Estimating Trade Elasticities

Estimating Trade Elasticities
Author: Jaime Marquez
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475735367

One cannot exaggerate the importance of estimating how international trade responds to changes in income and prices. But there is a tension between whether one should use models that fit the data but that contradict certain aspects of the underlying theory or models that fit the theory but contradict certain aspects of the data. The essays in Estimating Trade Elasticities book offer one practical approach to deal with this tension. The analysis starts with the practical implications of optimising behaviour for estimation and it follows with a re-examination of the puzzling income elasticity for US imports that three decades of studies have not resolved. The analysis then turns to the study of the role of income and prices in determining the expansion in Asian trade, a study largely neglected in fifty years of research. With the new estimates of trade elasticities, the book examines how they assist in restoring the consistency between elasticity estimates and the world trade identity.

Expert Witnesses

Expert Witnesses
Author: Faust F. Rossi
Publisher: American Bar Association
Total Pages: 1040
Release: 1991
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780897076753

Modeling Developing Countries' Policies In General Equilibrium

Modeling Developing Countries' Policies In General Equilibrium
Author: Jaime De Melo
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2015-02-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814494828

Policies affecting resource allocation across tradable sectors and those affecting the incentives to produce tradable activities are key determinants of macroeconomic balance and growth. Computable general equilibrium models have made significant contributions to both types of policies. With advancements in computing power and software, these models have become easy to implement and are now widespread. The question then is when and how to formulate them to avoid the ‘black box’ syndrome.This book seeks to address these issues through carefully selected essays that analyse how to model general equilibrium linkages in a single economy, across developing and developed economies, and across both micro and macro policies. Micro policies examined include tariffs quotas and VERs, the choice of taxes to maximize government revenue, migration and remittances, and the political economy of tariff setting. Applications on macro policies cover capital inflows, real exchange rate determination, and the modeling of the effects of adjustment policies on income distribution.The book provides insights on the development of a family of models for diverse policy choices, focusing on the ways to model the following: links between tradable and non-tradable activities, labor markets, and portfolio choices given limited capital mobility. Selected essays are all inspired by specific policy problems, including the adaptation to external shocks (i.e. oil), consequences of capital inflows, determinants of migration and associated remittances, the productivity of foreign aid, and rent-seeking activities under trade regimes with non-price trade restrictions. Examples in this book lay out the theoretical foundations, alongside a variety of applications, to help formulate coherent and transparent models for policy analysis. Archetype economies are extensively used to show how differences in economic structure influence the effects of policies. Graduate students and policy analysts interested in modeling will find this a useful compendium of studies.

Applied Economics and Public Policy

Applied Economics and Public Policy
Author: Iain Begg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 1998-03-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521624142

Applied economics is both an art and a science. It requires a sound knowledge of economic theory, statistical techniques and data sources, together with an appreciation that behavioural changes can alter apparently established economic relationships. In this book leading economists illustrate the diversity of the subject, and present a series of studies that demonstrate a range of techniques and their applications to economic policy. It contains chapters which explore approaches to macroeconomic modelling analyses of corporate performance, new estimates of the evolution of incomes in the UK since the eighteenth century and assessments of the role of applied economics in guiding macroeconomic policy. All the chapters were specially commissioned to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Cambridge, and the contributions to the book are a fitting tribute to the work instigated by Sir Richard Stone and carried forward by his successors.