Steven Globerman

Border Security and Canadian Exports to the United States: Evidence and Policy Implications

Certains observateurs ont affirmé que les coûts et les retards occasionnés, pour les expéditeurs, par les mesures de sécurité à la frontière sont un obstacle significatif au commerce entre le Canada et les États-Unis. En réalité, il existe peu de preuves empiriques qui soutiennent cette affirmation. Il a été démontré que le coût des exportations canadiennes vers les États-Unis a augmenté à la suite de la mise en place de nouvelles mesures de sécurité à la frontière après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. Toutefois, quand on cherche à établir si, oui ou non, ces hausses de coûts ont entraîné une réduction des importations sous le niveau que l’on aurait observé s’il n’y avait pas eu ces mesures, les modèles économétriques aboutissent à des résultats contradictoires. Dans cette étude, nous établissons et nous évaluons d’où vient la divergence existant entre ces diverses études. Nous donnons également de nouvelles preuves de la baisse significative des exportations canadiennes vers les États-Unis que l’on peut observer à partir du troisième trimestre de 2001 et qui s’est poursuivie jusqu’à la fin de 2007.

Foreign direct investment in emerging and transition european countries

Many of the emerging and transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have been building their economies largely on the infrastructure inherited from Communist times. It is widely recognized that much of the infrastructure in both the private and public sectors must be replaced if those economies are to achieve acceptable rates of economic growth and participate successfully within the broader European Union (EU) economic zone (The Economist, 2003). Upgrading infrastructure includes the likely importation of technology and management expertise, as well as substantial financial commitments. In this regard, inward foreign direct investment (FDI) is a particularly important potential source of capital for the emerging and transition European economies (ETEEs). FDI usually entails the importation of financial and human capital by the host economy with measurable and positive spillover impacts on host countries’ productivity levels (Holland & Pain, 1998a). The ability of ETEEs to attract and benefit from inward FDI should therefore be seen as an important issue within the broader policy context of how these countries can improve and expand their capital infrastructure, given relatively undeveloped domestic capital markets and scarce human capital.

Consumption efficiency and spectator attendance

The impact of education on individual behaviour has been analyzed for a broad range of economic activity.(l) One area of research has focused on the relationship between education and efficiency in consumption, or in non-market production activities.(2) Within a human capital framework, it is suggested that education raises the productivity of an individuals time in non-market production activities. More highly educated individuals are expected to be more efficient in gathering and utilizing information relevant to consumption decisions, and in transforming inputs to output in the household production function. They may also be more receptive to the use of new and improved consumer products. Increased efficiency in consumption effectively lowers the prices of commodities produced by more highly educated consumers, and thereby increases their real incomes. All other things equal, education should affect consumer behaviour in the same manner as increasing money income, holding prices constant. In fact, since education generally alters an individuals marginal productivity in both market and non-market production activities, the observed relationship between education and consumption could reflect efficiency changes in both market and non-market production (i.e. consumption) activities.(3) Numerous studies of attendance patterns at performing arts events have pointed a positive and significant relationship between an individuals .education level and his or her frequency of performance attendance .(4) While the relationship might reflect a positive association between education and income, there is some evidence that education, holding income constant, has a net positive influence on arts attendance.(5) Indeed, the existence of a causal relationship between education and arts attendance is a fundamental premise held by arts policy-makers. It is, therefore, noteworthy that no significant attempt has been made to develop and test a structural model

Service Time Variability at Blaine, Washington, Border Crossing and Impact on Regional Supply Chains

Variable service times at vehicle processing facilities (borders, weigh stations, landside marine port gates) cause transportation planning challenges for companies that regularly visit them. Companies must either build more time into their schedules than is necessary, and therefore underutilize their equipment, or risk missing delivery windows or exceeding hours of service regulations, actions that can result in fines, lost business opportunities, or other logistical costs. Border crossing times are examined at Blaine, Washington, between Whatcom County, Washington, and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada, to assess the variability in crossing times at this border crossing and the impact of this variability on regional supply chains. Variability data collected for bidirectional trade are presented. Directional, daily, hourly, and seasonal variations are examined, and interviews are conducted with regional carriers to better understand the current response to variability, the benefit of a reduction in variability, and how that is related to the goods moved or to other business operating characteristics. This paper describes the level of variability in border crossing times and carriers’ responses to this variability and shows that the primary strategy used, increasing buffer times, reduces carrier productivity. However, this cost is negligible because of the current nature of the industry.

