Information Frictions, Internet, and the Relationship between Distance and Trade

We examine how the adoption of information communication technology affects bilateral trade. The context is a public program in Norway that rolled out broadband access points leading to plausibly exogenous variation in the availability and adoption of broadband by firms. We find that broadband makes trade patterns more sensitive to distance and economic size. These results are consistent with a model of trade with variable elasticity of demand. The model predicts that adoption of a technology that lowers information frictions enlarges the choice set of exporters and importers. This makes demand more elastic with respect to trade costs and thus distance. (JEL D83, F14, L86, O33)

The Dominion State at War

<p>This thesis examines the New Zealand state during the First World War. It seeks to ask, firstly, to what extent did the economic size and legal reach of this state expand during, and because of, the war; secondly, how did was this growth affected by, and how did it impact upon, New Zealand’s relationship with Great Britain? My hypothesis is that, as the wartime New Zealand state expanded in size and power, its relationship with Britain grew tighter and stronger. Following an introduction, in which I take issue with the use of the term “nation” to describe New Zealand in the early twentieth century, the thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first, I look at the men who led the New Zealand Government during the war, in particular the Prime Minister, William Ferguson Massey, and the Cabinet Ministers James Allen, Alexander Herdman, and Joseph Ward; I also respond to the recent historical reassessments of Massey and his government. In the second chapter, I look at education policy during the war, asking how the war influenced administrator’s attempts to centralise control over schools. In the third chapter, I trace the growth of the wartime economy, and the even more substantial growth of the state’s role in the economy, paying particular attention to how trade with Britain grew, and impacted upon other economic policies, suggesting that export of pastoral produce to Britain drove both New Zealand’s economy, and much of the Dominion Government’s policies. In the fourth and final chapter, I look at law and order policies during the war, paying particular attention to the erosion of evidence law in war regulations, and the conscription of men to fight overseas. I will ultimately argue that the growth of, and tighter control over, the pastoral export trade to Britain, and the increasing legal powers of the state within New Zealand, together constituted an expansion of the Dominion government directed at pursuing the needs of the Empire, over and above the needs of New Zealanders.</p>

The Dominion State at War

<p>This thesis examines the New Zealand state during the First World War. It seeks to ask, firstly, to what extent did the economic size and legal reach of this state expand during, and because of, the war; secondly, how did was this growth affected by, and how did it impact upon, New Zealand’s relationship with Great Britain? My hypothesis is that, as the wartime New Zealand state expanded in size and power, its relationship with Britain grew tighter and stronger. Following an introduction, in which I take issue with the use of the term “nation” to describe New Zealand in the early twentieth century, the thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first, I look at the men who led the New Zealand Government during the war, in particular the Prime Minister, William Ferguson Massey, and the Cabinet Ministers James Allen, Alexander Herdman, and Joseph Ward; I also respond to the recent historical reassessments of Massey and his government. In the second chapter, I look at education policy during the war, asking how the war influenced administrator’s attempts to centralise control over schools. In the third chapter, I trace the growth of the wartime economy, and the even more substantial growth of the state’s role in the economy, paying particular attention to how trade with Britain grew, and impacted upon other economic policies, suggesting that export of pastoral produce to Britain drove both New Zealand’s economy, and much of the Dominion Government’s policies. In the fourth and final chapter, I look at law and order policies during the war, paying particular attention to the erosion of evidence law in war regulations, and the conscription of men to fight overseas. I will ultimately argue that the growth of, and tighter control over, the pastoral export trade to Britain, and the increasing legal powers of the state within New Zealand, together constituted an expansion of the Dominion government directed at pursuing the needs of the Empire, over and above the needs of New Zealanders.</p>

Vulnerability of foreign trade of the Republic of Moldova analyzed on the basis of the gravity model

The article examines the vulnerability of foreign trade of the Republic of Moldova, based on the development and analysis of a gravity model, in order to determine and quantify the factors affecting foreign trade. The distance and economic size of the trading partners underlie the gravity model, and the model created by the author confirms these assumptions. Another factor analyzed on the basis of the elaborated model, using the GDP difference per capita between the Republic of Moldova and trading partners as an independent variable, confirms the relevance of Ricardo’s model. The analysis shows that free trade agreements have a positive effect on foreign trade, and the ,,Brussels effect” has a positive and significant impact on Republic of Moldova’s foreign trade. In the research we analyzed the gravity model for the Republic of Moldova with 20 trading partners by the econometric method of the regression panel data.

