This dissertation consists of three chapters discussing the effects of changing trade barriers for Canadian firms and a final chapter investigating hazardous waste trade, one of the important environmental issues in international business. The first three chapters use simple theoretical structures and firm level data to examine the evolution of Canadian manufacturing following the tariff changes imposed by the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Chapter one considers the influence of falling tariffs on firm survival, chapter two investigates how trade liberalization effects firm growth in terms of size and productivity, and the third chapter considers the implication o f falling trade barriers for firm financial structure. The fourth chapter diverges from the first three to explore the determinants of international shipments in hazardous waste using a gravity model with factor endowment conditions and waste trade data from 89 countries.

This dissertation consists of three chapters discussing the effects of changing trade barriers for Canadian firms and a final chapter investigating hazardous waste trade, one of the important environmental issues in international business. The first three chapters use simple theoretical structures and firm level data to examine the evolution of Canadian manufacturing following the tariff changes imposed by the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Chapter one considers the influence of falling tariffs on firm survival, chapter two investigates how trade liberalization effects firm growth in terms of size and productivity, and the third chapter considers the implication o f falling trade barriers for firm financial structure. The fourth chapter diverges from the first three to explore the determinants of international shipments in hazardous waste using a gravity model with factor endowment conditions and waste trade data from 89 countries. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Revenue Canada, Customs and Excise is given the responsibility for controlling the importation of foreign goods into Canada by provisions of federal legislation. The control is effected by regulations requiring that most imported goods pass through a sufferance warehouse to be presented to Customs, along with approved documentation, for appraisal and assessment of applicable duty and taxes. Sufferance warehouses have been approved for all modes carrying foreign goods into Canada with the manifest mode of transport dictating the sufferance mode. The sufferance warehouse concept originated on the docks where goods arriving by sea were discharged for entry into Canadian markets. This was the natural clearance location , being the first breakbulk point on Canadian soil the clearance function could be-undertaken with minimum disruption to the efficient flow of goods. Rail sufferance warehouses were authorized soon after rail, lines crossed the Canada-United States border. Rather that requiring appraisal and assessment of import charges at frontier border crossings Revenue Canada authorized creation of rail sufferance warehouses, at inland ports where the normal breakbulk function takes place. Similar facilities have been authorized for the air mode at airports across Canada. Until 1952, the transborder motor carrier industry was required to present shipments to Customs at frontier border points. In that year, a national rail strike put pressure on the trucking industry and on Customs, to improve the delivery system for transborder goods. Revenue Canada's response was extension of the inland sufferance warehouse concept to the highway mode.. A series of privately-owned warehouses were authorized on a monopoly basis within each Customs port area, through which all transborder motor carriers were required to clear goods for Customs purposes. The highway sufferance warehouse system has accommodated the needs of Customs, those of the motor carriers and those of consignor/consignees of transborder goods by providing breakbulk facilities for carriers, adherence to the clear ance process which Revenue Canada demands and a minimum of delay time and cost for the consignee and the Canadian taxpayer within a centralized facility. In spite of the success complaints have been heard from motor carrier firms forced to use the facilities operated by the monopoly warehouse-keeper who is often a carrier firm competing for transborder freight traffic. These complaints are of inequities in the treatment of carriers using the warehouse facilities which the unregulated monopoly power of the operator permits. Specifically, carriers complain of unequal provision of services at the warehouses, about excessive rates and charges for space and services and about the effects of these factors on intra and inter modal competition. The thesis examines the transborder motor carrier industry share of the freight market and the clearance process for imported goods. It was found that the trucking industry holds a significant and increasing share of the market-— increasing at the expense of the rail carriers. The clearance procedures were found to be complicated by excessive and confusing documentation requirements and, although some simplification has occurred, changes which would simplify this major cause of clearance delays are advisable. The available information about the highway sufferance warehouse system is presented and is supplemented by the results of the 1976 Highway Sufferance Warehouse Survey undertaken as a part of this study. The thesis examines the specific complaints about the sufferance warehouse system and suggests that they result from a lack of enforcement of the existing regulations governing warehouse operations by Revenue Canada. Both public and private interests are served when competition in the transborder freight market is encouraged and in those instances when public sector inaction discourages competition changes are necessary. The thesis considers the United States system highway clearance system and suggests that the problems in Canada are not serious enough to require adoption of new procedures but could benefit from some 'fine tuning’ measures which would place with Revenue Canada the responsibilty for regulating the monopoly sufferance warehouse system. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

No description available.

