1,720,960 research outputs found
Three Empirical Essays on Trade Reform in Post Apartheid South Africa.
Get PDFThis dissertation examines the trade reform experience in South Africa's (SA) manufacturing sector during the first post apartheid decade, from 1994 until 2004. During this period SA implemented an intensive trade reform policy particularly in the manufacturing sector. Average Nominal Tariff Rates and average Effective Tariff Rates decreased from pre-reform levels of 20% and 48% respectively in 1993 to 7% and 13% in 2004, with large dispersions across the different sub-industries. The core of this work explores the impact of this trade reform on the sector's labour and product market. In this dissertation We examine three novel questions regarding the impact of trade policy in SA. In Chapter 1 Do Unions Matter? Trade Reform and Manufacturing Wages in South Africa I investigate the effect of nominal tariff cuts on industry wage differentials using labor force data for the period from 1995 to 2004. This study extends the existing literature in two respects: firstly, we control for the potential effect of labor market institutions, such as collective bargaining power, in assessing the relationship between tariffs and industry wages. Secondly, we account for general equilibrium effects by controlling for the impact of changes in effective tariffs rates. We find that on the one hand, only wages in industries with levels of unionization beyond a certain threshold were adversely affected by tariff cuts. This negative effect is exacerbated by the extent of sectoral union power. The reported large magnitudes of the tariff impact on wages is in line with the considerably high markups documented for South Africa. On the other hand we find some evidence suggesting that wages in industries with union power below the threshold were positively affected by the tariff cuts. In Chapter 2 Efficiency Gains from Trade Reform: Foreign Input Technology or Import Competition? Evidence from South Africa we extend the empirical trade literature examining the effect of trade reform, proxied by the reductions in Nominal Tariff Rates (NTR), on productivity, the latter estimated as the production function residual. We examine the different channels by which tariff cuts affect productivity growth. In the context of the South African trade reform experience, using industry level data for the manufacturing sector and covering the reform period from 1994 to 2004, we disentangle the differential effect of increased foreign competition, proxied by reductions in NTR, and that of the imported technology, proxied by the reductions in Input Tariff Rates (ITR), on productivity growth. Our measure of efficiency growth controls for the effect of tariff reductions on markups. The results suggest that the efficiency difference between foreign and domestic inputs have the major effect on productivity gains. Declines in ITR significantly raise productivity growth compared to an insignificant effect for NTR. Additionally, we find that higher protection rates are associated with higher markups, albeit this finding is not robust across all specifications. In Chapter 3 Heterogenous Trade Barrier Effects: What Can We Learn From a Disaggregated Gravity Model? we relax the unrealistic assumption commonly imposed in gravity model estimations of equal elasticity of trade flows with respect to trade barriers across sectors and regions by using disaggregated industry level trade flows for South Africa's manufacturing sector and we test for heterogenous elasticities due to: (1) variations in the level of firm heterogeneity across sectors, and (2) differences in the size of trading partners. In line with theoretical predictions we find that the negative elasticity of exports to trade barriers increases for sectors with a higher level of firm homogeneity, supporting international trade models with heterogenous firms. Furthermore, we find that the negative elasticity of imports to trade barriers decreases for trading partners with larger export potential, emphasizing the objective of minimizing fixed costs of trading that is related to the number of countries with which South Africa, as an importer, trades.Free trade -- South Africa; South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-;
Three Empirical Essays on Trade Reform in Post Apartheid South Africa
Get PDFDefense Date: 27/03/2009Examining Board:
Prof. Luigi Guiso, EUI
Prof. Joep Konings, Catholic University of Leuven
Prof. Morten Ravn, EUI and University of Southampton, supervisor
Prof. Adrian Wood, University of OxfordThis dissertation examines the trade reform experience in South Africa's (SA) manufacturing sector during the first post apartheid decade, from 1994 until 2004. During this period SA implemented an intensive trade reform policy particularly in the manufacturing sector. Average Nominal Tariff Rates and average Effective Tariff Rates decreased from pre-reform levels of 20% and 48% respectively in 1993 to 7% and 13% in 2004, with large dispersions across the different sub-industries. The core of this work explores the impact of this trade reform on the sector's labour and product market. In this dissertation We examine three novel questions regarding the impact of trade policy in SA. In Chapter 1 Do Unions Matter? Trade Reform and Manufacturing Wages in South Africa I investigate the effect of nominal tariff cuts on industry wage differentials using labor force data for the period from 1995 to 2004. This study extends the existing literature in two respects: firstly, we control for the potential effect of labor market institutions, such as collective bargaining power, in assessing the relationship between tariffs and industry wages. Secondly, we account for general equilibrium effects by controlling for the impact of changes in effective tariffs rates. We find that on the one hand, only wages in industries with levels of unionization beyond a certain threshold were adversely affected by tariff cuts. This negative effect is exacerbated by the extent of sectoral union power. The reported large magnitudes of the tariff impact on wages is in line with the considerably high markups documented for South Africa. On the other hand we find some evidence suggesting that wages in industries with union power below the threshold were positively affected by the tariff cuts. In Chapter 2 Efficiency Gains from Trade Reform: Foreign Input Technology or Import Competition? Evidence from South Africa we extend the empirical trade literature examining the effect of trade reform, proxied by the reductions in Nominal Tariff Rates (NTR), on productivity, the latter estimated as the production function residual. We examine the different channels by which tariff cuts affect productivity growth. In the context of the South African trade reform experience, using industry level data for the manufacturing sector and covering the reform period from 1994 to 2004, we disentangle the