IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v158y2024ics1389934123002125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade effects of transnational timber legality assurance regimes: Evidence from the lacey act amendment on China’s forest product exports

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Chen, Chen
  • Ma, Baojie
  • Jin, Shaosheng

Abstract

We analyzed the trade effects of transnational timber legality assurance regimes, specifically the impact of the Lacey Act Amendment (LAA), on forest product exports from China to the U.S. The LAA is a strict legal requirement for forest product sources. It was implemented phase-by-phase, beginning in 2008 in the U.S. We applied a staggered difference-in-differences model and a unique and disaggregated dataset from the Chinese Customs Trade Database at the firm–product level from 2000 to 2016. We found that the implementation of the LAA decreased the probability of exporting Chinese forest products to the U.S. by 2.36%, but contributed to an increase of 10.20% in export value. The overall trade effect was positive, owing to an increase in the intensive trade margin (i.e., how much was traded). The LAA exerted lasting but varying effects during different phases of its implementation. In the initial stage, both the extensive and intensive margins decreased significantly. In the second stage, exporters tended to comply with the legal requirements, reducing the negative impact of the LAA. As time went on, the intensive margin became positive. A heterogeneous analysis showed that the negative impact of the LAA was more pronounced for small-scale, single-product, and non-foreign-invested exporters. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Yan & Chen, Chen & Ma, Baojie & Jin, Shaosheng, 2024. "Trade effects of transnational timber legality assurance regimes: Evidence from the lacey act amendment on China’s forest product exports," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:158:y:2024:i:c:s1389934123002125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2023.103117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934123002125
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2023.103117?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prestemon, Jeffrey P., 2015. "The impacts of the Lacey Act Amendment of 2008 on U.S. hardwood lumber and hardwood plywood imports," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 31-44.
    2. Carlin, Wendy & Glyn, Andrew & Van Reenen, John, 2001. "Export Market Performance of OECD Countries: An Empirical Examination of the Role of Cost Competitiveness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(468), pages 128-162, January.
    3. Fontagné, Lionel & Orefice, Gianluca & Piermartini, Roberta & Rocha, Nadia, 2015. "Product standards and margins of trade: Firm-level evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 29-44.
    4. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    5. Marilyne Pereira Goncalves & Melissa Panjer & Theodore S. Greenberg & William B. Magrath, 2012. "Justice for Forests : Improving Criminal Justice Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6011.
    6. Manova, Kalina & Yu, Zhihong, 2017. "Multi-product firms and product quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 116-137.
    7. Curzi, Daniele & Schuster, Monica & Maertens, Miet & Olper, Alessandro, 2020. "Standards, trade margins and product quality: Firm-level evidence from Peru," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Multiple-Product Firms and Product Switching," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 70-97, March.
    9. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    10. Peter Egger & Mario Larch & Kevin E. Staub & Rainer Winkelmann, 2011. "The Trade Effects of Endogenous Preferential Trade Agreements," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 113-143, August.
    11. Benjamin Cashore & Michael W. Stone, 2014. "Does California need Delaware? Explaining Indonesian, Chinese, and United States support for legality compliance of internationally traded products," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 49-73, March.
    12. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    13. Tuan Anh Luong & Wei-Chih Chen, 2016. "Extensive and Intensive Margins of Exports and Labor Heterogeneity," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 201-213, February.
    14. Overdevest, Christine & Zeitlin, Jonathan, 2014. "Constructing a transnational timber legality assurance regime: Architecture, accomplishments, challenges," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 6-15.
    15. Pan, Wenqi & Chang, Wei-Yew & Wu, Ting & Zhang, Han & Ning, Zhuo & Yang, Hongqiang, 2021. "Impacts of the China-US trade restrictions on the global forest sector: A bilateral trade flow analysis," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    16. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    17. Lin, Benxi & Du, Ruiying & Dong, Zekuan & Jin, Shaosheng & Liu, Weipin, 2020. "The impact of foreign direct investment on the productivity of the Chinese forest products industry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Swinnen,Johan & Deconinck,Koen & Vandemoortele,Thijs & Vandeplas,Anneleen, 2015. "Quality Standards, Value Chains, and International Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107688865, September.
    19. Liu, Runjuan & Rosell, Carlos, 2013. "Import competition, multi-product firms, and basic innovation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 220-234.
