Unit Values, Productivity, and Trade - Determinants of Spanish Export Strength

Abstract

In this paper we assess the current relevance of different sources of international competitiveness. Relative prices, labor costs, and productivity are evaluated as determinants of a country's international competitiveness at the industry level. Working with detailed data on unit values and with industry data on productivity, we empirically implement a MacDougall-type model for Spanish and French trade to Brazil, China, Japan, and the U.S. The period under study is 1980 to 2001 and we distinguish in our analysis between homogenous, reference-priced, and differentiated goods. Our results indicate that cost competitiveness factors are only valid for explaining trade with developing countries while other factors are of importance for developed economies. Overall price competitiveness is of importance, but for differentiated goods, factors distinct from prices seem to determine export success.

Does China Still Have a Labor Cost Advantage?

“…Expressed 2 In addition to the earlier studies of China's RULC mentioned in the introduction, previous applications of the RULC approach to measuring competitiveness include Turner and Golub (1997), Golub (1999), Mbaye and Golub (2003), and Edwards and Golub (2004). NowakLehmann et al (2007) and Vollmer et al (2009) include RULC measures in empirical analyses of export performance. 3 Jones (2000) and Golub, Jones and Kierzkowski (2007) emphasize the distinction between tradable and non-tradable inputs in models of global fragmentation of production.…”

Trade Liberalization and Productivity Performance: Evidence from the Australian Passenger Motor Vehicle Industry

“…Since there has been a good deal of capacity under-utilization in the Australian motor vehicle industry, the implications of not making such corrections are that our TFP growth estimates reflect in part changes in capacity utilization (Vollmer, Martínez-Zarzoso, and Nowak-Lehmann 2009). 6 Our estimated TFP growth rates, strictly speaking, should therefore be interpreted as the rates of improvement in the overall efficiency of resource use (including fixed factors of production), rather than as "pure" rates of technological progress.…”

The comparative advantages in the wooden furniture industry: does the export price matter?

“…Relative prices are one of the main determinants of global competition (Vollmer et al , 2009; Tewari, 2006; Kostoska and Mitrevski, 2016; Whang, 2017). Theoretically, higher domestic production costs result in higher domestic prices.…”

“…So, is EXPR or export quality important for global competition? Many studies have sought answers to this question (Hallak and Schott, 2011; Vollmer et al , 2009; Chen et al , 2021). In some other studies, it has been mentioned that product characteristics such as product variety, innovation content, vendor reputation, quality of the distribution networks and post-sales services may also be determinative in global competition as non-price factors (Athanasoglou and Bardaka, 2010; Algieri, 2015; Marc and Patier, 2016; Algieri et al , 2018; Benkovskis et al , 2020; Xifré, 2021).…”