Development and Applications of an Applied General Equilibrium Model of Global Trade with a Public System that Partially Subsidizes the Fixed Costs of Private Firms

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03497
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic policy
• Research Institution: Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization
• Principal Investigator: Oyamada Kazuhiko 独立行政法人日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所, 開発研究センター 経済モデル研究グループ, 研究グループ長代理 (30450521)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 内田 陽子 独立行政法人日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所, 開発研究センター 経済モデル研究グループ, 研究員 (20450520)
• Research Collaborator: ITAKURA Ken
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 応用一般均衡分析 / 企業の異質性 / 貿易利益 / 多様性選好

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research was to develop an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model of global trade that explicitly includes mechanisms through which public services financed by tax revenues reduce the fixed-cost burden for business operations. Since we had to cope with several serious problems, the outcome remains limited to show some behavioral characteristics of AGE models that consider the Melitz (2003) type production/sales system with heterogeneous firms: the extra adjustment margin in the models with heterogeneous firms does not always enhance effectiveness of a trade-related policy change more than the level predicted by those with homogeneous firms when the agents' preference for variety is weaker than that assumed in the theory, and the efficiency-enhancing effects of smoother substitution between existing varieties of commodity enabled by an additional variety work more effectively than the cost-reduction effects of quality adjustments through intermediate transactions.

Free Research Field

マクロ経済学, 国際貿易

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

国際貿易論における「Melitz型の異質な企業群による生産活動を考慮することが、果たして貿易利得を拡大することに貢献するのか」という論争、および経済地理学におけるバイブルとなっているFujita, Krugman, and Venables (2000)が指摘した「中間投入ネットワークを通じた前方連関効果」のそれぞれに新しい角度から光を当てた。