“Asia and Global Production Networks—Implications for Trade, Incomes and Economic Vulnerability”

That’s the title of a book edited by Benno Ferrarini (ADB) and David Hummels (Purdue).

cover-asia-and-global-production-networks-cover

From the Asian Development Bank’s website

Bringing to bear an array of the latest methods and data to study global value chains, the publication assesses the evolution of global value chains at the firm level, and how this affects competitiveness in Asia.

The publication has two broad themes. The first is national economies’ heightened exposure to adverse shocks (natural disasters, political disputes, recessions) elsewhere in the world as a result of greater integration and interdependence. The second theme is focused on the evolution of global value chains at the firm level and how this will affect competitiveness in Asia. It also traces the past and future development of production sharing in Asia.

The book can be downloaded from here [pdf].

Here is the link to the publisher, while a sample is here.

Contents:


  • Foreword
    Asia and Global Production Networks—Implications for Trade, Incomes and Economic Vulnerability, Benno Ferrarini and David Hummels
  • Developing a GTAP-Based Multi-Region, Input-Output Framework for Supply Chain Analysis, Terrie L. Walmsley, Thomas Hertel, and David Hummels
  • The Vulnerability of the Asian Supply Chain to Localized Disasters, Thomas Hertel, David Hummels and Terrie L. Walmsley
  • Global Supply Chains and Natural Disasters: Implications for International Trade, Laura Puzzello and Paul Raschky
  • Vertical Specialization, Tariff Shirking and Trade, Alyson C. Ma and Ari Van Assche
  • Changes in the Production Stage Position of People’s Republic of China Trade, Deborah Swenson
  • External Rebalancing, Structural Adjustment, and Real Exchange Rates in Developing Asia, Andrei Levchenko and Jing Zhang
  • Global Supply Chains and Macroeconomic Relationships in Asia, Menzie Chinn (working paper version here)
  • Mapping Global Value Chains and Measuring Trade in Tasks, Hubert Escaith
  • The Development and Future of Factory Asia, Richard Baldwin and Rikard Forslid

4 thoughts on ““Asia and Global Production Networks—Implications for Trade, Incomes and Economic Vulnerability””

  2. Ricardo

    From the Asian Development Bank: The first is national economies’ heightened exposure to adverse shocks (natural disasters, political disputes, recessions) elsewhere in the world as a result of greater integration and interdependence.

    A rhetorical question: Why do people who write such things always imply that “political disputes” and “recessions” are external to “national economies?” Spoiler alert: political disputes and recessions are caused by governments who cause the disasters that face national economies. Why rhetorical? Politicians love being exempted from responsibility and the politicians hire these people.

  3. Jeffrey J. Brown

    China: Turning away from the dollar
    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4ee67336-7edf-11e4-b83e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3LTlSknNf

    All of this leads to a burning question: how convulsive an impact on US debt financing — and therefore on global interest rates — will the changes under way in China have? Analysts hold views across a spectrum that ranges from those who see an imminent bonfire of US financial complacency to those who see little change and no cause for concern. Occupying a space between these extremes are those, such as Michael Power of Investec, who see potential for a disruptive rewiring of international capital flows, but no certainty that such an outcome will transpire.

    “If China starts to pursue investment programmes like developing infrastructure to regenerate the trans-Asian Silk Road, it will no longer be banking most of its surplus savings in US Treasuries,” says Mr Power.
    A decade ago Alan Greenspan, the then chairman of the US Federal Reserve, found his attempts to coax US interest rates upwards negated by Beijing parking its surplus savings into Treasuries. Arguably, says Mr Power, a bond bubble has existed ever since.

    “If China is now set to redeploy those deposits into capital investment the world over, does this mean the [Greenspan] conundrum will be at last ‘solved’ but at the cost of an imploding Treasury market?” Mr Power asks. “If so, this will raise the corporate cost of capital in the west and put yet another brake on already tepid western GDP growth.”

    Stephanie Pomboy, president at Macro Mavens, a US-based economics research consultancy, sees a more present peril. “The conviction that the rest of the world [China and Japan in particular] have no choice but to maintain their attachment to the US dollar is as strong as ever,” she says. “Wallowing in this illusion, investors see no long-term threat to the dollar’s status, even as each day it diminishes in use.”

  4. Ricardo

    Jeffery,

    Good article. I don’t think there is any threat from China. Any threat will be the US response to China. If the US attempts to continue business as usual manipulating the currency for illusionary gains then the changes China makes will create all kinds of problems. As your article notes relying on China and others to finance US debt could be a serious problem. Actually the government financial decision makers will have to totally relearn real economics because the illusionary economics will cease to bring a return. Actually, that is the primary reason China is taking these steps. If the US was no manipulating the world monetary system China would have no reason because there would be no gain.

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