Speakers:
Jason DEDRICK, Associate Professor, Syracuse University; Hubert ESCAITH, Chief Statistician, WTO; Dr. Robert KOOPMAN, Chief Economist, US ITC; andSebastien MIROUDOT, Senior Trade Policy Analyst, Trade & Agriculture Directorate, OECD.
Are trade statistics outdated? Export and import statistics seek to measure trade flows between nations. America is a global leader in innovation, but there is a widespread belief that the US doesn’t make anything anymore. In a global economy, export and import statistics only tell part of the picture.
Economists are now trying to develop new ways to more accurately measure where value is created and captured by looking at Global Value Chains (GVC). A GVC describes the full range of activities that firms and workers do to bring a product from its conception to the final customer. These activities include manufacturing, design, production, marketing, distribution, retail and support to the final customer. American workers create billions of dollars in value as part of GVCs, but a lot of that value isn’t captured in traditional export and import statistics.
Leading economists from around the world will weigh in on what really is happening in American manufacturing and international trade. Could their work lead to a complete rethinking in how trade is measured and valued?