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An empirical test of the rent-shifting hypothesis: the case of state trading enterprises

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  • Hamilton, Stephen F.
  • Stiegert, Kyle W.

Abstract

A central result in the theoretical literature on strategic trade is the ërent-shifting hypothesisí, the idea that governmentís can employ trade policy as a precommitment device to transfer profit from foreign to domestic firms. To our knowledge, however, the rent-shifting hypothesis remains untested empirically. This paper constructs a theory-based empirical test of rent-shifting behavior that relies on observations of government precommitment variables employed through State Trading Enterprises (STEs). The analysis applies data on the delayed producer payment structure of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and examines its merits as a rent-shifting mechanism in the international durum market. The model fails to reject the hypothesis that the CWB utilizes a pre-commitment mechanism in the international durum market and several nonparametric tests confirm that the observed transfer payments set by the CWB are consistent with rent-shifting behavior in the 1972-95 pre-WTO period.
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  • Hamilton, Stephen F. & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2002. "An empirical test of the rent-shifting hypothesis: the case of state trading enterprises," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 135-157, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:58:y:2002:i:1:p:135-157
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    4. Larue, B. & Gonzalez, P. & Kempa Nangue, C., 2018. "Endogenous Market Structure and Trade," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275922, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Dong, Fengxia & Marsh, Thomas L. & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2002. "Imperfect Substitutes, Deferred Producer Payment System, And State Trading Enterprises: An Empirical Test Of Leadership In The Global Malting Barley Markets," 2002 Annual Meeting, July 28-31, 2002, Long Beach, California 36625, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    6. McCorriston, Steve & MacLaren, Donald, 2007. "Do state trading exporters distort trade?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 225-246, January.
    7. Reimer, Jeffrey J. & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2006. "Evidence on Imperfect Competition and Strategic Trade Theory," Staff Paper Series 498, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    8. Bourgeon, Jean-Marc & Jean, Sebastien & Maillet, Anais, 2015. "State Trading Enterprises and Price Stabilization," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211367, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Soregaroli, Claudio & Sckokai, Paolo, 2011. "Modelling Agricultural Commodity Markets under Imperfect Competition," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 116012, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. McCorriston, Steve & MacLaren, Donald, 2005. "Single-desk state trading exporters," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 503-524, June.
    11. Kerstin Uhl & Oleksandr Perekhozhuk & Thomas Glauben, 2016. "Price Discrimination in Russian Wheat Exports: Evidence from Firm-level Data," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 722-740, September.
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