Event Description:

China’s rise as the No.1 exporting nation in the world is an unprecedented miracle. In this seminar, Professor Yuqing Xing will analyze the Chinese miracle in the context of global value chains (GVCs), and explain how brands, technologies, and global distribution networks of GVC lead firms transformed China into an export powerhouse. The speaker will also discuss the inconsistency between value chain trade and current trade statistics, and show how trade statistics exaggerate China’s exports to the US on the one hand and underestimate the U.S. exports to China on the other hand, which results in substantial distortion on the bilateral trade balance between the two countries.

Biography:

Yuqing Xing is a Professor of Economics at 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. He also held positions at World Institute for Development Economics Research, the Bank of Finland, and the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. He has provided consulting services to the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Prof. Xing’s research focuses on global value chains, international trade, foreign direct investment and Chinese economy. He is the lead editor of the Global Value Chain Development Report 2021: Beyond Production. His research on the iPhone and the Sino–US trade balance instigated a reform of trade statistics. Prof. Xing received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Peking University, China, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.