Contemporary Finance & Economics ›› 2021, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (11): 112-124.

• Industry & Trade • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Impact of Labor Costs on Export Price in the Long-Term Trade Relationship: Also on the Moderating Effects of Specific Asset

ZHENG Ying, QI Xin   

  1. Tianjing University of Finance and Economics, Tianjing 300202, China
  • Received:2021-06-17 Revised:2021-10-13 Online:2021-11-15 Published:2021-11-23

Abstract: Faced with the impact of labor cost, the range of export price adjustment reflects the degree of risk bearing, sharing and transferring of the two parties under their long-term trade relationship. The specific asset is not only the link connecting the interests of both trade parties, but also the leverage to balance the risks. By adopting the?price adjustment model in repeated games, this paper makes use of the data at the export micro-level to analyze the impact of the changes of labor cost on the export prices when quality factors are removed; it also explores the moderating effects of the specific assets invested by export enterprises. The findings show that in the long-term trade relationship, the changes of labor cost will lead to the adjustment of export product prices in the same direction, but the adjustment range is smaller than the changes of cost, which indicates that the pressure of labor cost inflation is jointly borne by both parties. The specific asset has a positive adjustment effect on the adjustment range of export prices. It is found through sub-sample study that when the labor cost changes, the adjustment range of export prices is larger, and the adjustment effect of the specific assets is more significant, if the contract dependence of the export products is relatively higher, the legal system of the destination country is relatively sound and the export is in the way of processing trade. Therefore, to develop a long-term and stable trade relationship and to scientifically use and play the advantages of the specific assets is an important way to transfer the cost pressure of enterprises.

Key words: long-term trade relationship, labor costs, price of export products, specific asset

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