Global Value Chains During the Great Trade Collapse: A Bullwhip Effect?
Carlo Altomonte, Filippo di Mauro, Gianmarco Ottaviano, Armando Rungi, Vincent Vicard
ECB Working Paper,
No. 1412,
2012
Abstract
This paper analyzes the performance of global value chains during the trade collapse. To do so, it exploits a unique transaction-level dataset on French firms containing information on cross-border monthly transactions matched with data on worldwide intrafirm linkages as defined by property rights (multinational business groups, hierarchies of firms). This newly assembled dataset allows us to distinguish firm-level transactions among two alternative organizational modes of global value chains: internalization of activities (intragroup trade/trade among related parties) or establishment of supply contracts (arm's length trade/trade among unrelated parties). After an overall assessment of the role of global value chains during the trade collapse, we document that intra-group trade in intermediates was characterized by a faster drop followed by a faster recovery than arm's length trade. Amplified fluctuations in terms of trade elasticities by value chains have been referred to as the "bullwhip effect" and have been attributed to the adjustment of inventories within supply chains. In this paper we first confirm the existence of such an effect due to trade in intermediates, and we underline the role that different organizational modes can play in driving this adjustment.
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Assessing Competitiveness: How Firm-Level Data Can Help
Carlo Altomonte, Filippo di Mauro, Giorgio Barba Navaretti, Gianmarco Ottaviano
Bruegel Policy Contribution,
No. 16,
2011
Abstract
As policymakers refocus on growth, the ability to take a firm-level view is key to disentangling the various factors at the root of competitiveness, and thus to designing appropriate policies. Firm-level data provides critical information for the design of appropriate competitiveness measures that complement traditional macro analysis. More work remains to be done assembling firm-level information, but the variance of the distribution of firm characteristics already conveys important information in addition to standard averages. New indicators should be developed to translate the distribution of firm characteristics into indicators of competitiveness designed to capture not only average performance but also the heterogeneity of firm performance. This Policy Contribution builds on ongoing research within EFIGE (www.efige.org), a project to help identify the internal policies needed to improve the external competitiveness of the European Union.
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Size, Productivity, and International Banking
Claudia M. Buch, C. T. Koch, Michael Koetter
Journal of International Economics,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
Heterogeneity in size and productivity is central to models that explain which manufacturing firms export. This study presents descriptive evidence on similar heterogeneity among international banks as financial services providers. A novel and detailed bank-level data set reveals the volume and mode of international activities for all German banks. Only a few, large banks have a commercial presence abroad, consistent with the size pecking order documented for manufacturing firms. However, the relationship between internationalization and productivity also yields two inconsistencies with recent trade models. First, virtually all banks hold at least some foreign assets, irrespective of size or productivity. Second, some fairly unproductive banks maintain commercial presences abroad.
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Industrial Associations as a Channel of Business-Government Interactions in an Imperfect Institutional Environment: The Russian Case
A. Yakovlev, A. Govorun
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 16,
2011
Abstract
International lessons from emerging economies suggest that business associations may provide an effective channel of communication between the government and the private sector. This function of business associations may become still more important in transition economies, where old mechanisms for coordinating enterprise activities have been destroyed, while the new ones have not been established yet. In this context, Russian experience is a matter of interest, because for a long time, Russia was regarded as a striking example of state failures and market failures. Consequently, the key point of our study was a description of the role and place of business associations in the presentday
Russian economy and their interaction with member companies and bodies of state
administration. Relying on the survey data of 957 manufacturing firms conducted in
2009, we found that business associations are more frequently joined by larger companies, firms located in regional capital cities, and firms active in investment and innovation. By contrast, business associations tend to be less frequently joined by business groups’ subsidiaries and firms that were non-responsive about their respective ownership structures. Our regression analysis has also confirmed that business associations are a component of what Frye (2002) calls an “elite exchange”– although only on regional and local levels. These “exchanges” imply that members of business associations, on the one hand, more actively assist regional and local authorities in social development of their regions, and on the other hand more often receive support from authorities. However, this effect is insignificant in terms of support from the federal government. In general, our results allow us to believe that at present, business associations (especially the
industry-wide and “leading” ones) consolidate the most active, advanced companies and act as collective representatives of their interests. For this reason, business associations can be regarded as interface units between the authorities and businesses and as a possible instrument for promotion of economic development.
