Value-added Erosion in Global Value Chains: Rethinking International Trade

Xiao Jiang, Assistant Professor, Denison University, OH

The prevalence of "vertical specialization" and global value chains (GVCs) demands that we think differently about international trade and its relationship to employment. This talk discusses employment effects of GVCs trade. Dr. Jiang argues that the expansion of foreign high value-adding activities in the upper stream of GVCs is likely to lead to a decline of domestic value-added share, leading to intensification of international and domestic distributional conflicts.

Dr. Xiao Jiang’s research combines mathematical modeling, simulations and statistics with classical political economy. He has provided economic consulting for the International Labor Organization, the Association for East and Southeast Asian Countries, and the Economic Policy Institute. Dr. Jiang holds a PhD. in Economics from The New School for Social Research.

The talk is part of the Economics Department Seminars in Local and Global Regional Economies.