Economic research and trade policy analysis
The Information Technology Agreement: Sui generis or model stepping stone?
The Information Technology Agreement (ITA), negotiated in 1996, is a remarkably successful sectoral agreement. Broad coverage of products was achieved ex ante, rather than by building up coverage over “rounds” of negotiations tariff line by tariff line. A schedule for staged reductions of tariffs to zero was achieved ex ante, rather than tariff-reduction formulas becoming subjects for negotiation in themselves in subsequent rounds. Multilateral country coverage was achieved nearly ex ante, in that the initial set of countries agreed on the rules, many additional countries joined bandwagon-style in the initial months following inception of the agreement, and nearly half of all WTO member countries have joined as of 2007.
Technological progress, diffusion, and opportunities for developing countries: lessons from China
The nature of technology used in products plays a major role in determining the governance structure of value chains and the benefits of participation for developing countries. Standardization through breaking production into modules with a high degree of functional autonomy (limited mutual interference between modules) can dramatically reduce the amount of research and development (R&D), learning by doing, and the number of complementary skills needed to produce a good. This greatly increases opportunities for developing country firms to participate in formerly capital-intensive industries through reducing entry costs into global value chains. However, widespread access to standardized products with little ability to modify technical features can lead to an excessive supply of homogeneous products in a local market, resulting in intense price competition and limited technology transfer. By contrast, technology that facilitates scope for product modification and greater interaction with technology owners can help boost technology transfer and product upgrading by developing country firms. The chapter illustrates this interaction between changes in technology and opportunities for developing countries through developments in the automotive and mobile phone handset industries, with a particular reference to China’s growth experience. It also finds that automation is likely to have only a limited impact on developing countries’ opportunities to participate in value chains through the offshoring of production by high-income countries, at least in the short term.
Recursos naturales: Definiciones, estructura del comercio y globalización
Esta sección es una amplia descripción del papel de los recursos naturales en la economía mundial. Comienza con un apartado dedicado a las definiciones y la terminología, que centra la atención en las características principales que distinguen a los recursos naturales de otros tipos de productos objeto de comercio. Estas características son su carácter agotable, su distribución geográfica desigual, la existencia de externalidades en las repercusiones de su extracción y utilización, el predominio del sector en muchas economías nacionales y la elevada inestabilidad de los precios de este tipo de productos. Se presentan diversos datos estadísticos relacionados con los recursos naturales para ilustrar la magnitud y dirección de las corrientes comerciales mundiales.
Natural resources: Definitions, trade patterns and globalization
This section provides a broad overview of the role that trade in natural resources plays in the global economy. It begins with a discussion of definitions and terminology, focusing on key features that distinguish natural resources from other types of traded goods. These features include the exhaustibility of natural resources, the uneven geographical distribution of resource endowments, the presence of externalities in the spillover effects of extraction and use of natural resources, the dominance of the natural resources sector in many national economies, and the high degree of price volatility in this class of goods. A variety of statistical data related to natural resources are presented in order to illustrate the magnitude and direction of global trade flows.
Quelques tendances et questions commerciales
L’Accord sur les textiles et les vêtements (ATV) est arrivé à expiration le 1er janvier 2005. L’incidence que la levée des restrictions contingentaires pourrait avoir sur la production et le commerce de ces produits a suscité beaucoup d’intérêt, et aussi beaucoup d’inquiétude. Pour la plupart des observateurs, il était évident que la libéralisation accrue ferait des gagnants et des perdants. Il est trop tôt pour dire comment évoluera le marché au-delà de la période relativement brève sur laquelle reposent nos observations; aussi allons-nous examiner ici l’évolution de la structure des échanges depuis la suppression (d’une grande partie) des restrictions quantitatives. Une mise en garde s’impose ici: même s’il ne fait aucun doute que l’expiration de l’ATV a influé sur la structure des échanges observée en 2005, nous n’avons pas élaboré d’approche analytique rigoureuse pour examiner les autres facteurs susceptibles de l’influencer.
Quel rôle pour la coopération internationale en ce qui concerne les politiques relatives au commerce des services ?
Le commerce des services ne cesse d’évoluer. La technologie et les réformes réglementaires entraînent une transformation fondamentale, en créant une nouvelle demande tout en contribuant à la réduction des coûts du commerce et en offrant de nouvelles possibilités en matière de commerce des services. Sous l’effet des chaînes de valeur mondiales, des évolutions démographiques, de l’augmentation du revenu par habitant dans les marchés émergents et des préoccupations environnementales, la demande de services fournis depuis l’étranger est en hausse. L’évolution des modes, des acteurs et de la composition du commerce des services accroît sa contribution possible à la croissance économique inclusive et au développement, mais elle engendre également un certain nombre de défis auxquels il faut répondre pour réaliser ce potentiel.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Michela Esposito for her comments and valuable research assistance. They also would like to thank Delina Agnosteva, James Anderson, Richard Barnett, Davin Chor, Gabriel Felbermayr, Benedikt Heid, Russell Hillberry, Lou Jing, Ma Lin, Antonella Liberatore, Andreas Maurer, Jurgen Richtering, Stela Rubinova, Serge Shikher, Costas Syropoulos, Robert Teh, Thomas Verbeet, Mykyta Vesselovsky, Joschka Wanner, Thomas Zylkin, as well as the seminar and workshop participants at the ifo Institute, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the U.S. International Trade Commission, Global Affairs Canada, the University of Ottawa, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the Tsenov Academy of Economics, and the National University of Singapore for helpful suggestions and discussions. Thanks also go to Vlasta Macku (UNCTAD Virtual Institute) for her continuous support to this project and her role in initiating this inter-organizational cooperation.
