. In addition, global demand for the region's major exports grew considerably more slowly than demand for most other goods. In short, Africa's problem was two-pronged: It experienced declining market shares for its major export products, which, in turn, were of declining relative importance in world trade. And it was unable to diversify its export base. As a result, it is now among the regions mostly highly dependent on relatively few export products and -- unlike all other regions -- this dependence has increased sharply over the past three decades. Empirical evidence developed by Ng and Yeats shows that external protection has not played a major role in this decline; indeed, OECD trade preferences gave Africa an advantage over many exporters. Trade restrictions and domestic policy interventions often create a bias against tradables, especially exports, that prevents the achievement of otherwise attainable growth rates. Import barriers in Africa are far higher than in developing countries with faster export growth, and appear to work against potential export products. If the region is to reverse its unfavorable export trends, it must adopt trade and structural adjustment policies that help make it competitive and help African exporters capitalize on foreign trade opportunities. This paper -- a product of the International Trade Division, International Economics Department -- is part of a larger effort in the department to identify barriers to developing countries' exports and assist in their removal.

Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause Its Marginalization in World Trade?

Open Economies Work Better! Did Africa's Protectionist Policies Cause Its Marginalization in World Trade? PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Sub-Saharan Africa's declining importance in global trade is primarily due to its inability to remain competitive in international markets. If Africa merely retained its 1962-1964 shares for major products its exports would now be 75% ($11 billion) higher. External protection against Africa has not played an important role in this decline, in fact, OECD trade preferences made market access conditions for Africa more favorable than that for many other exporters. In contrast, sub-Saharan Africa's own trade barriers are considerably higher than those of most other developing countries, particularly those that launched sustained export-oriented industrialization drives. Since numerous studies show countries which pursue liberal trade policies generally achieve superior growth rates, these findings accent the importance of domestic policy reforms if Africa is to reverse its diminishing role in world trade. In short, the future of African economies will be determined by Africans themselves and not by outsiders.

Open Economy Macroeconomics

Open Economy Macroeconomics PDF Author: Martín Uribe
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691158770
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 646

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Book Description
A cutting-edge graduate-level textbook on the macroeconomics of international trade Combining theoretical models and data in ways unimaginable just a few years ago, open economy macroeconomics has experienced enormous growth over the past several decades. This rigorous and self-contained textbook brings graduate students, scholars, and policymakers to the research frontier and provides the tools and context necessary for new research and policy proposals. Martín Uribe and Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé factor in the discipline's latest developments, including major theoretical advances in incorporating financial and nominal frictions into microfounded dynamic models of the open economy, the availability of macro- and microdata for emerging and developed countries, and a revolution in the tools available to simulate and estimate dynamic stochastic models. The authors begin with a canonical general equilibrium model of an open economy and then build levels of complexity through the coverage of important topics such as international business-cycle analysis, financial frictions as drivers and transmitters of business cycles and global crises, sovereign default, pecuniary externalities, involuntary unemployment, optimal macroprudential policy, and the role of nominal rigidities in shaping optimal exchange-rate policy. Based on courses taught at several universities, Open Economy Macroeconomics is an essential resource for students, researchers, and practitioners. Detailed exploration of international business-cycle analysis Coverage of financial frictions as drivers and transmitters of business cycles and global crises Extensive investigation of nominal rigidities and their role in shaping optimal exchange-rate policy Other topics include fixed exchange-rate regimes, involuntary unemployment, optimal macroprudential policy, and sovereign default and debt sustainability Chapters include exercises and replication codes

Competition in the Open Economy

Competition in the Open Economy PDF Author: Richard E. Caves
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674154254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
With the nations of the world becoming more interdependent, it is imperative to take international influences into account in understanding the organization of industry within a country. This book extends the structure/conduct/performance framework of analysis to present a fully specified simultaneous equation model of an open economy--Canada. By estimating a system of equations of all the major variables, the authors can identify which variables are dependent and which are independent. They are thus able to assess the relative importance of such factors as seller concentration, import competition, retailing structure, advertising expenditure, research and development spending, and technical and allocative efficiency in shaping the organization of industry in Canada. In addition, using both industry-level and firm-level data, the authors develop methods for assessing the effect of structural variables on diversification strategies and the consequences for market performance. They also study the effects of such variables on firms' access to capital markets. The book concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for government policy.

Open

Open PDF Author: Kimberly Clausing
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674919335
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
A Financial Times Best Economics Book of the Year A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year A Fareed Zakaria GPS Book of the Week “A highly intelligent, fact-based defense of the virtues of an open, competitive economy and society.” —Fareed Zakaria “A vitally important corrective to the current populist moment...Open points the way to a kinder, gentler version of globalization that ensures that the gains are shared by all.” —Justin Wolfers “Clausing’s important book lays out the economics of globalization and, more important, shows how globalization can be made to work for the vast majority of Americans. I hope the next President of the United States takes its lessons on board.” —Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury “Makes a strong case in favor of foreign trade in goods and services, the cross-border movement of capital, and immigration. This valuable book amounts to a primer on globalization.” —Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs Critics on the Left have long attacked open markets and free trade agreements for exploiting the poor and undermining labor, while those on the Right complain that they unjustly penalize workers back home. Kimberly Clausing takes on old and new skeptics in her compelling case that open economies are actually a force for good. Turning to the data to separate substance from spin, she shows how international trade makes countries richer, raises living standards, benefits consumers, and brings nations together. At a time when borders are closing and the safety of global supply chains is being thrown into question, she outlines a clear agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy and establish a better partnership between labor and the business community.

News Shocks in Open Economies

News Shocks in Open Economies PDF Author: Mr.Rabah Arezki
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513590766
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
This paper explores the effect of news shocks on the current account and other macroeconomic variables using worldwide giant oil discoveries as a directly observable measure of news shocks about future output ? the delay between a discovery and production is on average 4 to 6 years. We first present a two-sector small open economy model in order to predict the responses of macroeconomic aggregates to news of an oil discovery. We then estimate the effects of giant oil discoveries on a large panel of countries. Our empirical estimates are consistent with the predictions of the model. After an oil discovery, the current account and saving rate decline for the first 5 years and then rise sharply during the ensuing years. Investment rises robustly soon after the news arrives, while GDP does not increase until after 5 years. Employment rates fall slightly for a sustained period of time.

Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments? Another Look

Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments? Another Look PDF Author: John E. Garen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the Journal of Political Economy, Rodrik (1998) finds a positive association between the openness of an economy and its government size. He explains this paradox by arguing that government expenditures are used to provide social insurance against the risk of terms of trade shocks that open economies face. This paper examines the relationship of other measures of the size of government to openness of an economy and to risk of terms of trade shocks. We present evidence that less open economies are highly interventionist and their governments "large" based on different measures of government than those used by Rodrik. In particular, we find that less open economies tend to have a great deal more government in the form of more government ownership, more use of price controls, a higher likelihood of expropriation of property and repudiation of contracts, and more trade barriers. We also find higher levels of these forms of government in countries with greater exposure to trade shocks. The inter-relationships uncovered by Rodrik (1998), various authors in the literature, and in this paper are still not completely understood. It is clear, though, that focus on budgetary measures of government misses much of the picture regarding the role of government and its relationship to international trade.

Inflation in Open Economies

Inflation in Open Economies PDF Author: Michael Parkin
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719007125
Category : Currency question
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description