    20. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    21. Elodie Rouviere & Raphael Soubeyran & Céline Bignebat, 2010. "Heterogeneous efforts in voluntary programmes on food safety," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 37(4), pages 479-499, December.
    22. Jongwanich, Juthathip, 2009. "The impact of food safety standards on processed food exports from developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 447-457, October.
    23. Swinnen,Johan & Deconinck,Koen & Vandemoortele,Thijs & Vandeplas,Anneleen, 2015. "Quality Standards, Value Chains, and International Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107025912, September.
    24. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    25. Chen, Rui & Hartarska, Valentina & Wilson, Norbert L.W., 2018. "The causal impact of HACCP on seafood imports in the U.S.: An application of difference-in-differences within the gravity model," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 166-178.
    26. Jin, Shaosheng & Guo, Haiyue & Delgado, Michael S. & Wang, H. Holly, 2017. "Benefit or damage? The productivity effects of FDI in the Chinese food industry," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-9.
    27. Muhammad, Andrew & Jones, Keithly G., 2021. "The end of the trade war? Effects of tariff exclusions on U.S. forest products in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    28. Tim Bartley, 2014. "Transnational governance and the re‐centered state: Sustainability or legality?," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 93-109, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shaosheng Jin & Baojie Ma & Yuqing Zheng & Xin Jin & Wenchao Wu, 2024. "Short‐term impact of food safety standards on agri‐product exports: Evidence from Japan's positive list system on Chinese vegetable exports," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 362-381, February.
    2. Annalisa Zezza & Federica Demaria & Maria Rosaria Pupo d'Andrea & Jo Swinnen & Giulia Meloni & Senne Vandevelde & Alessandro Olper & Daniele Curzi & Valentina Raimondi & Sophie Drogue, 2018. "Research for AGRI Committee - Agricultural trade: assessing reciprocity of standards," Working Papers hal-02787948, HAL.
    3. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    4. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    5. Kristensen, Frederikke Frehr & Sharp, Paul, 2021. "Disease Surveillance, Mortality and Race: The Case of HIV/AIDS in the United States," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 553, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Borchert, Lea & de Haas, Ralph & Kirschenmann, Karolin & Schultz, Alison, 2023. "Broken relationships: De-risking by correspondent banks and international trade," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-064, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Brown, Jessica H., 2023. "The impact of a long-term care information campaign on insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Davidson, Carl & Heyman, Fredrik & Matusz, Steven & Sjöholm, Fredrik & Chun Zhu, Susan, 2022. "How International Experience Helps Shape Labor Market Outcomes," Working Paper Series 1453, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 09 Jun 2024.
    9. Dami'an Vergara, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Optimal Redistribution," Papers 2202.00839, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    10. OKUDAIRA Hiroko & TAKIZAWA Miho & YAMANOUCHI Kenta, 2022. "Does Employee Downsizing Work? Evidence from Product Innovation at Manufacturing Plants," Discussion papers 22015, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Brick, Kerri & De Martino, Samantha & Visser, Martine, 2023. "Behavioural nudges for water conservation in unequal settings: Experimental evidence from Cape Town," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    13. Doan Thi Thanh Ha & Hongyong Zhang, 2022. "Technical Barriers to Trade, Product Quality and Trade Margins: Firm-level Evidence," Working Papers DP-2021-54, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    14. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    15. Chen, Hongwen & Cheng, Ken & Zhang, Meiyang, 2023. "Does geographic proximity affect firms’ cross-regional development? Evidence from high-speed rail construction in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    16. Alonso Alfaro-Urena & Benjamin Faber & Cecile Gaubert & Isabela Manelici & Jose P. Vasquez, 2022. "Responsible Sourcing? Theory and Evidence from Costa Rica," CESifo Working Paper Series 10108, CESifo.
    17. Brehm, Johannes & Pestel, Nico & Schaffner, Sandra & Schmitz, Laura, 2022. "From low emission zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school," Ruhr Economic Papers 980, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Elisa Facchetti & Lorenzo Neri & Marco Ovidi, 2021. "Should you Meet The Parents? The impact of information on non-test score attributes on school choice," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def113, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    19. Olper, Alessandro, 2017. "The political economy of trade-related regulatory policy: environment and global value chain," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 5(3), February.
    20. Liu, Chen & Yang, Wei, 2023. "Does social insurance stimulate business creation? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:158:y:2024:i:c:s1389934123002125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.