The Global Forum website tries to keep track of the ever changing landscape of trade analysis, measurement of trade and trade statistics. The site keeps a database of links to over 150 relevant publications, reports, articles and speeches.
The full list of featured publications can be found HERE.
The Canadian apparel has long been considered a global player. For years, many Canadian companies have been producing offshore and have seized on preferencial access to United States (US) markets to export their products. However until recently, the Canadian apparel industry also operated under protectionism that allowed it to thrive within North America… more »
It is increasingly rare that a good or a service is entirely produced at one location and then exported to a final consumer. Rather, production of a good or even service involves an increasingly complex process with intermediate inputs and supporting activities sourced globally from wherever it is most efficient to do so. These complex international production arrangements have come to be known as global value chains (GVCs)... more »
This paper applies global value chain analysis to study recent trends in the global automotive industry. The authors pay special attention to the effects of the recent economic crisis on the industry in developing countries. The principal finding is that the crisis has accelerated precrisis trends toward greater importance of the industry in the South. More rapid growth of car ownership is the impetus, but the co-location and close interaction of suppliers and lead firms in this industry is an important catalyst… more »
The automotive industry is Canada’s most important manufacturing and export sector. In 2005, Canada’s automotive industry employed 7.7 percent of the manufacturing workforce and accounted for nearly a third of manufactured goods exports. Canada’s twelve high-volume final assembly plants directly employed more than 51,000 workers.More than two and a half million vehicles were produced, valued at $69.8 billion, of which nearly 85% was exported… more »
This paper provides a review of the available literature on global value chains (GVCs) and employment markets in developing countries. Due to the difficulty of observing intra-GVC transactions, there is very little direct empirical work on GVCs and labour markets. However, it is possible to extrapolate from the extensive empirical work already undertaken on firm internationalisation and labour markets to draw inferences as to the likely impacts of GVCs. The review therefore focuses on the labour market impacts of three processes that lie at the core of GVC development: importing, exporting, and foreign direct investment (FDI)... more »
The global economic crisis of 2008–09 has revealed the interdependence of the world economy. The financial crisis originated in the United States, but the resulting economic downturn quickly spread to the rest of the world. Trade, along with finance, was one of the main vectors of transmission of the crisis. In 2009, there was a massive contraction in global trade—minus 13 percent. The contraction was largely a reflection of a drop in demand, especially for durable goods… more »
This paper presents a critical review of the Global Value Chain literature in light of the “Technological Capabilities” approach to innovation in LDCs. Participation in GVC is beneficial for firms in LDCs, which are bound to source technology internationally. However, the issues of learning and technological efforts at the firm-level remain largely uncovered by the GVC literature… more »
This paper presents evidence of the importance of electronics global value chains (GVCs) in the global economy, and discusses the effects of the recent economic crisis on the industry. The analysis focuses on how information is exchanged and introduces the concept of “value chain modularity.” The authors identify three key firm level actors—lead firms, contract manufacturers, and platform leaders—and discuss their development, or “coevolution” in the context of global integration… more »
This paper aims to develop a storyline for the WPGI/CIIE work on global value chains (GVCs) for the PWB of 2011-2012, by bringing together the empirical evidence and analytical research on GVCs and analyzing new policy issues. The objective of the WPGI activities on GVCs is to develop policy relevant analysis and provide analytical support for the policy discussion in the CIIE. The work on GVCs will be undertaken in close coordination with the work on ‘New Sources of Growth’ given the complementarities between the two projects… more »
The past decades have witnessed a rapid globalisation of economic activity which has significantly changed the outlook of the world economy. International production, trade and investments are increasingly organised within so-called global value chains (GVCs) where the different stages in the production process are located across different economies. Until now, GVCs have been largely discussed from a conceptual and theoretical view, but empirical work on international fragmentation has stayed a bit behind… more »
