Skip to main content

China’s Growing Role in World Trade

In less than three decades, China has grown from playing a negligible role in international trade to being one of the world’s largest exporters, a substantial importer of raw materials, intermediate outputs, and other goods, and both a recipient and source of foreign investment. Not surprisingly, China’s economic dynamism has generated considerable attention and concern in the United States and beyond. While some analysts have warned of the potential pitfalls of China’s rise—the loss of jobs, for example—others have highlighted the benefits of new market and investment opportunities for US firms.

Bringing together an expert group of contributors, China’s Growing Role in World Trade undertakes an empirical investigation of the effects of China’s new status. The essays collected here provide detailed analyses of the microstructure of trade, the macroeconomic implications, sector-level issues, and foreign direct investment. This volume’s careful examination of micro data in light of established economic theories clarifies a number of misconceptions, disproves some conventional wisdom, and documents data patterns that enhance our understanding of China’s trade and what it may mean to the rest of the world.


608 pages | 104 line drawings, 126 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2010

National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report

Economics and Business: Economics--Development, Growth, Planning

Table of Contents

Introduction

Robert C. Feenstra and Shang-Jin Wei

I. Microstructure of International Trade

1. The Anatomy of China’s Export Growth

Mary Amiti and Caroline Freund

Comment: Bin Xu

2. What Accounts for the Rising Sophistication of China’s Exports?

Zhi Wang and Shang-Jin Wei

Comment: Galina Hale

3. China’s Local Comparative Advantage

James Harrigan and Haiyan Deng

Comment: Chong Xiang

4. China and the Manufacturing Exports of Other Developing Countries

Gordon H. Hanson and Raymond Robertson

Comment: Irene Brambilla

II. Macroeconomic Issues

5. China’s Exports and Employment

Robert C. Feenstra and Chang Hong

Comment: Michael Dooley

6. Exporting Defl ation? Chinese Exports and Japanese Prices

Christian Broda and David E. Weinstein

Comment: Joshua Aizenman

7. China’s Current Account and Exchange Rate

Yin-Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, and Eiji Fujii

Comment: Jeffrey Frankel

III. Sectoral Issues and Trade Policies

8. China’s WTO Entry: Antidumping, Safeguards, and Dispute Settlement

Chad P. Bown

Comment: Thomas J. Prusa

9. China’s Experience under the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) and the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC)

Irene Brambilla, Amit K. Khandelwal, and Peter K. Schott

Comment: Joseph Francois

10. Agricultural Trade Reform and Rural Prosperity: Lessons from China

Jikun Huang, Yu Liu, Will Martin, and Scott Rozelle

Comment: Kym Anderson

11. Trade Growth, Production Fragmentation, and China’s Environment

Judith M. Dean and Mary E. Lovely

Comment: Arik Levinson

IV. Foreign Investment and Trade

12. Please Pass the Catch-Up: The Relative Performance of Chinese and Foreign Firms in Chinese Exports

Bruce A. Blonigen and Alyson C. Ma

Comment: Raymond Robertson

13. Facts and Fallacies about U.S. FDI in China

Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley

Comment: Stephen Yeaple

14. China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment

Leonard K. Cheng and Zihui Ma

Comment: Nicholas Lardy

Contributors

Author Index

Subject Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press