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This study proposes an approach for quantifying two kinds of costs related to the utilisation of regional trade agreements (RTAs). The first, called the "procurement adjustment cost," represents the cost involved in meeting the rules of origin by adjusting procurement sources. The second is the additional fixed cost required to utilise RTAs, including document preparation costs for the certificates of origin. Applying our approach to Thailand's imports from China, our estimates suggest that procurement adjustment costs at the median are equivalent to 4% of the per‐unit production cost. RTA utilisation also requires an additional 27% in fixed costs. In addition, we simulate how much a reduction in these costs would enhance RTA utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the product mixes of Japanese manufacturing plants have been impacted by the rise of China imports over the period 1997–2014. It focuses on the way plants are embedded in their local environment mitigates this causal relationship. We find evidence that China import competition induced both product downsizing and product exit within Japanese manufacturing plants. Moreover, we find that those negative effects differ across plants according to various plant characteristics including the spatial organization of their parent firm, and the degree of their exposure to external agglomeration economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the theoretically ambiguous relationship between the volatility of employment growth and the foreign exposure of firms. We employ unique Japanese firm‐level data during the period of 1994 to 2012. This allows us to investigate any differences in this relationship across multinational firms and trading and non‐trading firms, manufacturing and wholesale trade and intra‐firm and inter‐firm trade. One major finding is that, in manufacturing, employment volatility increases as the share of intra‐firm exports to total sales increases. In contrast, in wholesale trade, employment volatility declines as the share of intra‐firm imports to total imports increases. One possible interpretation of these results is that the transmission of foreign supply and demand shocks could be through not only manufacturing but also wholesale trade firms. Further, a higher share of intra‐firm trade could magnify foreign demand shocks in manufacturing and could mitigate foreign supply shocks in wholesale trade. Résumé: Multinationales, commerce intra‐entreprise et volatilité de l'emploi. Cet article analyse le rapport en théorie ambigu entre la volatilité de la croissance de l'emploi et l'exposition des entreprises à l'étranger. Grâce à des données spécifiques recueillies au niveau des entreprises japonaises entre 1994 et 2012, nous pouvons étudier les différences relatives à cette relation pour les entreprises multinationales et les entreprises commerciales et non‐commerciales, le commerce manufacturier et le commerce de gros ainsi que le commerce intra‐entreprise et le commerce inter‐entreprise. L'une des conclusions majeures est que dans le secteur manufacturier, la volatilité de l'emploi diminue à mesure que la part des exportations intra‐entreprise augmente par rapport aux ventes totales. À l'inverse, dans le commerce de gros, la volatilité de l'emploi diminue à mesure que la part des importations intra‐entreprise augmente par rapport aux importations totales. L'une des interprétations possibles de ces résultats est que la transmission des chocs en matière d'offre et de demande étrangère ne passe pas uniquement par les entreprises du secteur manufacturier, mais également par les entreprises du commerce de gros. En outre, une plus grande part de commerce intra‐entreprise pourrait amplifier les chocs en matière de demande étrangère dans le secteur manufacturier, et pourrait atténuer les chocs en matière d'offre étrangère pour le commerce de gros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a simple framework that allows us to examine the cross‐country exporter productivity gap without accessing confidential firm‐level data. This gap depends on the three readily available statistics: the productivity gap between two countries; the export participation rates; and export premia. This gap holds irrespective of the distribution underlying firm productivity and irrespective of the presence of fixed costs. Under specific conditions, allocative efficiency may affect the exporter productivity gap. The empirical analysis globally validates this exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the effects of tariff reduction on product quality upgrading by employing Indonesian plant-product-level panel data matched with plant-level data. In particular, the effects of reduction in output tariffs and input tariffs are separately explored. We focus on the apparel industry. By estimating the Berry-type demand function, we derive product quality indicators based on the Khandelwal methodology, which enables us to isolate changes in prices from quality upgrading. Our findings are as follows. First, a reduction in output tariffs does not affect product quality upgrading. Second, a reduction in input tariffs boosts quality upgrading in general. In particular, this impact is greater for import plants, as is consistent with our expectation that the source of the boost is the import of high-quality foreign inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how trade liberalization affects aggregate productivity growth, focusing on market reallocation as well as within-firm productivity improvement. To this end, using Indonesian plant-level data from 1993 to 2005, we estimate the plant-level impact of trade liberalization focusing on productivity, output, and the probability to exit. Then, using the simple dynamic simulation method, we calculate the likely impact if tariff rates remain constant in the initial period. Comparing the actual and counterfactual scenarios, our results show that although within-plant productivity improvement through tariff reduction has a sizable impact on aggregate productivity growth, the contribution of market share reallocation is less significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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