• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.29
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• pp.65-86
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• 2006

In general, goods can be defined as objects, devices or things, whereas services can be defined as deeds, efforts or performances. Ultimately, the primary difference between goods and services is the property of intangibility - lacking physical substance. Recently, service industries span a wide variety of enterprises, from hamburgers to high technology. And the rules-based multilateral trading system so successful in reducing barriers to international trade in goods is now being expanded in the area of international trade in services. Therefore, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industries and Energies has revised the Korea Foreign Trade Act and its Enforcement Ordinance to focus on expanding trade in service sectors, including transportation, communications, tourism services, and business services.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.21-44
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• 2022

Purpose - This study quantifies sources of trade balance dynamics over the business cycle in Korea. Specifically, we quantify the relative importance of domestic and foreign factors on trade balance dynamics using a small open economy real business cycle (SOE-RBC) model and provide policy implications for stabilization policies. Aggregate productivity and interest rate spreads are considered domestic factors affecting the trade balance. A world interest rate (the U.S. interest rate) is considered a foreign factor. Design/methodology - Following Neumeyer and Perri (2005), we build the SOE-RBC model with three types of shocks: aggregate productivity, interest rate spread, and world interest shocks. The model is estimated by the generalized method of moments (GMM) using relevant business cycle statistics. The estimated model is used for quantifying the relative importance of domestic and foreign factors on trade balance dynamics in Korea. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: 85.64% of the trade balance fluctuations in Korea are explained by domestic factors, the remaining 14.35% by foreign factors. Particularly, trade balance dynamics are mostly accounted for by the change in aggregate productivity shocks (85.58%). World interest rate shocks considerably explain trade balance (14.35%), whereas the role of interest rate spread shocks that represent domestic risks is limited (0.08%). Although aggregate productivity is key in explaining trade balance dynamics in Korea, interest rates still have an essential role. This is because aggregate productivity changes induce interest rate spread variations and, thus, the trade balance significantly. The results suggest that government policies mitigating fluctuations in aggregate productivity would be effective for stabilization policies in Korea by reducing the trade balance volatility. Originality/value - Existing studies on the emerging market business cycle examine mostly Latin American countries, and the main object of the studies is the volatility of consumption rather than trade balance dynamics. Conversely, our study examines Korea rather than Latin American countries. Additionally, we examine sources of trade balance dynamics, which are relatively more important in Korea, rather than those of the volatility of consumption. Hence, we estimate the model to explicitly match moments related to trade balance in the data.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.88-109
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• 2019

Purpose - This paper examines the effects of host country's non-economic factors on foreign affiliate's financial and operational performance. Design/Methodology - Using Korean-owned foreign affiliate-level data, we employ various measures that represent host country's non-economic factors and examine their effects on foreign affiliate's performance. We further investigate the effects of local top managers and local middle managers on the impact of country's non-economic factors on foreign affiliate's performance. Findings - We find that local top managers are effective in increasing foreign affiliate's financial performance by dealing with institutional and cultural factors, particularly in high-income countries, while local middle managers are effective in increasing affiliate's operational performance by responding to the changes in doing business factors, particularly in low-income countries. Originality/value - Considering that most of previous FDI studies focus on examining host country's economic factors on firm's FDI decision, our findings suggest that country's non-economic factors are strongly associated with actual business performance of foreign affiliates.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.295-303
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• 2022

Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the primary zones that stimulates economic development in today's globalized world. It promotes technological developments in worldwide communication and manufacturing systems, as well as economic growth and development. Many economic activities, such as international trade and foreign direct investment, rely heavily on contemporary information and communications technologies (FDI). The goal of this study is to look at the dynamic relationship between FDI, ICT, trade openness, and economic growth in the context of BRICS countries from 2000 to 2018, with Gross Domestic Product as the dependent variable and Telephone subscriptions, Mobile subscriptions, Broadband subscriptions, Internet subscribers, Secure internet servers, Trade, and Foreign direct investment as the independent variables.Two variables are used as proxies to manage the macroeconomic environment, while five variables are used as proxies for ICT infrastructures. The outcomes of this study are analyzed using Generalized Methods of Movements (GMM). According to this study, ICT has a positive impact on the economic growth of a few countries. Trade openness and foreign direct investment, on the other hand, have a negative impact on economic growth. As growing countries, the BRICS must participate in economic reform and liberalization measures. This report suggests policy proposals for improving ICT standards, focusing especially on economic growth, trade openness, and increasing foreign investment in the BRICS countries.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.181-205
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• 2020