In recent years, global value chains have played an increasing role in business strategies, profoundly affecting international trade and development paradigms. Global value chains now represent a major source of socio-upgrading opportunities and a new path for development. Trade, competitiveness and development policies should be reshaped accordingly to seize these opportunities and avoid the risks associated with greater participation in global value chains. This paper provides a framework and analytical tools for measuring and improving a country's performance with respect to participation in global value chains. With a clear operational focus, it provides guidance for countries willing to join, maintain participation, and/or move up global value chains. more »
There is broad agreement that the world economy is becoming more deeply integrated and interdependent along multiple dimensions: economic, cultural and political. While one might expect cultural or political integration to be difficult to measure with precision, global economic integration has also proven resistant to detailed quantification and empirical characterization. We have a strong sense of profound changes in the world economy... more »
This article contributes to an assessment and celebration of the scholarly and policy work of the late Sanjaya Lall. As Rasiah (2009) highlights, Lall’s work was at once broad, deep and intensely focused. Over his long career, Lall and his many collaborators used the lenses of the transnational corporation (TNC), competitiveness, globalization and technological learning to uncover… more »
Industries are oft en thought of in terms of the nations that have launched the greatest innovations. There is a perception of a U.S. automotive industry pitted against a Japanese industry, for example, or the U.S. pharmaceutical industry against the European industry. Globalization has, however, rapidly changed the underlying nature of these competitive relationships… more »
In this paper we provide a new metric for the contributions of countries to global value chains. It is based on an input-output analysis of vertically integrated industries, taking into account trade in intermediate inputs within and across countries. The value of global manufacturing output is allocated to labour and capital employed in various regions in the world… more »
This special issue aims to contribute to our understanding of developing countries’ prospects for upgrading in global value chains (GVCs) in the context of recent shifts in global demand and production. Trade integration and economic growth in many developing countries has been fuelled by the insertion of local producers in GVCs feeding into high-income markets, in particular North America, Europe and Japan. However, since the mid-1980s – a trend that has been accelerated by the 2008/2009 global economic crisis… more »
This report brings together OECD data on the globalisation of value chains, including the rise of outsourcing/offshoring. It first examines how OECD countries are affected by the globalisation of production, on both the macroeconomic and sector-specific levels. The costs and benefits of globalisation are then discussed, with an emphasis on employment and productivity. Finally, this report analyses how globalisation impacts the competitiveness of OECD countries, highlighting the need for an effective innovation strategy. The report discusses not only the moving up the value chain that takes place in OECD countries but also in China, as R&D is increasingly going to emerging countries. more »
The U.S. International Trade Commission’s latest update in this series of reports presents results on the economic effects on the U.S. economy of removing significant U.S. import restraints, including U.S. tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on certain agricultural products, textiles and apparel, and other manufactured products. The Commission estimates that liberalization of all significant import restraints quantified in this update would increase annual U.S. welfare by $1.1 billion by 2017. The eighth update also features a special topic chapter on the role of services in manufacturing, which explores trends in U.S. manufacturers’ use of services and the contribution of services to manufacturing output and productivity. more »
The recent large and rapid slowdown in economic activity has resulted in even larger and more rapid declines in international trade. As world trade is set to rebound, this paper addresses three questions: (i) Will trade volumes rebound in a symmetric fashion as world economic growth rebounds? (ii) Will the crisis result in a change in the structure of trade… more »
The geographical fragmentation of production has created a new trade reality. Often referred to as global value chains or vertical specialization, this fragmentation deepens the interdependency of trade relations and has many implications for how we understand trade policy. This book sheds light on the nature of this interdependency, and the contribution of trade to national economies. It illustrates the conjunction of technical, institutional and political changes that led to the emergence of production and trade networks in East Asia… more »
In this article, we apply global value chain (GVC) analysis to recent trends in the global automotive industry, with special attention paid to the case of North America. We use the three main elements of the GVC framework—firm-level chain governance, power and institutions—to highlight some of the defining characteristics of this important industry. First, national political institutions create pressure for local content, which drives production close to end markets… more »
