Measuring success in the global economy - W.E. Upjohn Institute for ...

domestic context, even if we allow that it is based in part on “borrowed”
technology. The implications for policy are far reaching. How can
workers, firms, and industries be provided with the best environment
for engaging with the global economy How can we be sure that enough
wealth, employment, and innovative capacity are generated at home as
global integration proceeds How much national specialization – and by
extension, interdependence with other societies – is too much These
are open questions. Even if policy-makers seek few direct interventions
in the areas of trade, industrial, or innovation policy, global integration
can make the process of economic adjustment more difficult because it
accelerates the pace of change.
Because the picture of global integration provided by current
official statistics is incomplete, the causal links to economic
welfare indicators such as employment and wages tend be weak and
unconvincing. New thinking is required to develop useful insights into
the character and implications of our increasingly globally integrated
national economies. Perhaps the most pressing need is for new kinds
of data to be collected, data that sheds light on the position of domestic
firms, establishments, and workers in GVCs. As a partial solution to this
data gap, we advocate the collection of establishment-level economic
data according to a standardized set of generic business functions. We
share with Lall the desire to move beyond given industry and product
classifications, and to create broad analytical frameworks and data
collection tools to examine aspects of global integration that cut across
specific industries and countries. The GVC framework, the business
function scheme, and Lall’s technological classification of exports are
all attempts to create intellectual tools and data classification schemes
of exactly this sort.
References
Amsden, A.H. (1989). Asia’s Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization, New
York: Oxford University Press.
Arndt, S. and H. Kierzkowski (eds.) (2001). Fragmentation: New Production Patterns
in the World Economy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bair, J. and G. Gereffi (2001). “Local clusters in global chains: the causes and
consequences of export dynamism in Torreon’’s blue jeans industry”, World
Development, 29(11), pp. 1885-1903.
Barham, N., S. Dörry and E.W. Schamp (2007). “Relational governance and regional
upgrading in global value chains – the case of package tourism in Jordan”, Die Erde,
138(2), pp. 169-186.
30 Transnational Corporations, Vol. 18, No. 2 (August 2009)