Takings of Private Rights to Public Natural Resources: A Policy Analysis

In Canada, the Crown has maintained ownership of important natural resources while allocating rights to exploit those resources to the private sector. Satisfying public demands for parks and wilderness areas, settling Aboriginal land claims and addressing resource depletion have led to the withdrawal of private rights. Knotty compensation issues have arisen. This paper sets out some basics for an efficient, equitable compensation policy. Examples of contemporary policy involving withdrawals of rights to hardrock minerals, timber, and Pacific salmon are reviewed. They reveal that the current policy is flawed, particularly regarding the basis for calculating compensation. Recommendations follow.

Modes of Entry by Chinese Firms in the United States: Economic and Political Issues

This essential book analyzes the regulatory and operational challenges that foreign direct investors face in the United States, as well as the ways in which these challenges can be overcome.

Innovation, Strategy and Canada's Forest Products Industry

This study identifies the changes affecting the Canadian forest products industry and relates those changes to imperatives facing Canadian firms to modify their corporate and business-level strategies. The paper investigates the role of innovation strategies and suggests changes to institutional arrangements that indirectly or directly accommodate them. More secure forestry tenure arrangements and a change in policies toward industry concentration are indirect ways of inducing innovation. The governments position in an effective innovation strategy involves research focusing on forest environment while the emphasis of cooperative labs would be on basic or precompetitive research in wood products. All the recommendations act to increase the incentives of private investors to innovate by capturing a greater share of the returns of their own innovations.

Investing abroad and investing at home: complements or substitutes?

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to assess whether outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and home country capital investment are substitutes or complements.Design/methodology/approach – Case studies of 22 Canadian multinational companies (MNCs) were carried out, and the qualitative and quantitative information from the case studies was used to evaluate whether OFDI and home country capital investment were substitutes or complements for the sample MNCs over the period 2000‐2010.Findings – Two primary strategic motives were identified for the OFDI undertaken by the sample MNCs: market‐seeking; and resource‐seeking. Across the sample, domestic investment was typically a poor strategic alternative to OFDI. Furthermore, OFDI promoted faster revenue growth for the MNCs which stimulated increased domestic investment in later time periods. Hence, OFDI and domestic capital investment are complements in the longer run.Practical implications – Home country government policies that directly or indirectly disc...

Global Value Chains: Economic and Policy Issues

“Companies no longer compete – Value Chains Compete” (Murphy, 2007, p.11) In the past few years, a fairly substantial literature has emerged addressing the phenomenon of global value chains (GVCs). While one can find various definitions of GVCs, the simple concept proposed by Lunati (2007) seems to capture the spirit of most definitions. Namely, GVCs are international supply chains characterized by fragmentation of production activities across sites and borders. In effect, the whole process of production, from acquiring raw materials to producing and delivering a finished product, has increasingly been “sliced”, so that each activity that adds value to the production process can be carried out wherever the necessary skills and materials are available at competitive cost (OECD, 2007; Feenstra, 1998). A related explanation of the GVC phenomenon is provided by Borga and Zeile (2004) who characterize the GVC phenomenon as the increasing divisibility of production activities. That is, production activities can be increasingly divided into different stages that can be performed in different locations.

Canadian Science Policy and Technological Sovereignty

Concern about the state of science and technology in Canada was evidenced as early as the 19th century by the establishment of experimental farm stations and by the informal experimental research conducted by the federal government into forestry practices. However, it was not until the emergence of the National Research Council that a formal government mechanism to plan and to coordinate the national science effort was established. Over time, numerous government research laboratories have been established, and periodic inquiries into the subject of science and technology have been held by government commissions. The most recent inquiry was conducted by the Senate Special Committee on Science Policy chaired by the Honourable Maurice Lamontagne. In addition, the Science Council of Canada was created to advise the government on matters of broad national scientific policy, while, more recently, the Ministry of State for Science and Technology was established with the primary function of advisor to Cabinet on policies and programs relevant to science and technology. The Canadian governments growing interest in the state of industrial science and technology is manifested by the substantial increase in government subsidies for industrial R & D expenditures. Federal R & D subsidies awarded under various major programs increased from