Speaker:

Professor Xing Yuqing
Professor of Economics, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan

Date:

Friday, 8 December 2017, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Venue:

EAI Conference Room
NUS Bukit Timah Campus
469A Bukit Timah Road
Tower Block #06-01
Singapore 259770

Abstract:

More and more American multinational corporations (MNCs) are outsourcing the production and assembly of their products to foreign companies. When they do so, they derive the largest share of their revenue from the intellectual property embedded in core technological innovation and brand names. However, conventional trade statistics are compiled based on the value of goods crossing national borders, as declared to customs. Generally, the value added associated with intellectual property rights and embedded in physical goods is not recorded as either export or import of any country. Hence, current trade statistics greatly underestimate US exports and substantially exaggerate its trade deficit. In this seminar, the speaker uses the case of Apple, the largest American consumer products company, to illustrate the failure of conventional trade statistics to report actual US export capacity in the age of global value chains. According to the analysis of this case, if the value added of Apple’s intellectual property sold to foreign consumers was counted as part of US exports, total US exports would increase by 3.2% and its trade deficit would decrease by 6.4%. In terms of bilateral trade, the value added under examination would lower US trade deficit with the Greater China region by 5.7% and that with Japan by 7.8%.

About the Speaker:

Dr Xing Yuqing is a Professor of Economics of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo. He served as the director of the Capacity Building and Training Department of the Asian Development Bank Institute from 2011 to 2014. He also held positions at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Bank of Finland and National University of Singapore. He provided consulting services to Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Dr Xing’s research focuses on international trade, FDI, exchange rates and global value chains. He is a leading expert on global value chains. His research on iPhone and Sino–American trade balance has been discussed widely in the global mainstream media, challenging conventional views on bilateral trade statistics and instigating a reform of trade statistics. Dr Xing received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Peking University and a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.