APL (Ajiken Power Lunch)

APL (Ajiken Power Lunch) is a lunchtime workshop open to public, including IDE staffs, visiting research fellows, IDEAS students, outside researchers and graduate students. This workshop provides a platform for presentation of any work in progress where we can discuss in either English or Japanese.

Those who would attend a seminar are asked to announce yourself to receptionists on your arrival at the IDE and to obtain APL Organizers' signature on your admission card after the seminar.

June 8, 2017. (Thursday) 12：30-14：00

Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization C23 Meeting Room 　

Value-added Gains and Job Opportunities in Global Value Chains: A Brain-storming Discussion

Global value chains (GVCs) break up the production process so that different steps can be carried out in different countries. Many top-brand personal computers and smart phones, for example, are designed in the United States; have sophisticated inputs such as semi-conductors and processors produced in Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan; are assembled in China; and are marketed and receive after-sale servicing in Europe or the U.S. These complex and global production arrangements have transformed the nature of trade, but their complexity has also created difficulties in understanding how and to what extent benefit is distributed along GVCs across countries and, in turn, in formulating policies that allow firms and governments to capitalize on GVCs and to mitigate negative side effects. This paper follows Ye, Meng and Wei (2015)’s idea, and uses the so-called “smile curve” approach to identify value-added gains and job opportunities along GVCs. Further insight into the distributional implications of GVC expansion can be obtained by examining the types of labor used in value chains in different countries and the associated remuneration. Detailed labor productivity and real wage based analyses give a strong support on our findings, relevant policy implications are discussed in the paper. (I also add a brain-storming talk on the recent evolution of GVCs research using interdisciplinary approaches, just for your information.)

Bo Meng (Development Studies Center, IDE-JETRO)

English