Vertical Specialization and Trade Surplus in China

Wei Wang

May 2013 · Elsevier

About this ebook

The traditional flow of goods from primary production through to manufacturing and consumption has expanded across international borders conterminously with globalization. Vertical specialization (VS) in processing and manufacturing in China has driven export growth. In particular, intra-industry and intra-product trade between China, the US and East Asia has increased China’s trade surplus over the long term. Vertical Specialization and Trade Surplus in China aims to measure the level of VS in the Chinese manufacturing industry to provide a more accurate representation of China’s trade surplus, and gives empirical analysis on provinces and products with important VS activities in order to assess China’s trade value-added. Exploring the vertical division of labour, and foreign direct investment (FDI) driving China’s import and export imbalance, the book is divided into eight chapters, each covering an aspect of VS in China. The first chapter outlines the aims and method of the study. Chapter two covers VS trade pattern and trade surplus. Chapter three looks at FDI and the import and export imbalance, and chapter four covers the relationship between VS and import and export of foreign invested enterprises. The fifth chapter considers the causes and prospects for growth in China-US and China-Japan trade. Chapters six and seven give an empirical analysis of VS and trade surplus, and a breakdown of VS per industry in China’s provinces. Finally, chapter eight considers rebalancing imports and exports in China.

• Measures VS across China including the developed provinces based on the newest input-output table
• Presents the main provinces and products closely related to VS
• Gives evidence on global VS trade patterns from China’s national data

About the author

Wei Wang is a Professor at the School of Chemical Engineering at Sichuan University, PR China. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Sichuan University in 2007 and 2012. His research interests include microfluidics, interfaces, and functional materials. He has published 150+ papers in peer-reviewed journals and written 10+ invited book chapters. He has received many honours and awards, including the Emerging Investigator 2014 of Lab on a Chip (The Royal Society of Chemistry), the Hou Debang Chemical Science and Technology Award - Youth Award issued by the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (2017), Second Prize of the State Technological Invention Award (2018), and First Prize of the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award (2015, 2020).