IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wii/wpaper/163.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Testing the Smile Curve: Functional Specialisation in GVCs and Value Creation

Author

Listed:

Abstract

According to the ‘smile curve hypothesis’ the potential for generating value added varies significantly across the various functions along a firm’s value chain. It suggests in particular that the production stage is the least promising value chain function in the entire manufacturing process. This logic implies that countries specialising as ‘factory economies’ are likely to generate comparatively little value added. To shed light on the relationship between functional specialisation along the value chain and value creation, this paper develops measures for functional specialisation derived from project-level data on greenfield FDI for a global sample of countries. These measures keep the industry and the functional dimension of specialisation strictly apart. They are used to test econometrically the negative relationship between value added creation and functional specialisation in production as predicted by the smile curve hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Roman Stöllinger, 2019. "Testing the Smile Curve: Functional Specialisation in GVCs and Value Creation," wiiw Working Papers 163, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wiiw.ac.at/testing-the-smile-curve-functional-specialisation-in-gvcs-and-value-creation-dlp-4807.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    2. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2005. "From sectoral to functional urban specialisation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 343-370, March.
    3. Marcel P. Timmer & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen J. Vries, 2015. "An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 575-605, August.
    4. Rungi, Armando & Del Prete, Davide, 2018. "The smile curve at the firm level: Where value is added along supply chains," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 38-42.
    5. Robert H. Wade, 2018. "The Developmental State: Dead or Alive?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 518-546, March.
    6. Hagemejer Jan & Ghodsi Mahdi, 2017. "Up or Down the Value Chain? A Comparative Analysis of the GVC Position of the Economies of the New EU Member States," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 1(48), pages 19-36, November.
    7. Ram Mudambi, 2008. "Location, control and innovation in knowledge-intensive industries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 699-725, September.
    8. Prebisch, Raúl, 1950. "The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 29973, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    9. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    10. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    11. Peter Howitt, 2000. "Endogenous Growth and Cross-Country Income Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 829-846, September.
    12. Johnson, Robert C. & Noguera, Guillermo, 2012. "Accounting for intermediates: Production sharing and trade in value added," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 224-236.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rohit, Kumar, 2023. "Global value chains and structural transformation: Evidence from the developing world," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 285-299.
    2. Mahdi Ghodsi, 2020. "Is Austria’s economy locked-in in the CESEE region? Austria’s competitiveness at the micro-level," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 669-693, August.
    3. Magdalena Olczyk & Marjan Petreski, 2024. "From Global Value Chains to Local Jobs: Exploring FDI-induced Job Creation in EU-27," Papers 2410.04160, arXiv.org.
    4. Amat Adarov & Robert Stehrer, 2021. "Implications of foreign direct investment, capital formation and its structure for global value chains," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(11), pages 3246-3299, November.
    5. Robert Stehrer, 2020. "Konvergenz, Produktionsintegration und Spezialisierung in Europa seit 1995," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1-Q2/20, pages 49-59.
    6. Andrea Coveri & Antonello Zanfei, 2023. "The virtues and limits of specialization in global value chains: analysis and policy implications," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 73-90, March.
    7. Zoltán Fülöp, 2023. "Evolvement of Global Value Chain Positions in Central and Eastern European Countries: A New Dimension in Catching Up?," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(3), pages 47-80.
    8. Antonello Zanfei & Andrea Coveri & Mario Pianta, 2019. "FDI Patterns and Global Value Chains in the Digital Economy," Working Papers 1903, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    9. Claudio Di Berardino & Ilaria Doganieri & Stefano D'Angelo & Gianni Onesti, 2023. "Intersectoral and intercountry linkages as drivers of employment growth in emerging economies: The case of Visegrád countries," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 163-187, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stöllinger, Roman, 2021. "Testing the Smile Curve: Functional Specialisation and Value Creation in GVCs," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 93-116.
    2. Pleticha, Petr, 2021. "Who Benefits from Global Value Chain Participation? Does Functional Specialization Matter?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 291-299.
    3. Marcel P Timmer & Sébastien Miroudot & Gaaitzen J de Vries, 2019. "Functional specialisation in trade," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30.
    4. Halit Yanikkaya & Abdullah Altun & Pınar Tat, 2023. "Once again “smile curve”: Is chain upgrading possible?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 62-88, February.
    5. Andrea Coveri & Antonello Zanfei, 2023. "The virtues and limits of specialization in global value chains: analysis and policy implications," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 73-90, March.
    6. Agbekponou, Kossi-Messanh & Cheptea, Angela & Latouche, Karine, 2022. "Quality upgrading and position in global value chains," 2022: Transforming Global Value Chains, December 11-13, Clearwater Beach, FL 339411, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    7. Reshef, Ariell & Santoni, Gianluca, 2023. "Are your labor shares set in Beijing? The view through the lens of global value chains," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    8. Meng, Bo & Ye, Ming, 2022. "Smile curves in global value chains: Foreign- vs. domestic-owned firms; the U.S. vs. China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 15-29.
    9. Amat Adarov & Robert Stehrer, 2021. "Implications of foreign direct investment, capital formation and its structure for global value chains," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(11), pages 3246-3299, November.
    10. Federico Riccio & Lorenzo Cresti & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2022. "The labour share along global value chains. Perspectives and evidence from sectoral interdependence," LEM Papers Series 2022/11, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    11. Kossi Messanh Agbekponou & Ilaria Fusacchia, 2024. "Positioning and bargaining power in agri-food global value chains," Post-Print hal-04666067, HAL.
    12. Bo Meng & Ming Ye & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2020. "Measuring Smile Curves in Global Value Chains," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 988-1016, October.
    13. Kossi Messanh Agbekponou & Ilaria Fusacchia, 2023. "Global value chains' position and value capture: Firm evidence in agri-food industry," Post-Print hal-04321612, HAL.
    14. Peter J. Buckley & Roger Strange & Marcel P. Timmer & Gaaitzen J. de Vries, 2020. "Catching-up in the global factory: Analysis and policy implications," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(2), pages 79-106, June.
    15. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2021. "Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 28549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Stefan Pahl & Marcel P. Timmer, 2019. "Patterns of vertical specialisation in trade: long-run evidence for 91 countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 155(3), pages 459-486, August.
    17. Giunta, A. & Montalbano, P. & Nenci, S., 2022. "Consistency of micro- and macro-level data on global value chains: Evidence from selected European countries," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 130-142.
    18. Armando Rungi & Davide Del Prete, 2017. "The 'Smile Curve': where Value is Added along Supply Chains," Working Papers 05/2017, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Mar 2017.
    19. Kossi Messanh Agbekponou & Ilaria Fusacchia, 2024. "Positioning and bargaining power in agri-food global value chains," Post-Print hal-04666053, HAL.
    20. Lucía Bolea & Rosa Duarte & Geoffrey J. D. Hewings & Sofía Jiménez & Julio Sánchez‐Chóliz, 2022. "The role of regions in global value chains: an analysis for the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 771-794, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    functional specialisation; global value chains; smile curve; factory economy; greenfield FDI;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F60 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - General
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • F20 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:163. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Customer service (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wiiwwat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.