International trade theory is largely divided into the pure theory of international trade and the theory of trade policy. The pure theory of international trade is an academic field that conducts research related to the trade flow of goods and services between countries and the movement of production factors across borders. Meanwhile, the theory of trade policy studies the positive and normative aspects of trade policy which a government adopts to achieve its policy goals. In this study, about 230 papers in the field of international trade theory published in the Korea Trade Review over the past 45 years (1975~2019) are examined in meta analysis by period and subject. First, this study provides the main research subjects of international trade theory, and historically reviews the overall development of trade theory by paying attention to the core and pioneering papers, domestic and foreign. Second, the publications in the field of trade theory are classified by subject, and the domestic and foreign research trends are also examined for each subject with the analysis of major publication of this Journal.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2005

China is our second largest trade partner and the biggest country of our investment. For this reason, the Korea active strategy for coping with China's changes is very critical at the current point in time due to the economic structure of Korea dependent on exports. This essay is aimed at studying the Foreign Trade Administration System of China and selecting Korea's prospective exports-imports to China. The purpose of this, essay is to help Korean trading corporation to understand the difference between Korea and China in foreign trade administration in order to promote bilateral trade between Korea and China.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.267-279
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• 2023

The objective of this paper is to examine the legal framework governing the import and export of grain in China, a pivotal factor in shaping policies aimed at stabilizing South Korea's foreign trade and grain imports. Through this analysis, it is observed that China's foreign trade system, governed by the Foreign Trade Act, exhibits a notable absence of clear delineation regarding the scope and responsibility for the delegation of authority to foreign trade management agencies. In contrast, Korea's Foreign Trade Law, along with its enforcement decree and management regulations, explicitly outlines the scope and responsibilities pertaining to the delegation of authority to foreign trade management. However, in the case of China's revised Foreign Trade Law, there exists a lack of precision in specifying the delegation of authority to foreign trade management. This creates a potential for discretionary intervention by local governments or other administrative bodies. While China's legal system concerning grain imports and exports aligns with WTO regulations in its institutional framework, attention is warranted due to the vagueness in laws or regulations, as well as the presence of irrational and non-transparent procedures during system operation. As conclusion remarks, while China's legal structure related to grain imports and exports conforms to WTO guidelines overall, the identified issues such as legal ambiguity and non-transparent procedures underscore the need for caution. To safeguard against potential challenges in future trade interactions with China, proactive measures are crucial to address these concerns.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.31-42
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• 2021

Purpose: After the reform and opening up, China's overall economic development has entered a new era. From mutual investment and trade transactions between domestic provinces and regions to investment and trade with foreign companies, the continuous supplement of investment funds makes the follow-up development of all aspects of economic development smoother and has played a strong impetus. effect. Foreign direct investment has many influences on the economic development of a country or region. Research design, data and methodology: This article uses the sample data of Shandong Province from 2011 to 2019 to analyze the foreign direct investment in Shandong Province by industry, region, method and other aspects, and study the relationship and influence between foreign direct investment and economic growth. Results: The results show that there is a relatively close relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth, and it has played a role in promoting economic development in many aspects such as industrial structure, foreign trade, and employment. Conclusions: At the same time, corresponding suggestions are put forward based on the analysis and conclusions drawn.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.323-331
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• 2020

The study aims to assess the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade (export and import) on Vietnam's economic growth for the 2000-2018 period. Secondary data is taken from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam. Ordinary least-square method is used in analyzing the impact of FDI, export and import on economic growth of Vietnam. Empirical test results show that FDI and international trade are related to Vietnam's economic growth. However, each economic variable has a different impact. FDI has a positive and statistically significant influence on economic growth of Vietnam. Export also has positive and statistically significant impact to the economic growth, while import has a negative but not statistically significant effect. The result is useful for the policy makers of Vietnam on foreign economic relations. In order to improve the effect of FDI and international trade on growth of the economy, the government of Vietnam should: (1) continue applying preferential policies to attract FDI; (2) select foreign investors aiming to quality, efficiency, high technology and environmental protection; (3) continue pursuing export-oriented policy; (4) enhance the added value of exported goods and control the type of imported goods; (5) further liberalize trade through signing and implementation of international trade commitments.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2021

Using a trade policy, government can shift profits from foreign firms to domestic firms. This paper will reexamine how asymmetric information can affect the equivalence of tariff and quota in a duopoly, where one domestic firm competes with one foreign firm. It can happen that the domestic firm has informational advantage against the government. Within this framework, the domestic firm has private information about own marginal cost as well as the foreign firm's. The domestic firm would exploit the advantage to draw a favorable policy from the government. When the government is misled, social welfare would decline. This paper will guide how the government can extract information from the domestic firm by offering a menu of tariff or quota. Previous studies showed that quota demands information more than tariff. With the principle of revealed information, the domestic firm chooses tariff (quota) if the marginal cost of foreign firm is low (high). The quota level will be high (low) if the marginal cost of domestic firm is high (low). To prevent misrepresentation, the domestic firm should be charged when quota is implemented. When the quota level is low, the domestic firm is charged additionally. This paper can contribute to the literature of trade policy and information.