Subject: Slicing Up Global Value Chains
Speaker: Prof. Bart Los (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, the Netherlands)
Time: 2:00 p.m. Sept. 18, 2012
Location: Room N313 of Zhongguancun Classroom Building
Prof. Bart Los is a famous expert in the field of Input-Output(IO)analysis. He wrote a number of articles that link IO to other fields of economics. These include technology-driven growth theory, identification of intersect oral technology spillovers, income distribution dynamics and international trade theory. In 2000, his paper “Endogenous Growth and Structural Change in a Dynamic Input-Output Model” was awarded the first “Leontief Memorial Prize” by the International Input-Output Association. Since 2009, he has been appointed as the editor of Economic Systems Research, the official journal of the International Input-output Association. He is also the co-ordinator of EU’s FP7 project “World Input-Output Database: Construction and Applications” and is very familiar with the compilation and updating methods of time-series of SUT, input-output tables.
Abstract: Using an input-output decomposition technique, we measure the factor income distribution across countries associated with global demand for final manufacturing products. It is based on an analysis of all activities directly and indirectly needed in the production of manufacturing goods in a model where final demand is exogenously given. The empirical analysis is based on the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) that combines national input-output tables, bilateral international trade statistics and data on production factor requirements for 40 countries. It uncovers a number of trends for the period from 1995 to 2008. First, shares of domestic value added in domestic consumption are declining in all countries, indication increasing unbundling of production. Second, activities carried out by low-and medium-skilled workers in mature economies decline and activities carried out by high-skilled workers increase. Activities carried out by less-skilled workers in emerging economies boomed, in particular after China’s accession to the WTO in 2001. Third, changes in set of activities carried out in global manufacturing production have not been factor-neutral as the share of capital income increases faster than labor income, both in mature and emerging economies.
