In: Afonso A., F. Huart, J.T. Jalles and P. Stanek, "Long-run relationship between exports and imports: current account sustainability tests for the EU", Portuguese Economic Journal, 1-16, 2019
This article argues that while macroeconomic and monetary interdependence is certainly important, the previous tendency to overlook the significance of such factors for the U.S. economy has given way to frequent tendencies to exaggerate greatly their quantitative importance. The available systematic empirical studies suggest that the United States has neither exported as much inflation and unemployment to other countries as is frequently alleged in popular discussions, nor imported as much inflation and unemployment from abroad. While effects of such international factors as oil price and exchange-rate changes are far from trivial our inflation has been primarily homegrown and we cannot take fluctuations in the dollar as a clear indicator for the course of domestic policies.
This data article presents data on time to export and import across 190 economies, for the years 2005–2018. The data can foster research on international trade, and are of great academic and political value given the growing awareness and importance of time as a trade barrier. The data are publicly available at https://www.doingbusiness.org/data. A subset of the data is used in the related research data article, "Time barrier to export for OECD countries" (Li, 2018). Data on the number of documents required in these economies to export and import are also presented, for the years 2005–2015.
The goal of this paper is to evaluate weather domestic or foreign investments are involved in the promotion of exports and imports in eight of the newest European Union member states. We apply the dynamic panel data model for identifying the determinants of both exports and imports in the period 1999-2013. Our main result point that there is a complementary relationship between FDI and both exports and imports. The EU membership is significant for the expansion of the trade activity but is more relevant for the export activity than for the import one. ; JEL Classification: C36, F14, F21
PurposeThe authors empirically aim to study the implications of uncertainty generated by oil price volatility on some key macroeconomic variables, including production, exchange rates and interest rates, of both oil-exporting and oil-importing countries. Using a block exogeneity structural Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model that mutes the effects of domestic variables on global factors and that is suitable for small open economies because of significant differences in the responses of domestic production in oil-importing countries will most likely decrease through reducing planning horizons, postponing investment projects and relocating resources more inefficiently.Design/methodology/approachThe authors integrated into the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model the block exogeneity feature since all the countries in this study are small open economies that cannot influence the global economic variables. The block exogeneity feature imposes the restriction that the domestic variables have neither a contemporaneous nor a lagged impact on the global variables. This model has eight variables: oil price volatility, world demand and federal funds rate as the global variables; and domestic production, monetary aggregate, inflation rate, exchange rate and interest rate as domestic variables. The authors assemble the data for 12 developing countries for which the necessary data for the analysis are available: six oil exporting countries (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico and Colombia) and six oil importing countries (Turkey, India, Philippines, Poland, South Africa and Indonesia).FindingsThe results point out significant differences in the responses of macroeconomic variables to oil price volatility shocks between oil-exporting and oil-importing countries. Furthermore, the local currencies of these countries depreciate due to concerns about possible current account worsening. In response to the shock, domestic interest rates are reduced so as to alleviate the negative exposure of the shock on domestic economic activity. While domestic production in some oil-exporting countries (i.e. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran) increases during oil price uncertainty; in some other countries (i.e. Mexico, Kazakhstan and Colombia), domestic production decreases.Originality/valueSeveral components of the study contribute to its novelty. One of them is the period under consideration. The time frame that encompasses the most significant geopolitical and financial events, such as the Middle East Spring and the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. The research was conducted using the block-exogeneity SVAR model, which includes 12 oil exporting and importing developing countries. With this model, the global dynamics, particularly the energy market, that these nations may influence and are influenced by, i.e. global and nonglobal factors can be constrained. This makes it easy to determine the various effects prices have on macroeconomic variables.HighlightsOil prices and volatility still matter to the global economyMonetary and fiscal policy interventions in response to oil price volatility create uncertainty and impede investment activityThe response of macroeconomic variables to volatility shocks in oil prices varies across oil importers and exportersInterest rates help stabilize production in oil-importing economies that have well-functioning financial markets
AbstractSub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Africa in general are known as the lowest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, CO2 emissions in SSA are increasing, making it a problem of concern and calls for attention given its adverse consequences on human health and climate change. International trade is argued to have a vital role in global and SSA emissions in diverse ways, leading to doubts of whether trade is good or bad to the environment. As a result, we explore the environmental effect of international trade in 33 SSA countries from 1990 to 2020. The study further evaluates the differential effect of exports and imports on environmental pollution. The generalized method of moment estimator and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) causality test were utilized. The results revealed that the overall effect of trade reduces environmental pollution by about 0.10% and 0.79% in both the short and long run, respectively. Again, we observe that exports and imports minimize environmental pollution of about 0.07% and 0.45% (0.08% and 0.58%) in the short run (long run), respectively. Regarding D-H results, we noticed the existence of bidirectional causality between total trade and environmental pollution, whereas exports and imports have a unidirectional causality from CO2 emissions to exports and imports. We conclude based on the findings that international trade causes pollution reduction in SSA. Furthermore, we establish that exports and imports have a homogeneous impact on environmental pollution in SSA. Given the results, we call for trade initiatives that ensure improvement in environmental and energy efficiency technologies related to production and transportation of exported and imported goods and services.
Bangladesh has achieved the prestigious second place among the biggest textile exporters countries. The paper's main objective was to explore the relationship between value addition from ready-made garments with export and import from that sector. The study further focused on the influence of previous exports, imports, and value addition on the current value addition. The study was based on three time series variables, namely export, import, and value addition from ready-made garments of Bangladesh, using data from the Bangladesh Central Bank (Bangladesh Bank) for the years 1994 to 2020. The time series variables exhibited the unit root problem and were converted to stationary after the first difference, checked by Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) Test. The multiple linear regression model illustrated, on the one hand, a highly significant and positive relationship between value addition and export, on the other hand, a highly significant and negative relationship between value addition and import for the ready-made garments in Bangladesh. Moreover, the paper used the Vector Autoregression (VAR) model to explore the influences of lag values of those three variables on value addition. The results suggested that causation among the variables was significant in the short run, but insignificant in the long run. In conclusion, Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry plays an important role in the economy, and it is prudent to expand manufacturing with more value addition in the future.