How important is GVC Participation to Export Upgrading?
Gideon Ndubuisi, UNU-MERIT
Exporting higher-quality goods are deemed pathways to economic growth and development. However, producing such goods are knowledge-intensive and require quality intermediate inputs and advanced technologies. Integration into global trade networks is increasingly argued to be amongst the pathways to obtain such inputs and technologies, although not all countries may benefit equally from such integration. This paper builds on these arguments and investigate how participation in the global value chain (GVC) affects export-quality. We use a sample of 120 developed and developing countries and find that for the full sample, participation in GVC impacts positively on export quality and, also, brings the export quality of countries closer to the quality frontier, but these effects only work through backward linkages. While this result persists in a subsample comprising developing economies, we, however, find that developed economies benefit from both forward and backward linkages in GVC. Overall, the results indicate that GVC participation matters to export upgrading but points to a potential heterogeneity on the channel of impact across countries at a different level of development.
About the speaker
Gideon Ndubuisi joined the UNU-MERIT in 2016 as a PhD Fellow. He has a BSc. in Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka (Nigeria) and a MSc. in Economics and Institutions from Philipps-University Marburg (Germany). Before joining the UNU-MERIT, he worked as a research intern for the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), and the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) which are all situated in Germany.
Gideon's research interests include, Economics and Management of Innovation, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), International Trade, Knowledge and Technology Transfers, and Industrial Policy. However, his doctoral thesis focuses on understanding whether the global trajectory toward stringent IPR protection offers any prospect for economic development.
Please contact the Joint Seminar coordinators for the login details: jointseminars@merit.unu.edu
Venue: via Zoom
Date: 07 May 2020
Time: 11:00 - 12:00 CET
