scholarly journals Globally Trading Firms in Canada: Productivity and Global Value Chains

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ram C. Acharya

Using firm-level data in Canada from 2002 to 2008, I compare the economic performance of three types of firms: those that both export and import (called globally trading firms—GTFs), exporters-only, and importers-only. The results show that GTFs are more productive, larger, more capital intensive, pay higher wages, trade more goods, and trade with more countries than both types of one-way traders. These premia for GTFs were found even before they turned into GTFs (self-selection). Moreover, even after turning into GTFs, the productivity growth of a subset of them was faster than that of one-way traders. The higher the involvement in global value chains (GVCs), the higher was the performance of the “learning-by-turning GTFs”. The GTFs with higher productivity growth were the ones that imported from multiple countries, not those that imported only from China. By another measure, they were both-in-both GTFs—those that traded both final and intermediate goods, and in both directions (exports and imports). Even though they employed only 10% of Canada’s business sector workforce, they contributed 60% of its labour productivity growth.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Karpowicz ◽  
Nujin Suphaphiphat

Advanced economies have been witnessing a pronounced slowdown of productivity growth since the global financial crisis that is accompanied in recent years by a withdrawal from trade integration processes. We study the determinants of productivity slowdown over the past two decades in four closely integrated European countries, Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, based on firm-level data. Participation in global value chains appears to have affected productivity positively, including through its effect on TFP when facilitated by higher investment in intangible assets, a proxy for firm innovation. Other contributors to productivity growth in firms are workforce aging, access to finance, and skills mismatches.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Johnson

Recent decades have seen the emergence of global value chains (GVCs), in which production stages for individual goods are broken apart and scattered across countries. Stimulated by these developments, there has been rapid progress in data and methods for measuring GVC linkages. The macro approach to measuring GVCs connects national input–output tables across borders by using bilateral trade data to construct global input–output tables. These tables have been applied to measure trade in value added, the length of and location of producers in GVCs, and price linkages across countries. The micro approach uses firm-level data to document firms’ input sourcing decisions, how import and export participation are linked, and how multinational firms organize their production networks. In this review, I evaluate progress in these two approaches, highlighting points of contact between them and areas that demand further work. I argue that further convergence between these approaches can strengthen both, yielding a more complete empirical portrait of GVCs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (284) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vito Amendolagine ◽  
Andrea Presbitero ◽  
Roberta Rabellotti ◽  
Marco Sanfilippo ◽  
Adnan Seric

The local sourcing of intermediate products is one the main channels for foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers. This paper investigates whether and how participation and positioning in the global value chains (GVCs) of host countries is associated to local sourcing by foreign investors. Matching two firm-level data sets of 19 Sub-Saharan African countries and Vietnam to country-sector level measures of GVC involvement, we find that more intense GVC participation and upstream specialization are associated to a higher share of inputs sourced locally by foreign investors. These effects are larger in countries with stronger rule of law and better education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (117) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Banh ◽  
Philippe Wingender ◽  
Cheikh Gueye

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented collapse in global economic activity and trade. The crisis has also highlighted the role played by global value chains (GVC), with countries facing shortages of components vital to everything from health systems to everyday household goods. Despite the vulnerabilities associated with increased interconnectedness, GVCs have also contributed to increasing productivity and long-term growth. We explore empirically the impact of GVC participation on productivity in Estonia using firm-level data from 2000 to 2016. We find that higher GVC participation at the industry level significantly boosts productivity at both the industry and the firm level. Frontier firms, large firms, and exporting firms also benefit more from GVC participation than non-frontier firms, small firms, and non-exporting firms. We also find that GVC participation of downstream industries has a negative correlation with productivity. Frontier firms and large firms benefit more from GVC participation of upstream industries, while non-frontier firms and small firms benefit more from GVC participation of downstream industries. Our results suggest that policies designed to promote participation in GVCs are important to raise aggregate productivity and potential growth in Estonia.


Author(s):  
Joselyn Stroombergen

Given New Zealand's recent robust economic performance, 3.6% per annum on average since 1999, the strong improvement in a wide array of la hour market indicators has not been surprising. What has surprised many economic commentators has been the continued strength of the labour market in the face of the recent slowing economic activity.The ability of the economy to make use of its labour capacity may have improved suggesting a fall in New Zealand's non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU).With labour utilisation now stretched to the limit if we want to maintain economic growth at levels we have become accustomed to, we will need to substantially lift the level of labour productivity growth in the coming years. However making the transition to a more productive economy while maintaining the gains we have achieved in labour utilisation will not be an easy task.


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