Trade liberalization, intermediate product imports and technical innovation in China: an empirical study based on provincial panel data from 1998-2012

LI Ping;JIANG Li

Journal of International Trade,2015,No. 07

From the perspective of trade liberalization, this paper ascribes the impact of intermediate product imports on China’s technical innovation to the incentive effects of trade liberalization, R&D capital effects and human capital incentive effects. Drawing on the model of international R&D spillovers which incorporate trade liberalization, this paper conducts an empirical test by using China’s provincial panel data during 1998–2012. The results show that the import of intermediate products has a promoting effect on technology innovation in China, with every 10 percent increase in the import of intermediate products corresponding to a 1.6 percent rise in China’s technical innovation, and every 10 percent increase in the trade liberalization of intermediate products import corresponding to a 0.3 percent rise in China’s technical innovation.

Infrastructure supply, industry heterogeneity and comparative advantage

RU Yucong

Journal of International Trade,2015,No. 07

This paper investigates how public infrastructure supply affects industrial comparative advantage under the monopoly competitive model. The theoretical model analysis indicates that the effect of infrastructure on industrial comparative advantage is not only influenced by the amount of infrastructure supply but also by its intensity of use. Applying the input–output table of China's 135 sectors in 2007, this paper surveys the intensity of use of 6 categories of manufacturing infrastructure. The empirical study using data of 17 industries in 30 regions between 2005 and 2011 concludes that an increase of infrastructure supply of such infrastructure as telecommunications, education, scientific research and public health has a significantly positive influence on the related industries' comparative advantages. Increased supply of roads and electricity infrastructures is not significantly influential of the comparative advantages. The policy implication of this paper is that the local government's adjustment of the structure of infrastructure supply and added supply of such public infrastructure as education and public health infrastructure can effectively boost the local industrial restructuring and upgrading.

Determinants of service export sophistication: an empirical analysis based on 112 economies

ZHANG Yu;DAI Xiang

Journal of International Trade,2015,No. 07

Drawing on the new method proposed by Hausmann et al. (2005) to measure the sophistication of services export, this paper estimates the sophistication of services exports of 112 economies worldwide during 2000–2011. An empirical analysis is further carried out using cross–country panel data to test the possible determinants of services export sophistication. The findings are: (1) factors such as human capital, service trade openness, utilized foreign capital, GDP per capita, infrastructure and institutional quality have significant positive effects on services export sophistication, while the export scale has a significant negative impact; (2) the development scale of services industry and the population size do not have significant positive effects on services export sophistication of developing countries, but have significant positive impact on that of developed economies; (3) FDI has a significant positive effect on services export sophistication of developing economies, while having no significant impact on that of developed economies;(4) both the degree and the significance of the influence of institutional quality on services export sophistication of developed economies exceed that of developing economies. Accordingly, a steady and orderly manner to further expand the opening-up of the services industry, improve the services infrastructure and institutional quality is crucial to attain the quality–quantity strategic goal of China's services industry.

Evolution of global trade structure and trade growth: an empirical analysis based on gravity model

DENG Xinghua;CUI Fan;LIN Zhouyu

Journal of International Trade,2015,No. 07