How foreign demand affects sales at home: Evidence from French firms

Nicolas Berman, José de Sousa, Philippe Martin, Thierry Mayer, 20 October 2012With the Global Crisis came the Great Trade Collapse, a fall in world trade much larger than the fall in GDP. This column argues that one reason behind this is that time to ship magnifies the effect of financial crises on trade. The reasons is that exporters react to the increased probability of default even more so the longer the time to ship.Full Article: Time to ship during financial crises

Esther Ann Bøler, Andreas Moxnes, Karen-Helene Ulltveit-Moe , 18 July 2012With trade barriers rising, the time is right to refresh the evidence that openness to trade comes with substantial benefits. This column focuses on the complementarity between R&D and foreign sourcing.

THE Bank of Japan surprised markets on Tuesday by announcing its intention to add ¥10 trillion to its purchases of government debt in an effort to hit a newly established near-term inflation target of 1%. The Japanese economy has suffered from weak growth and deflation for years, but the immediate context of the decision was a rotten fourth-quarter output number.

One of the things that I do find very disturbing about this recession is that it is worldwide.  World trade may fall this year for the first time since 1982. As I argued earlier, the problem goes beyond any credit crunch, which according to the story below has been solved for trade.  The problem is a lack of demand.

Mariassunta Giannetti , Guanmin Liao, Xiaoyun Yu, 3 January 2013Is the brain drain reversing? This column argues that increasing numbers of foreign-educated and economic emigrants are returning home. Evidence suggests that the best of the bunch bring with them strong corporate governance practises and an appetite for internationalisation. Through this ‘brain gain’, the return of skilled professionals boosts emerging markets’ economies.Full Article: Brain drain or brain gain?

By Jason Merriam:German conglomerate Siemens AG (SI) is a global titan in the industrial, energy and healthcare sectors. Although SI competes with many smaller capitalized firms within the business units they operate, US based General Electric (GE) is the conglomerate of similar size and variety of businesses.

I HAD an interesting email exchange with Tyler Cowen last week concerning the ongoing blogospheric discussion over devaluation as a crisis-fighting strategy. It was a useful discussion, but I felt like we were talking past each other in some important way. Mr Cowen would send me an academic paper showing that devaluations were often associated with contractions. I would write back that I wasn't disputing that; instead, I was saying that devaluations made macroeconomic adjustments easier.

China's trade surplus hit a 3-year high this month as import growth plunged. That setup raises many questions. First, let's consider the initial story. Bloomberg reports China’s Import Growth Misses Estimates for June China’s imports rose less than anticipated in June, pushing the trade surplus to a three-year high and adding pressure on the government to support demand as the global economy slows.