In recent years much criticism has been levelled at the so-called labour bias of protection in the advanced economies. A series of empirical studies have attempted to test the hypothesis that United States tariffs are designed to provide higher rates of protection for labour intensive manufacturing industries. In Canada the assumption of a labour bias has been implicit in much of the literature, but no study had previously been undertaken to collaborate this claim. Theoretical justification of the labour bias argument is found in the Samuelson-Stolper model. From this base certain measures of labour intensity and of protection were developed. Several primary factor inputs were introduced. In addition to the quantity of labour input, an attempt was made to identify qualitative differences in the labour factor. In addition, physical capital and resources were considered as important primary factors. There was some question of the relevance of some of these, particularly the physical capital and resource factors, in comparative advantage arguments concerning Canadian trade in manufactured goods. Certain conceptual problems regarding the use of "direct" versus "direct-plus-indirect" factor inputs were also involved in this part of the analysis. Two measures of protection were identified, nominal tariff rates and effective protection rates. Since the study chose to utilize only "direct" factor inputs the latter measure of protection was considered to be more relevant. Effective rates are a relatively new concept, however, and so the more common measure was also included. The results of the analysis indicated that there was, in fact, a significant labour bias in the structure of the Canadian tariff on manufactured goods. The evidence suggested that when the primary factors were combined the bias was stronger than when any one factor was considered alone relative to labour. The evidence also indicated that two primary factors, human capital (the quality of labour) and resources, relative to labour appeared to account for the bias. Unexplainably, the results pointed to a somewhat stronger relationship when nominal rates rather than effective rates were considered. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The tariff barrier protecting secondary manufacturing in Eastern Canada depresses the relative trade position of British Columbia. This situation arises, in part, from the industrial character in the latter region. The abundant natural resources and the production level well beyond Canadian demand guides the major portion of British Columbia products into foreign markets. These markets, therefore, are an important source of income for British Columbia. However, the archaic tariff system in Canada, along with the manufacturers' sales tax and various excise taxes, restricts the flow of foreign imports into British Columbia and, in turn, enhances the inflow of high-priced merchandise from Eastern Canada. In this way, the real income position of British Columbia residents is curtailed. By constructing the terms of trade for both regions from 1948-1965, it was possible to elucidate further effects of the tariff on British Columbia. For instance, the Net Barter Terms of Trade (export-import price ratio) was found to be more favorable for Eastern Canada when the Canadian dollar appreciated in the 1950's. This condition resulted from the superior buying power of the Eastern Canadian dollar relative to the British Columbian dollar, since the latter region was compelled by the tariff to continue purchasing secondaries in Eastern Canada where no direct exchange rate benefits could be realized. As a test of the relative buying powers of British Columbia and Eastern Canada, the Income Terms of Trade were constructed. This index, by combining import-export price movements with export volume changes, attempts to measure the regional import capacity. It was found to be more favorable for British Columbia over the 18 year period, but as an indicator of the real relative import capacity it was a poor index indeed. Because of the superior buying power of Eastern Canadian dollars in the 50's and the relatively low tariffs on primary manufacturers, the import quantity indexes turned out almost identical over the test period. On a positive note, the recent Kennedy Round of tariff reductions on machinery promises to lower costs in many British Columbia industries, whether or not this will increase the international competitiveness of her products remains to be seen, since they were selling well pre-Kennedy. Nevertheless, the duty reductions constitute a step in the right direction towards more liberal trade policies in Canada. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The impacts of tariffication on Canadian milk producers were estimated via supply, price and trade flow parameters using a spatial price equilibrium model applied to milk production regions of Canada and the United States. / Two price scenarios were put forward because of supply management in Canada. The first incorporated producer prices while the second used shadow prices for Canadian producers, defined as the producer price less a reduction in price which accounts for the value of production quota. The hypothesis that tariffication reduces milk production in Canada to the extent that U.S. producers increase their exports to Canada was partly supported in scenario one but not in scenario two. Specific tariffs of $11.00/hl prevented U.S. imports to reach Qu 'ebec and Ontario. However, the rest of Canada increased its imports from Great Lakes to the detriment of Quebec and Ontario. Consequently, production decreased slightly in Qu 'ebec and increased in Ontario, whereas prices decreased significantly in both provinces. Scenario two showed ability of Qu 'ebec and Ontario to withstand American competition. Prices and production level remained unchanged while export flows to the rest of Canada increased to the detriment of the Great Lakes. / The present study investigated only a specific aspect of the tariffication proposal in the GATT and does not intend not to reflect the very complex aspects of GATT negotiations. The findings of this analysis must be interpreted with this caveat. Further studies considering other plausible tariffication scenarios or effective tariffs on an individual dairy product basis would broaden our understanding of the potential implications of tariffication.

No description available.