Income and Jobs from Global Value Chain Participation by Developing Asian Economies

The second half of the 20th century witnessed a momentous shift in the center of gravity from the West to Asia for the production and export of manufactured products—beginning with Japan in the 1950s, then the four “Asian Tigers” between the 1960s and the 1990s, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) most recently.

This paper studies participation by developing Asian economies in global value chains (GVCs). It used an input–output framework to measure the impacts that GVCs of final manufactured products have on jobs and income. The researchers combined new occupations data with multiregional input–output tables to examine 15 developing Asian economies from 2000 to 2018. Using an accounting framework, developing Asian economies are compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development economies.

The findings show that various developing Asian economies—including Bangladesh, Cambodia, the PRC, and Viet Nam—achieved rapid expansions in the scale of their respective production activities. Further, several economies—including the PRC, Thailand, and Viet Nam—increased productivity in knowledge-intensive activities, suggesting functional upgrading within GVCs.

The article by Elisabetta Gentile and Gaaitzen J. de Vries is published in the Asian Development Review Volume 42, Number 1. The journal publishes research on development issues relevant to the countries of Asia and the Pacific region, specifically members of the Asian Development Bank. Its intended audience comprises a worldwide readership of economists and other social scientists. 

CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Measuring Activities in Global Value Chains: Methodology Data
• Global Value Chain Income Framework
• Accounting for Jobs and Income from Global Value Chains Participation
• Concluding Remarks