Yi-Bin Chiu

The Determinants of Price in Online Auctions: More Evidence from Quantile Regression

This study explores how seller reputations affect auction prices, and concludes that earlier findings may be biased due to the misspecification of seller reputation. This paper contributes to the literature by offering significant empirical evidence using Taiwanese Internet auction data. Our study reveals that the influence of seller reputations on auction prices is significant, irrespective of the assumptions of linear and non-linear relationships with price. However, failure to consider the non-linear setting of seller reputation would have led us to overestimate the impact of reputations on prices because marginal returns to an incremental increase in reputation declines rapidly for sellers who have more than 15 scores. In addition, using quantile regression, this study finds evidence of considerable differences in their impact on auction prices dependent on the distribution of price levels.

Taiwan's trade imbalance and exchange rate revisited

This article applies the recently developed econometric method of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to re-examine the relationship between the exchange rate and bilateral trade imbalance for Taiwan and its several trading partners: China, Hong Kong, the US, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. The implication of this issue is critical to policy makers, particularly after China and Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late 2001 and early 2002, respectively. The empirical evidence shows a stable long-run relationship of bilateral trade balance and real exchange rate between Taiwan and its trading partners except Japan. Other findings indicate that except for the US, there is no specific pattern supporting the J-curve phenomenon for these trading partners.

Economic interdependence and bilateral trade imbalance across the Taiwan Strait

Purpose - Despite a growing interest in research, no existing study explores the nature of, and the relationship between, the real exchange rate and trade imbalance between Taiwan and China. These economies were admitted to the World Trade Organization in late 2001 (China) and in January 2002 (Taiwan). This study aims to redress this deficiency. Design/methodology/approach - Using Johansens cointegration approach and bilateral trade data, the study reveals overwhelming evidence of a stable long-run relationship of the real exchange rate and bilateral trade balance between Taiwan and its trading partners: China, the USA, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Findings - The evidence indicates that the currency depreciation of the New Taiwan dollar improves Taiwans bilateral trade balance, except with China. Originality/value - The findings imply that Taiwan cannot resolve the cross-Strait trade imbalance alone via the currency depreciation, and macroeconomic adjustments, including application of the WTO rules, currency exchange and imports of Chinese goods, need to be negotiated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.