2003 East Asian Seminar on Economics Focused on International Trade.

• Position: Conferences

The NBER's Fourteenth Annual East Asian Seminar on Economics (EASE), sponsored jointly with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKU), Korea Development Institute (KDI), Tokyo Center for Economic Research (TCER), Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), and the Australian Productivity Commission, took place in Taipei, Taiwan on September 5-7. The organizers were NBER Research Associates Takatoshi Ito, of Tokyo University, and Andrew K. Rose, of University of California, Berkeley. The following papers were discussed:

Kyoji Fukao, Hitotsubashi University, and Keiko Ito, ICSEAD, "Vertical Intra-Industry Trade and the Division of Labor in East Asia" Discussants: Chin Hee Hahn, KDI, and Ho-Mou Wu, National Taiwan University

Carolyn L. Evans, Federal Reserve Board, and James Harrigan, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, "Tight Clothing: How the MFA Affects Asian Apparel Exports" Discussants: Leonard Cheng, HKU, and Philippa Dee, Australian Productivity Commission

Mitsuyo Ando and Fukunari Kimura, Keio University, "Unprecedented Formation of International Production/Distribution Networks in East Asia" Discussants: Hong Hwang, National Taiwan University, and Somkiat Tangkitvanich, Thailand Development Research Institute

Chin Hee Hahn, "Exporting and Performance of Plants: Evidence on Korea" Discussants: Kyoji Fukao and James Harrigan

Shin-Horng Chen and Meng-Chun Liu, CIE, "International R and D Deployment and Developing Countries' Locational Advantage: A Case Study of Taiwan" Discussants: Thomas J. Prusa, NBER and Rutgers University, and Somkiat Tangkitvanich

Philippa Dee and Jyothi Gali, Australian Productivity Commission, "The Trade and Investment Effects of Preferential Trading Arrangements" Discussants: Bih-Jane Liu, National Taiwan University, and Erlinda Medalla, Philippine Institute for Development Studies

Kozo Kiyota, Yokohama National University, and Shujiro Urata, Waseda University, "The Impacts of Free Trade Agreements on Foreign Trade in East Asia" Discussants: Dukgeun Ahn, KDI, and Erlinda Medalla

Deng-Shing Huang, Academia Sinica, "Trading Blocs in East Asia: Empirical Evidence from Gravity Models" Discussants: Keiko Ito and Andrew Rose

Leonard K. H. Cheng and Zihui Ma, HKU, "The Effects of Financial Crises on International Trade" Discussants: Chin Hee Hahn and Kozo Kiyota

Edgar Cudmore and John Whalley, NBER and University of Western Ontario, "Border Delays and Trade Liberalization" (NBER Working Paper No. 9485) Discussants: Francis Lui, HKU, and Chong-Hyun Nam, Korea University

Tain-Jy Chen and Ying-Hua Ku, CIER, "The Effect of FDI on Domestic Employment" Discussants: Keiko Ito and Francis Lui

Thomas J. Prusa, "The Growing Problem of Antidumping Protection and What It Means for the Asia-Pacific Region" Discussants: Takatoshi Ito and Chong-Hyun Nam

Dukgeun Ahn, "WTO Dispute Settlements in East Asia" Discussants: Da-Nien Liu, CIER, and John Whalley

Ito and Fukao investigate the deepening international division between labor and factor intensifies in Japan, focusing mainly on the manufacturing sector. First they analyze the factor contents of trade; they find that Japan's factor content of net-exports of capital and non-production labor grew rapidly, while its net-exports of production workers fell by a large amount. Interestingly, the decline in the factor content of net-exports of production workers was almost...