Economic Integration and Endogenous Growth Revisited: Pro-Competitive Gains from Trade in Goods and the Long Run Benefits to the Exchange of Ideas

This paper re-examines the Romer [1990] “knowledge driven” endogenous growth model in an open economy setting. As an alternative to Rivera-Batiz and Romer [1991], we consider trade between two absolutely identical countries that are characterized by imperfect competition in one of the trade goods. Contrary to Rivera- Batiz and Romer [1991], we find that trade in goods without trade in ideas is detrimental to long run growth while trade in goods in conjunction with trade in ideas is good for long run growth. We further demonstrate that the pro-competitive gains from trade in goods is analogous to the analysis of imperfect competition by standard international trade theory.Knowledge Driven, Endogenous Growth, International Trade, Imperfect Competition

Modelling International Trade in Forest Products (Preliminary Ideas)

The author was asked by the forest modelling group to present his ideas on how international trade of forest products should be modelled. It should be stressed that the ideas presented here are very preliminary ones without any detailed knowledge of the specific features of forest products. It is suggested that the preparation of the international linkage of national forest product models should start with an analysis of the historical pattern of trade. Two methods are presented: the gravitational analysis to understand better the factors influencing trade flows and the trade intensity analysis to study the bilateral pattern of trade and their evolution in time. In the second part of the paper the linkage of national models through trade flow matrices is discussed and it is suggested that information on trade intensity changes should be used also in the linkage process and estimated inconsistencies of the world market should influence the policy part of the national models

Regional integration and economic development: An empirical approach

This paper contributes to the empirical literature by providing a quantitative measurement of the influence of regional trade integration on productivity. For this purpose we address the link between trade and productivity thanks to knowledge spillovers in a multi-country model. The interdependence that connects countries in an international web promotes exchanges of goods, services, people, capital and hence ideas, knowledge, innovation, and technology. Economic integration encourages thus both new ideas and their diffusion. We observe that a country’s productivity depends on its own R&D efforts as well as the R&D efforts of its trading partners. These R&D spillovers can then spread across countries and sectors. Thanks to the transfer of technology allowed by bilateral trade and investment, regional trade integration has a positive impact on long-term growth

Open Economy Schumpeterian Growth

This paper examines the Aghion and Howitt [1992] “creative destruction” endogenous growth model in an open economy setting. We consider four alternative trade regimes. The first two regimes allow the monopoly producer of the intermediate good to attain worldwide monopoly rents. In the first of the two, the countries engage in trade of only the imperfectly produced intermediate good. In the second, the two countries trade in both the intermediate good as well as in ideas. The last two regimes consider two countries which are identical before and after trade opens such that pro-competitive gains from trade are achieved. We again consider when only intermediaries may be traded and thereafter when both intermediaries and ideas may be traded. We find that the effects of trade on growth and welfare depend critically on the assumptions one imposes.Creative Destruction, Obsolescence, Endogenous Growth, International Trade, Imperfect Competition, Schumpeterian Growth

Competing in Organizations: Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade

This paper develops a theory which investigates how firms’ choice of corporate organization is affecting firm performance and the nature of competition in international markets. We develop a model in which firms’ organisational choices determine heterogeneity across firms in size and productivity in the same industry. We then incorporate these organisational choices in a Krugman cum Melitz and Ottaviano model of international trade. We show that the toughness of competition in a market depends on who - headquarters or middle managers - have power in firms. Furthermore, we propose two new margins of trade adjustments: the monitoring margin and the organizational margin. International trade may or may not lead to an increase in aggregate productivity of an industry depending on which of these margins dominate. Trade may trigger firms to opt for organizations which encourage the creation of new ideas and which are less well adapt to price and cost competition

Competing in Organizations: Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade

