Trade and Growth: Import-Led or Export-Led? Evidence From Japan and Korea

It is commonly argued that Japanese trade protection has enabled the nurturing and development internationally competitive firms. The results in our paper suggest that when it comes to TFP growth, this view of Japan is seriously erroneous. We find that lower tariffs and higher import volumes would have been particularly beneficial for Japan during the period 1964 to 1973. Our results also lead us to question whether Japanese exports were a particularly important source of productivity growth. Our findings on Japan suggest that the salutary impact of imports stems more from their contribution to competition than to intermediate inputs. Furthermore our results indicate a reason for why imports are important. Greater imports of competing products spur innovation. Our results suggest that competitive pressures and potentially learning from foreign rivals are important conduits for growth. These channels are even more important as industries converge with the market leader. This suggests that further liberalization by Japan and other East Asian countries may result in future dynamic gains. Our results thus call the views of both the World Bank and the revisionists into question and provide support for those who advocate more liberal trade policies.

Trade and growth: Import led or export led? Evidence from Japan and Korea

It is commonly argued that Japanese trade protection has enabled the nurturing and development internationally competitive firms. The results in our paper suggest that when it comes to TFP growth, this view of Japan is seriously erroneous. We find that lower tariffs and higher import. volumes would have been particularly beneficial for Japan during the period 1964 to 1973. Our results also lead us to question whether Japanese exports were a particularly important source of productivity growth. Our findings on Japan suggest that the salutary impact of imports stems more from their contribution to competition than to intermediate inputs. Instead, this paper suggests that Japan's performance was perhaps even more of a miracle than we thought, since it occurred despite the maintenance of protectionist barriers. Furthermore our results indicate a reason for why imports are important. Greater imports of competing products spur innovation. Our results suggest that competitive pressures and potentially learning from foreign rivals are important conduits for growth. These channels are even more important as industries converge with the market leader. This suggests that further liberalization by Japan and other East Asian countries may result in future dynamic gains. While our analysis has principally focused on Japan, we have also provided corroborating evidence suggesting that our conclusions apply more broadly. Imports into the US seem to be an important factor in promoting productivity growth. The evidence for Korea suggests similar impacts from imports and tariffs and no evidence that exports promoted productivity. Our results thus call the views of both the World Bank and the revisionists into question and provide support for those who advocate more liberal trade policies

EXPANDING SERVICES BY DENTAL AUXILIARIES; WHY? WHERE? HOW?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65868/1/j.1752-7325.1970.tb00536.x.pd

Globalization, Markups and U.S. Welfare

This paper is the first attempt to structurally estimate the impact of globalization on markups, and the effect of changing markups on welfare, in a monopolistic competition model. To achieve this, we work with a class of preferences that allow for endogenous markups and firm entry and exit that are especially convenient for empirical work – the translog preferences, with symmetry in substitution imposed across products. Between 1992 and 2005 we find the U.S. market experienced a series of changes that confirm a pro-competitive effect: import shares rose and U.S. firms exited, leading to an implied fall in markups, while product variety and welfare went up. We estimate the impacts of these effects on a national level, and find that U.S. welfare rose by as much as 0.86 percent between 1992 and 2005 as a result of these changes, with product variety contributing one-half of that total.

Moderate Dehydration Decreases Locomotor Performance of the Ghost Crab, Ocypode quadrata

The effect of dehydration on the aerobic metabolism and endurance of sustained, terrestrial locomotion was determined for the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata, The rate of evaporative water loss, measured as the percentage of decrease in body mass per hour, was influenced by ambient temperature (Tₐ), Increasing Tₐ from 24° C to 30° C (40%-50% relative humidity) increased the rate of water loss from 2.3% h­­­­ˉ¹ ± 0.2% h­­­­ˉ¹ to 3.6% h­­­­ˉ¹ ± 0.6% h­­­­ˉ¹. Crabs were divided into three treatment groups to determine the effect of dehydration on aerobic metabolism: hydrated control crabs, slowly dehydrated crabs, and rapidly dehydrated crabs. Hydrated control crabs lost only 1.2% of their initial body mass. Slowly dehydrated crabs were dehydrated by 3.6% of their initial body mass at a rate of 2.3% hˉ¹. Finally, rapidly dehydrated crabs were dehydrated by 3.6% of their initial body mass at a rate of 3.6% hˉ¹. The maximal rate of oxygen consumption (Vo_2max) determined during treadmill exercise was decreased by 30% for slowly dehydrated crabs and by 70% for rapidly dehydrated crabs, as compared to hydrated controls. The minimum cost of locomotion was independent of the dehydration state for hydrated and slowly dehydrated crabs but was 62% lower for rapidly dehydrated crabs. Endurance was correlated with the speed at which Vo_2max was attained (the maximum aerobic speed [MAS]). The MAS was highest for hydrated control crabs and was decreased by 32% for slowly dehydrated crabs and by 68% for rapidly dehydrated crabs. We conclude that moderate dehydration can substantially decrease the ghost crab\u27s capacity for sustained, terrestrial locomotion