Publications

The KCG has various series of publications to provide research findings and policy implications to different interested groups, e.g., students, academics, policy makers and the public.

KCG Policy Paper No. 4: China between External Pressure and Domestic Policy Reforms: In Search of a Balance

11th October 2018
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
Authors: Rolf J. Langhammer and Wan-Hsin Liu

It was probably a combination of the objective of a constructive response to external headwind from the United States (US) and to some extent also from the European Union (EU) as concerns China’s investment and trade policies on the one hand and the intrinsic insight that opening up the investment and trade sector in China […]


International Trade and Retail Market Performance and Structure: Theory and Empirical Evidence

30th August 2018
KCG Secretary
Authors: Philipp Meinen and Horst Raff (Journal of International Economics,2018, Vol. 115, 99-114)

Based on a theoretical model featuring heterogeneous retailers that may source globally and operate as chains, we derive a number of hypotheses that link trade integration to retail firm performance and to the structure of retail markets. We empirically test these predictions using Danish microdata for the period 1999 to 2008. We find that importing retailers are larger, more profitable, and have a higher propensity to have multiple shops than domestically sourcing[…]

KCG Researchers Contributed to a New UNIDO Report on Global Value Chains with Focus on Asia

16th August 2018
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) recently published a new report “Global Value Chains (GVCs) and Industrial Development – Lessons from China, South-East and South Asia” to provide evidence on the evolution of global and regional value chains in Asia. From the Asian lessons policy suggestions are derived to support firms’ and countries’ participation in GVCs and encourage their upgrading over time[…]

Incentives through Inventory Control in Supply Chains

19th June 2018
KCG Secretary
Authors: Zhan Qu, Horst Raff and Nicolas Schmitt (International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2018, Vol. 59, 486-513)

The paper shows that taking inventory control out of the hands of competitive or exclusive retailers and assigning it to a manufacturer increases the value of a supply chain especially
for goods whose demand is highly volatile. This is because doing so solves incentive distortions[…]

Attracting FDI in Middle-skilled Supply Chains

15th June 2018
KCG Secretary
Authors: Theordore Moran, Holger Görg, Adnan Seric and Christiane Krieger-Boden (Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Vol. 12 (2018-26), 1-9)

While popular opinion often pictures FDI flowing in search of lowest-wage, lowest-skilled activities in emerging markets, actual FDI to such countries increasingly addresses medium to high-skilled manufacturing sectors. Such FDI might be called “Quality FDI” that contributes to the creation of decent and value-adding jobs, enhancing the skill base of host economies, facilitating transfer of technology, knowledge and know-how, boosting competitiveness of domestic firms and enabling their access to world-wide markets[…]