The competitive nature of state spending on the promotion of manufacturing exports

Competition ; Exports ; Manufactures

District tops U.S. in growth of exports to China

The states in the Eighth Federal Reserve District are reporting faster growth in exports to China than is the U.S. as a whole. Missouri is leading the region's pack, with an annual rate of growth topping 31 percent.Exports ; International trade - China ; Federal Reserve District, 8th

World trade: pirated by the downturn

A post-World War II record decline in world trade is likely in 2009.International trade ; Exports

Globalization deserves some props

Globalization

U.S. economic growth, relatively speaking

Economic conditions

The increasing importance of proximity for exports from U.S. states

Changes in income, trade policies, transportation costs, technology, and many other variables affect the geographic pattern of international trade flows. This paper focuses on the changing geography of merchandise exports from individual U.S. states to foreign countries. Generally speaking, the geographic distribution of state exports has changed so that trade has become more intense with nearby countries relative to distant countries. All states, however, did not experience similar changes. As measured by the distance of trade, which is the average distance that a state’s international trade is transported, 40 states experienced a declining distance of trade, while 11 states (including Washington, D.C.) experienced an increasing distance of trade. Evidence, albeit far from definitive, suggests that declining transportation costs over land, the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and faster income growth by nearby trading partners relative to distant partners have contributed to the changing geography of state exports.Exports ; International trade

Income taxes: who pays and how much?

Income tax

The disconnect over free trade

Free trade ; Tariff

The controversy over free trade: the gap between economists and the general public

Despite economists’ nearly universal support of free trade, the general public in the United States has serious reservations about it. In this article, Cletus C. Coughlin examines the reasons for this difference of opinion and the primary suggestions for bridging this gap.> Economists stress that free trade allows and, in fact, forces a nation to maximize the (net) value of the goods and services produced within its borders. Similarly, free trade allows consumers to maximize the net benefits from the goods and services that they purchase and consume. In addition, free trade improves a nation’s growth prospects. Despite these benefits, the general public remains skeptical about free trade policies. Some opposition is due to a lack of understanding about the reasons for and the impact of international trade. Additional opposition arises because the general public differs from economists in how they weigh the costs and benefits of free trade policies and which issues trade negotiations should encompass. Implementing free trade policies imposes costs upon those incurring either job losses or wage reductions. Relative to economists, some opponents of free trade tend to weigh these costs more heavily than the benefits. In addition, some oppose free trade because of concerns that free trade contributes to the abuse of workers throughout the world and to environmental degradation.> To increase political support and to facilitate trade negotiations, Coughlin explores three increasingly controversial suggestions: increased education, policies to reduce the cost to those harmed by trade liberalization, and expansion of the issues covered in trade negotiations. Clearly, no easy answer exists for generating political support for one of the few issues that most economists agree upon—a nation’s economic well-being is best served by free trade.Free trade

Is the International Border Effect Larger than the Domestic Border Effect? Evidence from U.S. Trade

Many studies have found that international borders represent large barriers to trade. But how do international borders compare to domestic border barriers? We investigate international and domestic border barriers in a unified framework. We consider a data set of exports from individual U.S. states to foreign countries and combine it with trade flows within and between U.S. states. After controlling distance and country/state size, we find that relative to state-to-state trade, crossing an individual U.S. state’s domestic border entails a larger trade barrier than crossing the international U.S. border. This finding highlights the concentration of trade flows at the local level and the importance of factors such as informational barriers and transportation costs even for the relatively short distances associated with state-to-state trade.International border effects, intranational home bias, domestic borders, gravity, trade costs