IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/kcgwps/279819.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Technological sophistication made in China? New insights from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests

Author

Listed:
  • Dreier, Silas
  • Liu, Wan-hsin

Abstract

By analyzing a unique dataset from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests, we show that Chinese firms can excel under today's global competition and produce tests at quality levels higher than China's income level would suggest. We find these achievements are positively associated with China's rising innovation capability and robust industrial base. Further strengthening China's innovation and industrial base to support Chinese firms' future accomplishments is what the Chinese government clearly aims for. This would intensify the challenges facing Western economies that strive for technological sovereignty and eagerly seek to de-risk their economic relations with China.

Suggested Citation

  • Dreier, Silas & Liu, Wan-hsin, 2023. "Technological sophistication made in China? New insights from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests," KCG Working Papers 30, Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kcgwps:279819
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/279819/1/1870437306.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Kneller & Zhihong Yu, 2016. "Quality Selection, Sectoral Heterogeneity and Chinese Exports," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 857-874, September.
    2. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2022. "Productivity effects of processing and ordinary export market entry: A time‐varying treatments approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 836-853, August.
    3. Amit K. Khandelwal & Peter K. Schott & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Embedded Institutional Reform: Evidence from Chinese Exporters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2169-2195, October.
    4. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What's So Special about China's Exports?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Peter K. Schott, 2004. "Across-Product Versus Within-Product Specialization in International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 647-678.
    6. Juan Carlos Hallak & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 417-474.
    7. Peter K. Schott, 2008. "The relative sophistication of Chinese exports [‘Manufacturing Earnings and Compensation in China’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(53), pages 6-49.
    8. Xu, Bin, 2010. "The sophistication of exports: Is China special?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 482-493, September.
    9. Yumei Lin & Shanlang Lin & Xiaowan Wang & Jian Wu, 2021. "Does institutional quality matter for export product quality? Evidence from China," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 1077-1100, October.
    10. XU, Bin & LU, Jiangyong, 2009. "Foreign direct investment, processing trade, and the sophistication of China's exports," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 425-439, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Silas Dreier & Wan-Hsin Liu, 2023. "Technological sophistication made in China? – New insights from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(4), pages 1555-1564.
    2. Dreier, Silas & Liu, Wan-hsin, 2023. "Technological sophistication made in China? New insights from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests," Kiel Working Papers 2261, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Huiying Zhang & Xiaohui Yang, 2016. "Intellectual Property Rights and Export Sophistication," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Li, Changqing & Lu, Jian, 2018. "R&D, financing constraints and export green-sophistication in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 234-244.
    5. Gabor Pula & Daniel Santabárbara, 2012. "Is china climbing up the quality ladder?," Working Papers 1209, Banco de España.
    6. Tadashi Ito & Toshihiro Okubo, 2016. "Product Quality And Intra-Industry Trade," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(04), pages 1-22, September.
    7. repec:hhs:bofitp:2012_023 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:zbw:bofitp:2012_023 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Gabor Pula & Daniel Santabárbara, 2012. "Is china climbing up the quality ladder?," Working Papers 1209, Banco de España.
    10. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    11. Van Assche, Ari & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2018. "Functional upgrading in China's export processing sector," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 245-262.
    12. Burak Sencer Atasoy, 2021. "The determinants of export sophistication: Does digitalization matter?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5135-5159, October.
    13. Bas, Maria & Strauss-Kahn, Vanessa, 2015. "Input-trade liberalization, export prices and quality upgrading," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 250-262.
    14. Yo-Yi Huang & Deng-Shing Huang & Ching-lung Tsay, 2016. "Trade Creation, Home-Market Effects under Regional Economic Integration," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 16-A015, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
    15. Freitag, Andreas & Lein, Sarah M., 2023. "Endogenous product adjustment and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    16. Kong, Dongmin & Shi, Zheng & Xiong, Mengxu, 2024. "Currency overvaluation and export product quality: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. Baiardi, Donatella & Bianchi, Carluccio, 2019. "At the roots of China's striking performance in textile exports: A comparison with its main Asian competitors," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 367-389.
    18. Yan Du & Yi Lu, 2018. "The Great Opening up and the Roadmap for the Future: The Story of China's International Trade," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(2), pages 68-93, March.
    19. Kozo Kiyota, 2010. "Are US Exports Different from China’s Exports? Evidence from Japan’s Imports," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(10), pages 1302-1324, October.
    20. Jiancai Pi & Daqiang Song, 2020. "The Threshold Effect of Factor Price Distortion on Technological Content of Exports: Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 28(6), pages 51-77, November.
    21. Faheem Ur Rehman & Ejaz Ahmad & Muhammad Asif Khan & József Popp & Judit Oláh, 2021. "Does Trade Related Sectoral Infrastructure Make Chinese Exports More Sophisticated and Diversified?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; product quality; technological sophistication; trade; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - 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:zbw:kcgwps:279819. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.kcg-kiel.org/ .

    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.