Nobuaki Yamashita

Global production sharing and Sino-US trade relations

This paper examines Sino-US trade relations, focusing on the ongoing process of global production sharing, involving splitting of the production process into discrete activities that are then allocated across countries, and the resulting trade complementarities between the two countries in world manufacturing trade. The results suggest that the Sino-US trade imbalance is basically a structural phenomenon resulting from the pivotal role played by China as the final assembly centre in East Asia-centered global production networks.

The export response to exchange rates and product fragmentation: The case of Chinese manufactured exports

This paper examines how changes in the Chinese real exchange rate affect Chinas exports in the context of global production networks. It highlights the misspecification inherent in conventional export models and the importance of distinguishing between the very different impacts of exchange rate changes relative to export destinations and those relative to sources of parts and components. Our empirical estimates cast further doubts on the effectiveness of Chinese exchange rate adjustments for reducing Chinese export volumes.

The Effects of Overseas Operations on Home Employment of Japanese Multinational Enterprises

This paper examines the hypothesis that expansion of overseas operations of Japanese manufacturing multinational enterprises (MNEs) reduces home employment. While the existing studies are mainly based on the industry level, this paper presents the evidence using newly constructed firm-level panel data set over the period 1991-2002. In spite of concerns expressed about the adverse effects of FDI on the domestic economy, the evidence does not support the view that overseas operations expand at the cost of home employment in Japan. On the contrary, the findings suggest that overseas operations have somewhat helped to maintaining the level of home employment in Japanese manufacturing during the period under study. However, the results are sensitive to the estimation method used and whether the estimation is based on the panel data set is balanced or unbalanced.

Chinese Import Competition and Skill Demand in Japanese Manufacturing

This paper examines the hypothesis that manufacturing industries in Japan that have been exposed to import competition from China experience greater skill upgrading by increasing demand for skilled workers. Using an industry panel dataset over the period 1980–2010, we exploit variations of workers’ skill categories by occupation, paired with information and communication technology (ICT) investment data in the employment share regression. We find that while import competition from China have shifted from labour intensive to more capital-intensive products, this has not resulted in substituting skilled workers in Japanese manufacturing. Rather, it has had the profound positive effect of raising overall demand for skilled workers. Most of the competition effects were felt among production workers, leaving middle-skilled workers largely unaffected.

Agglomeration Effects of Inter-Firm Backward and Forward Linkages: Evidence from Japanese Manufacturing Investment in China

This paper examines the agglomeration effects of multinational firms on the location decisions of first-time Japanese manufacturing investors in China for the period 1995–2007. This is accomplished by exploiting newly constructed measures of inter-firm backward and forward linkages formed in a home country. The conditional and mixed logit estimates reveal that agglomeration by first-tier suppliers and customers draws subsequent investment into a location. However, such agglomeration effects are not pervasive and do not extend to the second and third tiers. Instead, we find that agglomeration by third-tier suppliers generates a countervailing force, making a location relatively unattractive.