Trien T. Nguyen

Trade liberalisation with imperfect competition : The large and the small of it

Abstract This paper presents a computable general equilibrium world trade model with imperfectly competitive industries in all countries which can be used to evaluate trade liberalisation proposals. We find that the welfare gains from worldwide trade liberalisation can be as much as twice those obtained from models with constant returns to scale and perfect competition. For some large countries, however, trade liberalisation under imperfect competition can lead to smaller welfare gains, or even welfare losses as in the case of the United States.

Equilibrium under price controls with endogenous transactions costs

Abstract In this paper we present an equilibrium model for an exchange economy with fixed prices and endogenously determined search or transactions costs. Given the fixed prices, endogenously determined equilibrium buying and selling prices (which include transactions costs) result. These costs occur on either the demand or supply side of each market, but not both. We see an eventual application of this approach to an evaluation of welfare costs of either economy-wide wage and price controls, or sector-specific price controls such as energy. In the final section we present some simple numerical examples which illustrate the approach.

Border Delays Re-Emerging Priority: Within-Country Dimensions for Canada

Les retards à la frontière canado-américaine, et les coûts qu’ils impliquent, sont de nouveau une source de préoccupation au Canada. Dans cet article, nous réévaluons leurs impacts économiques, à la lumière de nouvelles recherches économiques et en utilisant un modèle pour réaliser des simulations numériques, afin d’estimer la part de ces impacts, sur le commerce et sur la prospérité économique, que subit chaque région du Canada. Nos résultats montrent qu’il est justifié de craindre les conséquences des retards à la frontière, et que leurs impacts semblent particulièrement importants en Ontario et au Québec. Cela démontre ainsi la pertinence de notre étude en matière de politiques publiques au niveau tant pancanadien que régional, étant donné l’intérêt renouvelé dont font actuellement l’objet les questions touchant la protection à la frontière.

General Equilibrium Analysis of Price Controls: A Computational Approach

This paper presents a computational general equilibrium framework for evaluating the welfare costs associated with economy-wide price controls. Other than traditional commodity-specific partial equilibrium analyses, most empirical literature on price controls concentrates on macroeconomic issues, such as the impact on inflation and unemployment. Here the authors seek to reorient empirical literature on the effects of these controls toward efficiency losses from resource misallocation by providing a framework that can be used to address the issue of how large these economic inefficiencies are, and who gains and who loses from them. Copyright 1990 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.

General equilibrium analysis of black and white markets: a computational approach

Abstract This paper explores the inter-relationship between black and white markets, and presents a formulation in which equilibrium conditions hold separately for each type of market for each product, with linking conditions across market types. Using a traditional goods and factor general equilibrium model, the simultaneous operation of price controls on white markets, and surveillance with penalties for those caught trading on black markets is modelled. A numerical example of such an economy is presented using data for India, and equilibria under coexistence are reported.

Uruguay Round Impacts on Canada

This paper offers an evaluation of possible effects of the Final Act of the Uruguay Round with a special focus on Canada. Our two main findings can be summarized as follows: first, the estimated impacts of the Uruguay Round are more modest than previous estimates; our second finding pertains to the liberalization in textiles and clothing which may be the most significant part of the Uruguay Round in terms of its reallocative impact in Canada.

Environmental consequences of dioxin from the war in Vietnam: what has been done and what else could be done?

At the climax of the war in Vietnam, about 77 million litres of defoliants (Agent Orange herbicide) contaminated with the highly toxic class of chlorinated dioxin chemicals was sprayed over approximately one‐fifth of the total land area of South Vietnam. For various reasons, the environmental impacts of this massive toxic contamination remained largely unknown and neglected for almost four decades. This paper reviews the slow progress in dealing with this war legacy in the light of other significant advances Vietnam has made on the post‐war development front. Suggested solutions for a long‐term interdisciplinary Comprehensive National Policy on Dioxin (CNPD) based on the concepts of common property, international cooperation, and economic equity are discussed.

Vietnam and the environment: problems and solutions

This paper reviews a sample of environmental issues arising from the recent post‐war development of Vietnam. The review is followed by a brief discussion of emerging common themes and lessons which might suggest new directions for future research.

Computation of a world general equilibrium under bilateral quotas and an application to the analysis of textile trade restrictions

Abstract This article describes general equilibrium computational techniques for analyzing models of world trade in which bilateral quota restrictions are imposed on sales by specified sellers to specified buyers. The use of these techniques is motivated by the need to analyze voluntary restraint and ather measures that now restrict a sizeable fraction of world trade. The bilateralism in such arrangements generates the added efficiency cost that buyers will typically not purchase from their least-cost source of supply. From a computational point of view, the presence of bilateral quotas increases the dimensionality of the equilibrium fixed-point problem by a factor equal to the number of trading countries and commodities for which quota restrictions apply. Bilateral quotas are first analyzed in pure exchange economy for which the Gale-Nikaido mapping must be modified for existence and computation of equilibrium. This is followed by a discussion of the extensions needed to incorporate production. An application of the computational techniques to the analysis of global restrictions on trade in textiles and apparel under the Multi Fiber Arrangement is presented, and, in a final section, further areas of potential policy application are discussed.

Symbolic computation in computable general equilibrium modeling

Alongside theoretical developments of mathematical economics in the fifties and sixties, the emerging field of computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling (Scarf and Shoven [1984], Shoven and Whalley [1992]) has been pre-occupied with the problem of numerically solving systems of highly nonlinear simultaneous equations describing general equilibrium states of a multi-sector model of an economy. Path breaking contributions by Scarf [1973], Merrill [1972], van der Laan and Talman [1979], and others in the theory of fixed-point computation have made it now possible to routinely compute numerical solutions of complex CGE models in various areas such as public finance, international trade, development, environment, and economic history.