Operating Subsidies and the Economic Situation of Agricultural Farms in Poland in 2014-2019

The purpose of this study has been to determine the role of operating subsidies in shaping the economic situation of agricultural farms in the years 2014-2019. Secondary data originating from the database of accounting books of farms aggregated by the Polish FADN were taken for our analysis. The data were processed through an analysis of the dynamics of changes in 2014-2019. The results showed that operating subsidies reached an average of between 41% and 282% of the value of income earned by family-owned farms. It was found that whether or not farms were able to earn a financial surplus without resorting to subsidies depended on the economic size of a farm. The smallest and the largest farms were unable to cover their costs and earn a profit without having access to additional sources of funds.

Economic size and water use efficiency: an empirical analysis of trends across China

Water shortage is a global risk that could arguably be mitigated using water more efficiently. However, the profound relationship between water use efficiency and regional economic size has not been empirically tested. The research design employed an exploratory empirical analysis done through non-linear curve function and attempted to analyze the evolution of water use efficiency over economic growth. First, the water use efficiency change was decomposed into pure technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change, and technological advance change. Second, the scale efficiency is generally less than 1, revealing that it is the main reason for the decreased water use efficiency by the empirical analysis of trends across China. Third, the fitting function between water use efficiency and economic development was constructed. The results supported the existence of an inverted-S shape between water use efficiency and regional economic growth. This analysis will be the reference to formulate scenarios for economic and demographic growth coupled with water use, particularly for planning and managing future water provision and demand.

Factors Influencing Technical Efficiency in the EU Dairy Farms

This paper aims to analyse the technical efficiency (TE) of dairy farms and find its determinants. To accomplish this problem, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis was applied. The data were obtained from the Farm Accountancy Data Network database for dairy farms (TF15-45—Specialist dairying) for 2004–2019. Dairy farms were divided into four clusters according to their physical size (number of livestock units per farm) and economic size (standard output per farm). The largest farms by physical and economic size are located in Denmark and Cyprus. The smallest, in comparison, are in Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia. Farms in the EU are relatively technically efficient, i.e., they use their resources efficiently to produce maximum output (production). However, they have the potential to achieve better economic results and be more competitive, as the size of farms’ is not fully optimised. The abolition of the milk quota can be considered a factor in improving technical efficiency, as the indicator is higher after the abolition. New and old member states have almost comparable technical efficiency levels (the p-value of the t-test is 0.463), with old members having slightly higher level TE. Subsidies have contradictory effects on TE. Farm efficiency with higher subsidies per cow is higher for farms with €51–100/cow. However, as subsidies increase, TE decreases. Only the group of farms with the highest subsidies has a higher TE. More diversified farms are more technically efficient than specialised farms. Milk yield did not influence the analysed indicator. The analysis results can serve the stakeholders as a tool for modelling future agricultural policy, as the European farms are very heterogenous and show different conditions and economic outcomes.

Determinants, efficiency and potential of agri-food exports from Nigeria to the EU: Evidence from the stochastic frontier gravity model

This study uses an extended gravity model to examine the determinants, efficiency and potential of agri-food exports from Nigeria to the EU for the 1995–2019 period. It uses a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to estimate the extended gravity model. The results show that the economic size (GDP) of Nigeria and the EU countries, as well as bilateral distance, positively determine agri-food exports from Nigeria to the EU. Also, the results show that Nigeria's agri-food exports to the EU are negatively determined by the income (per capita GDP) of Nigeria and its EU trading countries, bilateral exchange rate and EU new member states (NMS). The results further show that Nigeria scores relatively low in terms of the efficiency of its agri-food exports to the EU countries. On a final note, the study shows that Nigeria's agri-food exports with the EU have a relatively large potential that has not been exploited. We document policy recommendations in this study.

Comparative Studies on Trade and Value-Added Trade along the “Belt and Road”: A Network Analysis

With the deepening of regional industrial transfer, traditional trade data cannot fully explain the real level of trade in a region. This paper aims to reveal the changing pattern of real trade along the “Belt and Road” by establishing a value-added trade (VAT) network of the “Belt and Road” countries and comparing it with the trade network. Applying a network method, we analyze and compare the structures, characteristics, evolutions, and underlying dynamisms of both networks. With a thorough interpretation and visualization of the network density, network centrality, trade communities, and influencing factors of both networks in the three time sections of 2005, 2010, and 2015, we come to the following findings: (1) the connectivity of both networks has been greatly enhanced, reflecting a more integrated regional economy. (2) The center-external structure of both networks has been further strengthened and the polarization of the VAT network is more obvious than that of the trade network. (3) The organizations of trade communities and VAT communities are largely different. Specifically, China rapidly increased its core position in the VAT network and incorporated more and more countries into its VAT community. (4) The underlying factors have similar impacts on both networks. While the growth of regional economic size and free trade agreements will enhance both trade and VAT, the economic gaps and population differences among the “Belt and Road” countries will prohibit regional economic ties. Based on these findings, we propose suggestions on further regional economic cooperation by taking advantage of China’s core position to promote regional VAT, construct broad trade channels, and enhance trade governance.