Search Results
Working Paper
Trade deflection and trade depression
This is the first paper to empirically examine whether the United States' imposition of a special import restraint distorts foreign exports and thus affects world trade flows. We first develop a theoretical model of worldwide trade in which the imposition of a special import restraint by one country - an antidumping duty or a safeguard measure - causes significant distortions in world trade flows. We then empirically test this model by investigating the effect of US special import restraints on Japanese exports of roughly 3500 commodities into 29 countries between 1992 and 2001. Our ...
Journal Article
The U.S. trade deficit: made in China?
Rapid growth of the U.S. bilateral trade deficit with China has promoted a widespread view that the overall trade deficit is "made in China." The authors examine the probable consequences of increased protection directed toward U.S. imports from China. Their appraisal of recent and prospective U.S. trade policy focuses on textiles and apparel?sectors where the growth of imports from China has been prominent. They also consider the likely effects of yuan appreciation on the bilateral and overall trade deficits.
Working Paper
Self-enforcing trade agreements: evidence from antidumping policy
This paper empirically examines how governments make trade policy adjustments under a self-enforcing trade agreement in the presence of economic shocks. Using data on US antidumping (AD) policy formation between 1997-2006, we find that US antidumping policy is often consistent with the time-varying ?cooperative? tariff increases modeled in the self-enforcing trade agreement of Bagwell and Staiger (1990). Estimates of an empirical model of US antidumping indicate that the likelihood of a US antidumping duty is increasing in the size of the unexpected import surge, decreasing in the volatility ...
Journal Article
Understanding the great trade collapse of 2008–09 and the subsequent trade recovery
This article documents the Great Trade Collapse of 2008?09, as well as the dramatic recovery in trade of 2009?10. The authors consider how three distinct policy actions ? fiscal stimulus, funding for trade finance and a commitment to refrain from increasing trade barriers ? might have affected both the collapse and recovery.
Working Paper
Do safeguard tariffs and antidumping duties open or close technology gaps?
This paper examines how the country-breadth of tariff protection can affect the technology adoption decisions of both domestic import-competing and foreign exporting firms. The analysis is novel in that shows how firm-level technology adoption changes under tariffs of different country-breadth. I show that a country-specific tariff like an antidumping duty induces both domestic import-competing firms and foreign exporting firms to adopt a new technology earlier than they would under free trade. In contrast, a broadly-applied tariff like a safeguard can accelerate technology adoption by a ...
Working Paper
The agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures: tying one's hands through the WTO
Why would governments agree to restrict their own discretion in setting domestic policies as part of a trade agreement? This paper examines the welfare consequences of the GATT's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM). If countries which join a trade agreement are given free reign over the use of domestic production subsidies, then after negotiating tariff reductions, governments could undermine the agreement by introducing production subsidies to import-competing producers that effectively act as trade barriers. The SCM restricts the use of domestic subsidies by countries ...
Working Paper
Import protection, business cycles, and exchange rates: evidence from the Great Recession
This paper uses highly detailed, quarterly data for five major industrialized economies to estimate the impact of> macroeconomic fluctuations on import protection policies over 1988:Q1?2010:Q4. First, estimates on a pre-Great Recession sample of data provide evidence of two key relationships. We confirm that appreciations in bilateral real exchange rates lead to substantial increases in antidumping and related forms of import protection: e.g., a 4 percent appreciation results in 60?90 percent more products being subject to import protection. We also provide evidence of a previously overlooked ...
Working Paper
Policy externalities: how U.S. antidumping affects Japanese exports to the EU
This paper investigates the international externalities associated with US use of antidumping (AD) measures by examining the relationship between US AD duties (ADDs) and Japanese exports to the US and EU over the 1992-2001 period. We first examine the trade destruction and trade diversion associated with Japanese exports to the US market resulting from US AD duties. We then investigate whether US ADDs impose externalities on a non- targeted third country by examining the effect of these US policies on Japanese exports to the EU. We document sizable trade deflection and trade depression in the ...
Working Paper
Antidumping policy under imperfect competition
As average tariff rates have fallen, countries have increasingly turned to GATT-sanctioned ``special protection'' - especially antidumping duties - to restrict imports when import volumes increase suddenly. In this paper, I analyze a model of dumping among imperfectly competitive firms that face stochastic demand. I show that an antidumping duty can improve an importing-country's welfare when it faces dumping caused by weak foreign demand. Interestingly, the antidumping duty does not completely stem the tide of dumped imports, but it improves welfare through shifting some of the dumping ...