This paper develops a theory which investigates how firms’ choice of corporate organization is affecting firm performance and the nature of competition in international markets. We develop a model in which firms’ organisational choices determine heterogeneity across firms in size and productivity in the same industry. We then incorporate these organisational choices in a Krugman cum Melitz and Ottaviano model of international trade. We show that the toughness of competition in a market depends on who - headquarters or middle managers - have power in firms. Furthermore, we propose two new margins of trade adjustments: the monitoring margin and the organizational margin. International trade may or may not lead to an increase in aggregate productivity of an industry depending on which of these margins dominate. Trade may trigger firms to opt for organizations which encourage the creation of new ideas and which are less well adapt to price and cost competition.international trade with endogenous firm organizations and endogenous toughness of competition; firm heterogeneity; power struggle in the firm

Competing in Organizations: Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade

This paper develops a theory which investigates how firms’ choice of corporate organization is affecting firm performance and the nature of competition in international markets. We develop a model in which firms’ organisational choices determine heterogeneity across firms in size and productivity in the same industry. We then incorporate these organisational choices in a Krugman cum Melitz and Ottaviano model of international trade. We show that the toughness of competition in a market depends on who - headquarters or middle managers - have power in firms. Furthermore, we propose two new margins of trade adjustments: the monitoring margin and the organizational margin. International trade may or may not lead to an increase in aggregate productivity of an industry depending on which of these margins dominate. Trade may trigger firms to opt for organizations which encourage the creation of new ideas and which are less well adapt to price and cost competition.international trade with endogenous firm organizations and endogenous toughness of competition; firm heterogeneity; power struggle in the firm

Regional integration and economic development: An empirical approach

This paper contributes to the empirical literature by providing a quantitative measurement of the influence of regional trade integration on productivity. For this purpose we address the link between trade and productivity thanks to knowledge spillovers in a multi-country model. The interdependence that connects countries in an international web promotes exchanges of goods, services, people, capital and hence ideas, knowledge, innovation, and technology. Economic integration encourages thus both new ideas and their diffusion. We observe that a country’s productivity depends on its own R&D efforts as well as the R&D efforts of its trading partners. These R&D spillovers can then spread across countries and sectors. Thanks to the transfer of technology allowed by bilateral trade and investment, regional trade integration has a positive impact on long-term growth.regional economic integration; endogenous growth; economic geography

GLOBALIZATION & REGIONALIZATION IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The concept of globalization refers to the growing interdependence of countries, resulting from the increasing integration of trade, finance, investments, labor markets and ideas in one globalmarketplace. The most important elements of this process are the international trade and the cross-border investment flows. Economic globalization has increased the specialization of workers, while the companies compete in global markets. Even globalization has recently become a common topic in academic discourse, many economists focused, from the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to globalization, on regionalization - the growth of networks of interdependence within multinational regions of the world. The recent decades arecharacterized by the fact that the world trade grew faster than world output, which implies that an increasing share of world GDP crosses international borders. The trend is explained, mostly, by thesubstantially declining of the trade barriers during the same period, as a result of successive trade negotiation rounds under the auspices of the GATT/WTO, unilateral trade liberalization and regional tradeagreements. Even there are global connections between all the countries, the strongest political and economic integration is being created within a few specific regions of the world: Europe, North America and East Asia.globalization, regionalization, international trade, trade agreement, trade liberalization, economic integration, global market

Commercial conflict and regulation in the discourse of trade in seventeenth-century England

This article seeks to re-examine the intellectual context of commercial policy and regulation in seventeenth-century England. It questions a common assumption about so-called ‘mercantilist’ writers: that they saw trade as in some way finite and therefore won by one nation at the expense of another. Instead, it proposes that the often belligerent attitude of the ‘mercantilists’ towards trade was rooted in an understanding of the nature of international commerce as both communication and competition. Although writers acknowledged the mutual aspect of trade, they did not see this exchange as automatically equal, but saw it as possible for one party to exploit the other. This situation demanded state action to protect national trading interests in the disputed area of commerce, and thus this ‘discourse of trade’ was linked to political and juridical discourses about international relations. The article shows how this understanding of trade influenced debates about commercial governance in the critical middle decades of the seventeenth century, culminating in the attempt to create a national monopoly through the navigation acts, ‘securing sovereignty’ over the nation's trade. The second half of this article examines this in more detail with reference to the ideas of a prominent defender of the 1651 Navigation Act: Benjamin Worsley