Published papers

This paper examines the relationship between exports, foreign direct investment, and firm productivity. Using longitudinal panel data on Japanese firms, it is found that the most productive firms engage in exports and foreign direct investment, medium productive firms engage in either exports or foreign direct investment, and the least productive firms focus only on the domestic market. Moreover, exports and foreign direct investment appear to improve firm productivity once the productivity convergence effect is controlled for. Firms that retain a presence in foreign markets, either by exports or foreign direct investment, show the highest productivity growth, which contributes to improvements in national productivity. © The Kiel Institute 2006.

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of various factors on bilateral services trade, relative to that on bilateral goods trade. To accomplish this purpose, using the standard gravity model, we ran regressions on bilateral services trade and goods trade between 10 OECD member countries and other economies (including OECD member and nonmember countries) for the years 1999 and 2000. One main and interesting result is that services trade is better predicted by gravity equations than goods trade. Another interesting result is that there is a complementary relationship between goods exports and services imports. © 2006 The Kiel Institute.

The scope of recent regional trade agreements (RTAs) has become much broader than before by the inclusion of nonconventional provisions such as those on competition policy and intellectual property rights protection. This paper empirically examines the extent to which those nonconventional provisions in RTAs enhance international trade between RTA member countries by estimating a gravity equation with detailed information on the contents of RTAs. We find that the provision for competition policy has the largest effect on international trade, followed by the government procurement provision. These two provisions have significant and positive impacts on intensive margin intensive margin (trade values per variety) and extensive margin (number of varieties traded). © 2014 Universidad del CEMA.

This conclusion draws theoretical and policy implications for technological capability building from the host-site institutional support and production linkage experiences in China and Southeast Asia. While connecting with production chains have been instrumental in the integration of developing sites in global markets, sites that managed upgrading from low to high value-added activities in the automotive, clothing and semiconductor industries relied strongly on institutional support at host sites. Hence, the global value chain approach is useful in understanding integration in the capitalist world economy. However, only sites with effective industrial policy successfully transformed subsequently to designing and R&D activities.

This article examines critically the literature on industrial policy, regional production specialization, global production sharing, global value chains and global production networks to analyse technological capability development in clothing, automotive and semiconductor firms in China and Southeast Asia. Host-site institutional support and regional production linkages were identified as having a strong influence on firm-level technological capabilities. The article then provides the justification and the structure of the automotive, clothing and semiconductor industries, which are characterized by strong international division of labour.

This paper empirically investigates how far free trade agreements (FTAs) successfully lower tariff rates and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) for manufacturing industries by employing the bilateral tariff and NTB data in time series for countries in the world. We find that FTAs under GATT Article XXIV and the Enabling Clause are associated with the 2.0 and 1.5 % lower tariff rates, respectively. In the case of NTBs, on the other hand, their respective effects are 2.1 and 2.4 %. Also, compared with these effects of FTAs, WTO membership does not have large effects on tariff rates but does have them on NTBs. These results provide important implication for the literature on the numerical assessment of FTAs.

This paper investigates new developments in the pattern of machinery trade, with a focus on the extent and depth of production networks in North America. We pay particular attention to North America's trade links with East Asia, which have intensified in the last two decades. Investigation of changes in total trade value and the growth of trade on the extensive margin both demonstrates the expanding fragmentation of production in North America as well as the strengthening of connections with Mexico. Our quantitative analysis, which is based on gravity estimation of trade volume and extensive margin trade responses, also provides evidence that U.S. imports of machinery from East Asia are especially strong, and further, that Mexico's role has changed, as it now provides a bridge for trade between East Asia and the United States. These new developments in the pattern of machinery trade reflect reductions in services link costs, the further evolution of production sharing in the U.S.Mexico nexus, and the strengthening competitiveness of production networks based in East Asia.

This paper studies the impact of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 on Japanese exports, focusing on international production networks in machinery sectors. For our survival analysis, we estimate a Cox proportional hazards model. Consequently, we find that Japanese exports to Asian countries, parts and components trade in particular, were less likely to stop during the crisis. Even if they stopped, such trade is more likely to be revived. Therefore, regardless of the worldwide economic crisis, Japan maintained trade relationships in parts and components in the machinery sectors. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

The special issue focuses on outward foreign direct investment from economically thriving Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and India. The first part of this issue emphasizes on quantitative analysis of the relationship between firms' internal capabilities, innovation and external linkages, including outward foreign investments. The second part concentrates on case studies of ASEAN and Indian firms pursuing outward foreign investments. We compared and contrasted their motives, modes, interactions with local suppliers and customers, and innovation outputs of their investments abroad. © 2013 © 2013 Korean Society for Innovation Management and Economics (KOSIME).

This paper investigates the novel development of machinery trade pattern in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and analyzes the extent and depth of production networks in Europe from the perspective of their links with East Asia during the past 15 years, 1995~2010. Our descriptive analysis based on the total value of trade and the extensive margin demonstrates further production fragmentation in Europe, shifting from Western Europe (CEE production sharing to a regional network with more active transactions among CEE countries) to a global link with East Asia via CEE, particularly in the electric machinery sector. Our quantitative analysis verifies the evolution of production networks in Europe, from regional to global. These results partially reflect the reduction in services link costs, the evolution of industrial clustering among CEE countries particularly after the EU enlargement, and the strengthening competence of production networks in East Asia. © 2013-Center for Economic Integration, Sejong Institution, Sejong University, All Rights Reserved.

Using the overall FDI inflows for 89 countries during the period from 1985 to 2007, we empirically investigate the effects on inward FDI of various components of political and financial risk. We examine the effects of not only the level of these risks but also their changes over time. One of the major findings is that among the political and financial risks, only the political risk is adversely associated with FDI inflows. Specifically, not only the initially low level of political risk, but also a decrease in the level of political risk helps to bring a greater amount of FDI inflows. On the other hand, lower financial risk does not attract FDI inflows, especially to developing countries. Among the various components of political risk, in the sample of developing countries only, it is found that internal conflict, corruption, military in politics, and bureaucracy quality are inversely related to inward FDI flows. © 2013 Institute of Developing Economies.

This paper analyzes the impact of two massive shocks on Japanese exports, the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, focusing on the characteristics of domestic/international production networks in machinery industries. Using monthly data for Japanese bilateral exports at the most disaggregated level, the paper decomposes the fall and recovery of Japanese exports into intensive and extensive margins. It also examines the exit and re-entry of exports using logit estimation and survival analysis. The experience after both shocks confirms the stability and robustness of production networks and the enhancing link with East Asia. However, differences between the two shocks seem to generate differential impacts on corporate behavior. © 2012 The Authors Asian Economic Journal © 2012 East Asian Economic Association and Blackwell Publishing Pty Ltd.

Recent empirical studies which utilize plant- or establishment-level data to examine globalization's impact on productivity have discovered many causal mechanisms involved in globalization's impact on firms' productivity. Because these pathways have been broad, there have been few attempts to summarize the several and detailed mechanisms of self-selection and learning at the same time. This paper examines seven pathways so that the clear-cut consequences of the broad picture of globalization become visible. This strategy is useful for detecting missing links within and across the existing studies as well as for finding possible synergy effects among different mechanisms. Insightful policy implications may be derived from the comprehensive comparisons between the seven different pathways of globalization. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.