Acknowledgements
The World Trade Report has been written under the general direction of Patrick Low, Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division. The main authors of the Report are Bijit Bora, K. Michael Finger, Marion Jansen, Alexander Keck, Patrick Low, Hildegunn Nordas, Roberta Piermartini and Robert Teh. Trade statistics and tariff information were provided by the Statistics Group of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, co-ordinated by Guy Karsenty, Julia de Verteuil, Andreas Maurer and Jürgen Richtering.
Resumen
El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial 2005 comienza con un breve examen de las tendencias destacadas en el comercio internacional, centrándose primero en la evolución reciente, para examinar a continuación la evolución a medio plazo del sector del petróleo y del sector farmacéutico. La Sección II contiene el tema básico del Informe de este año: las normas y el comercio en el contexto de la OMC. Se analizan en primer lugar los aspectos económicos de las normas y el comercio, para abordar después varias cuestiones institucionales y de política. Seguidamente, se examinan las normas en el sistema multilateral de comercio. En la Sección III del Informe se estudian tres temas distintos y de actualidad que son importantes para el comercio internacional. Los tres ensayos temáticos de esta Sección se refieren a la utilización de la economía cuantitativa en la solución de diferencias en la OMC, el comercio internacional de servicios de transporte aéreo y la deslocalización de los servicios. En el ensayo sobre la utilización del análisis económico cuantitativo en los procedimientos de solución de diferencias de la OMC se explican las técnicas cuantitativas y los modelos econométricos que se han aplicado en la OMC en varios procedimientos de solución de diferencias y se examina cómo se ha utilizado este análisis en una serie de asuntos. En el ensayo sobre el comercio de servicios de transporte aéreo se analizan detenidamente las características básicas del sector y la forma en que ha evolucionado con el paso del tiempo. También se abordan los aspectos económicos de este sector y varias cuestiones relacionadas con la competencia, la reglamentación, la gobernanza y el comercio de servicios de transporte aéreo. Por último, en el ensayo sobre la deslocalización de los servicios se estudian las características económicas de la actividad, su alcance y sus consecuencias, así como su pertinencia para el Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios.
Supply chains in the business literature
Changes in the structure of 20th century international industrial organisation that have incited research interest among economists have also driven a significant body of work in the business literature. Indeed, many of the factors driving the changing industrial structure are derived from business. Examples include the innovation and implementation of assembly lines, scientific management, modularisation, lean manufacturing, and just-intime production. While the economics literature has produced terminology such as “task trade”, “vertical specialisation”, and “production sharing”, the business literature tends to emphasise “supply chains”. This is in conjunction with terms from political economists and development theorists that include “value chains”, “global commodity chains”, and “global production networks”. Of these, the supply chain provides the most relevant perspective for the business practitioner. Networks of firms are viewed from a focal firm perspective, and the supply chain ontology adopts various dimensions to orient a firm with its network surroundings (for example, direct-extended-ultimate supply chains, horizontal tiers or degrees of separation, and vertical structures within each tier). Further functionalising the supply chain concept is the field of supply chain management (SCM). Born from multidisciplinary roots that include logistics, marketing, management, and sociology, SCM has developed into a distinct field of study over the past fifty years. SCM theory has only recently reached a state of maturation where it produces operationalisable concepts and tools, but progress is being made in advancing both the overarching field of SCM and the specific issues that fall under the SCM umbrella. This chapter will review the overarching field, while Part II and its chapters will address the specific issues.
Views of GVC operators
The chapters in this volume discuss different types and configurations of global value chains (GVCs). Authors have covered issues of scale and scope, risk, size and proliferation of supply chains — particularly in Asia. Many of these broader concerns look quite different viewed up close to business leaders operating in the thick of specific GVCs. This chapter, by contrast, focuses attention on some key points of interest in supply chains as seen from the perspective of business.
La situation du commerce en 2007
La croissance de la production et des échanges mondiaux s’est ralentie en 2007. La contraction de la demande dans les pays développés a ramené la croissance économique mondiale de 3,7 à 3,4 pour cent, soit à peu près le taux moyen enregistré au cours des dix dernières années. À 7 pour cent environ, la croissance des régions en développement a été près de trois fois supérieure à celle des régions développées et la contribution des pays en développement à la croissance de la production mondiale en 2007 a dépassé 40 pour cent. L’expansion économique des pays les moins avancés a été aussi forte en 2007 que celle des pays en développement pris collectivement, maintenant la tendance constatée depuis 2000.