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The Impact of Government Procurement Composition on Private R&D Activities
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of whether government procurement can work as a de facto innovation policy tool. We develop an endogenous growth model with quality-improving in-novation that incorporates industries with heterogeneous innovation sizes. Government demand in high-tech industries increases the market size in these industries and, with it, the incentives for private firms to invest in R&D. At the economy-wide level, the additional R&D induced in high-tech industries outweighs the R&D foregone in all remaining industries. The implications of the model are empirically tested using a unique data set that includes federal procurement in U.S. states. We find evidence that a shift in the composition of government purchases toward high-tech industries indeed stimulates privately funded company R&D.
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The Revealed Competitiveness of U.S. Exports
Massimo Del Gatto, Filippo di Mauro, Joseph Gruber, Benjamin Mandel
Federal Reserve Discussion Paper,
No. 1026,
2011
Abstract
The U.S. share of world merchandise exports has declined sharply over the last decade. Using data at the level of detailed industries, this paper analyzes the decline in U.S. share against the backdrop of alternative measures of the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. We document the following facts: (i) only a few industries contributed to the decline in any meaningful way, (ii) a large part of the drop was driven by the changing size of U.S. export industries and not the size of U.S. sales within those industries, (iii) in a gravity framework, the majority of the decline in the U.S. export share within industries was due to the declining U.S. share of world income, and (iv) in a computed structural measure of firm productivity, average U.S. export productivity has generally maintained its high level versus other countries over time. Overall, our analysis suggests that the dismal performance of the U.S. market share is not a sufficient statistic for competitiveness.
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IWH FDI Micro Database – Methodological Note – Survey 2009 in East Germany
Andrea Gauselmann, Gabriele Hardt, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
No. 3,
2009
Abstract
The paper is a methodological report on the IWH-FDI-Micro Database of the year 2009. It contains a motivation of the research questions and describes the availability of existing data sources on multinational affiliates in transition economies. In its core it describes the population, survey sampling and implementation, in depth information on the survey representativeness, and questionnaire design. The 2009 survey covers multinationals affiliates in manufacturing and selected services of Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and East Germany.
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IWH FDI Micro Database – Methodological Note – Survey 2010 in East Germany
Andrea Gauselmann, Gabriele Hardt, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
2010
Abstract
The paper is a methodological report on the IWH-FDI-Micro Database of the year 2010. It contains a motivation of the research questions and describes the availability of existing data sources on multinational affiliates in transition economies. In its core it describes the population, survey sampling and implementation, in depth information on the survey representativeness, and questionnaire design. The 2010 survey covers multinationals affiliates in manufacturing and selected services of East Germany.
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IWH FDI Micro Database – Methodological Note – Survey 2008 in East Germany
Andrea Gauselmann, Gabriele Hardt, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
No. 2,
2008
Abstract
The paper is a methodological report on the IWH-FDI-Micro Database of the year 2008. It contains a motivation of the research questions and describes the availability of existing data sources on multinational affiliates in transition economies. In its core it describes the population, survey sampling and implementation, in depth information on the survey representativeness, and questionnaire design. The 2008 survey covers multinationals affiliates in manufacturing and selected services of East Germany.
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IWH FDI Micro Database – Methodological Note – Survey 2007 in East Germany
Andrea Gauselmann, Gabriele Hardt, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
No. 3,
2007
Abstract
The paper is a methodological report on the IWH-FDI-Micro Database of the year 2007. It contains a motivation of the research questions and describes the availability of existing data sources on multinational affiliates in transition economies. In its core it describes the population, survey sampling and implementation, in depth information on the survey representativeness, and questionnaire design. The 2007 survey covers multinationals affiliates in manufacturing of Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia East Germany.
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