Gaaitzen J. de Vries

An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: The Case of Global Automotive Production

This article provides guidance to prudent use of the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) in analyses of international trade. The WIOD contains annual time-series of world input–output tables and factor requirements covering the period from 1995 to 2011. Underlying concepts, construction methods and data sources are introduced, pointing out particular strengths and weaknesses. We illustrate its usefulness by analyzing the geographical and factorial distribution of value added in global automotive production and show increasing fragmentation, both within and across regions. Possible improvements and extensions to the data are discussed.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF WORLD INPUT-OUTPUT TABLES IN THE WIOD PROJECT

This article describes the construction of the World Input–Output Tables (WIOTs) that constitute the core of the World Input–Output Database. WIOTs are available for the period 1995–2009 and give the values of transactions among 35 industries in 40 countries plus the ‘Rest of the World’ and from these industries to households, governments and users of capital goods in the same set of countries. The article describes how information from the National Accounts, Supply and Use Tables and International Trade Statistics have been harmonized, reconciled and used for estimation procedures to arrive at a consistent time series of WIOTs.

Fragmentation, incomes, and jobs : an analysis of European competitiveness

Increasing fragmentation of production across borders is changing the nature of international competition. As a result, conventional indicators of competitiveness based on gross exports are becoming less informative and new measures are needed. This paper proposes an ex-post accounting framework of the value added and workers that are directly and indirectly related to the production of final manufacturing goods. The framework focuses on manufactures global value chain income and manufactures global value chain jobs. The paper outlines these concepts and provides trends in European countries based on a recent multi-sector, input-output model of the world economy. The analysis finds that since 1995, revealed comparative advantage of the European Union 27 is shifting to activities related to the production of nonelectrical machinery and transport equipment. The workers involved in manufactures global value chains are increasingly in services, rather than manufacturing industries. The analysis also finds a strong shift toward activities carried out by high-skilled workers, highlighting the uneven distributional effects of fragmentation. The results show that a global value chain perspective is needed to inform the policy debates on competitiveness.

Structural Transformation in Africa: Static Gains, Dynamic Losses

Abstract This paper places recent growth and structural transformation in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries in historical and international perspective. During the early post-independence period, resources were reallocated to manufacturing activities with high productivity growth. Structural change stalled in the mid-1970s. When it resumed in the 1990s, workers mainly relocated to distributive trade services. Productivity levels in these activities were higher than in agriculture, enhancing overall economy performance. But services productivity growth was sluggish and increasingly falling behind the world frontier. These patterns are also observed in Latin America, but not in Asia.

Productivity in a Distorted Market: The Case of Brazil's Retail Sector

In a model of monopolistic competition with heterogeneous firms, distortions in prices drive a wedge between the marginal revenue products of factor inputs across firms. We use census data for Brazils retail sector to study implications for aggregate productivity and relate distortions to regional variation in regulation using a differences�?in�?differences approach. Taxes, entry regulation, and access to credit may create distortions to output and capital that varies by firm size. Potential gains from reallocation have not diminished despite the process of services liberalization in the 1990s.

Small Retailers in Brazil: Are Formal Firms Really More Productive?

Abstract This paper examines the productivity of formal and informal retailers in Brazil by simultaneously estimating a stochastic production frontier and an efficiency model for a cross-section of some 11,000 retail firms with, at most, five workers. Results show that the efficiency of firms is positively related with ICT adoption, managerial ability, technical assistance and participation in a guild. Formal retailers are more productive than informal retailers, even after controlling for self-selection and firm, industry, and firm-owner characteristics.This paper examines the productivity of formal and informal retailers in Brazil by simultaneously estimating a stochastic production frontier and an efficiency model for a cross-section of some 11,000 retail firms with, at most, five workers. Results show that the efficiency of firms is positively related with ICT adoption, managerial ability, technical assistance and participation in a guild. Formal retailers are more productive than informal retailers, even after controlling for self-selection and firm, industry, and firm-owner characteristics.

ICT Adoption and Heterogeneity in Production Technologies: Evidence for Chilean Retailers

The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can have far�?reaching effects on the nature of production technologies. Because ICT adoption is incomplete, especially in developing countries, different groups of firms will have different production technologies. We estimate a latent class stochastic frontier model, which allows us to test for the existence of multiple production technologies across firms and consider the associated implications for efficiency measures. We use a unique data set of Chilean retailers, which includes detailed information on ICT adoption. We find three distinct production technologies. The probability of membership in a more productive group is positively related to ICT use.

ICT Investment in Latin America: Does it Matter for Economic Growth?

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are spreading fast across Latin America and the Caribbean. This trend has brought about important economic and social changes, which have largely gone unmeasured until recently. Here, analysts from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean along with other distinguished scholars in the field of ICT, growth and productivity provide theoretical and empirical insights to the debate on the role of ICT in economic development.

The domestic content of Mexico's maquiladora exports: A long-run perspective

ABSTRACT This paper studies the domestic value-added content of exports by Mexicos maquiladoras (export-processing firms) during the period from 1981 to 2006. We combine a specific input–output table for maquiladora firms with detailed longitudinal data on outputs and inputs. Policy shifts and major currency devaluations (both taking place in 1982 and 1994) drastically altered the foreign sourcing structure of most maquila firms and conditioned their demand for domestic inputs in the years thereafter. A long-run gradual decline in aggregate domestic value added in maquiladora exports is largely accounted for by the falling domestic content within electronics manufacturing.

Skills and Activity Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Trends and Drivers for Asia

This paper examines the trends in skill and activity upgrading in global value chains (GVCs) and the drivers of upgrading in Asian economies. It uses the newly constructed ADB Multi-Region Input-Output Tables as well as occupation data on jobs by educational attainment and business activities, namely research and development; production; logistics, sales, and marketing; administration and back-office; and headquarter activities. Our results suggest an ongoing specialization process in high-income Asian countries and in developing member countries (DMCs) toward high-skilled knowledge-intensive activities. The pace of upgrading differs across Asian countries, being more rapid and encompassing in the People’s Republic of China in comparison to other DMCs. We use a structural decomposition method to account for the drivers of the trends observed. In particular, technological change in GVCs that is biased toward knowledge-intensive activities is important in accounting for the trends observed.