differential effect of increased foreign competition, proxied by reductions in NTR, and that of the imported technology, proxied by the reductions in Input Tariff Rates (ITR), on productivity growth. Our measure of efficiency growth controls for the effect of tariff reductions on markups. The results suggest that the efficiency difference between foreign and domestic inputs have the major effect on productivity gains. Declines in ITR significantly raise productivity growth compared to an insignificant effect for NTR. Additionally, we find that higher protection rates are associated with higher markups, albeit this finding is not robust across all specifications. In Chapter 3 Heterogenous Trade Barrier Effects: What Can We Learn From a Disaggregated Gravity Model? we relax the unrealistic assumption commonly imposed in gravity model estimations of equal elasticity of trade flows with respect to trade barriers across sectors and regions by using disaggregated industry level trade flows for South Africa's manufacturing sector and we test for heterogenous elasticities due to: (1) variations in the level of firm heterogeneity across sectors, and (2) differences in the size of trading partners. In line with theoretical predictions we find that the negative elasticity of exports to trade barriers increases for sectors with a higher level of firm homogeneity, supporting international trade models with heterogenous firms. Furthermore, we find that the negative elasticity of imports to trade barriers decreases for trading partners with larger export potential, emphasizing the objective of minimizing fixed costs of trading that is related to the number of countries with which South Africa, as an importer, trades
Journal of African Economies
No full textThe effect of nominal tariff cuts on industry wage differentials has been the subject of a number of recent empirical studies. In this paper, we investigate the latter relationship with respect to the South African trade reform experience using micro-level labour data for the period from 1995 to 2004. Our study extends on the existing literature in two respects: first, we are the first controlling for the potential effect of labour market institutions, such as collective bargaining power, in assessing the relationship between tariffs and industry wages. Second, we account for general equilibrium effects by controlling for the impact of changes in effective tariff rates. On the one hand, we find that only wages in industries with levels of unionisation beyond a certain threshold were adversely affected by tariff cuts. This negative effect is exacerbated by the extent of sectoral union power. The reported large magnitudes of the tariff impact on wages is in line with the considerably high mark-ups documented for South Africa. On the other hand we find some evidence suggesting that wages in industries with union power below the threshold were positively affected by the tariff cuts. This evidence suggests the omitted variable bias resulting from not controlling for industry heterogeneities in bargaining power when examining the wage-trade relationship
Efficiency Gains from Trade Reform: Foreign Technology or Import Competition? Evidence from South Africa’s Manufacturing Sector
Get PDFThe empirical trade literature examining the effect of tariff reductions on
productivity commonly proxies the former with Nominal Tariff Rates (NTR)
and estimates the latter as the production function residual. In the context of
the South African trade reform experience we examine the different channels
by which tariff cuts affect productivity growth. Using industry level data for
the manufacturing sector and covering the reform period from 1994 to 2004,
we disentangle the differential effect of increased foreign competition, proxied
by reductions in NTR, and that of the imported technology, proxied by the reductions
in Input Tariff Rates (ITR), on productivity growth. Our measure of
efficiency growth controls for the effect of tariff reductions on markups. The results
suggest that the efficiency difference between foreign and domestic inputs
have the major effect on productivity gains. Declines in ITR significantly raise
productivity growth compared to an insignificant effect for NTR. Additionally,
we find that higher protection rates are associated with higher markups, albeit
this finding is not robust across all specifications
Efficiency Gains from Trade Reform : Foreign Input Technology or Import Competition? Evidence from South Africa
No full textThe empirical trade literature examining the effect of tariff reductions on productivity commonly proxies the former with Nominal Tariff Rates (NTR) and estimates the latter as the production function residual. In the context of the South African trade reform experience, we examine the different channels by which tariff cuts affect productivity growth. Using industry-level data for the manufacturing sector and covering the reform period from 1994 to 2004, we disentangle the differential effect of increased foreign competition, proxied by reductions in NTR, and that of the imported technology, proxied by the reductions in Input Tariff Rates (ITR), on productivity growth. Our measure of efficiency growth controls for the effect of tariff reductions on markups. The results suggest that the efficiency difference between foreign and domestic inputs has a major effect on productivity gains. Declines in ITR significantly raise productivity growth compared to an insignificant effect for NTR. Additionally, we find that higher protection rates are associated with higher markups, albeit this finding is not robust across all specifications
Do Unions Matter? Trade Reform and Manufacturing Wages in South Africa
Get PDFThe effect of nominal tariff cuts on industry wage differentials has been the subject of a number of recent empirical studies. In this paper we investigate the latter relationship with respect to the South African trade reform experience using labor force data for the period from 1995 to 2004. Our study extends on the existing literature in two respects: firstly, we control for the potential effect of labor market institutions, such as collective bargaining power, in assessing the relationship between tariffs and industry wages. Secondly, we account for general equilibrium effects by controlling for the impact of changes in effective tariffs rates. We find that on the one hand, only wages in industries with levels of unionization beyond a certain threshold were adversely affected by tariff cuts. This negative effect is exacerbated by the extent of sectoral union power. The reported large magnitudes of the tariff impact on wages is in line with the considerably high markups documented for South Africa. On the other hand we find some evidence suggesting that wages in industries with union power below the threshold were positively affected by the tariff cuts
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
- …
