Publications

How to benefit from Global Value Chains? – Implications for the V4 Countries

In the early nineties, the CEE region has become attractive for foreign direct investment (FDI) which had helped in creating new jobs, reducing high unemployment rates and in restarting the economic growth. In order to enhance innovation-driven competitiveness, the V4 countries are trying to develop strategies and attract FDIs in activities that require higher added value. The position of a country in a global value chain (GVC) affects their ability to produce and retain value and thus also the degree to which it benefits from participation in a GVC. Nonetheless, assessing position of countries in GVC based on traditional trade data has been problematic. Measuring revealed comparative advantage in trade of nations in products or industries might be misleading, since international trade more and more applies to “tasks” rather than final products. New datasets such as TiVA by the WTO-OECD or the WIOD database have been developed only recently and their usage and interpretation raises new research questions. Based on new findings, conclusions and implications relevant to policymakers need be developed.

The aim of this project waS firstly, to discuss new data sources and indicators, their possible usage and limitations. A second aim is to analyze benefits, potential and shifting role of individual V4 countries in the global value chains based on these data. Thirdly, the projects objective is to enable discussion among experts, scholars and policy makers from the V4 countries on these issues. This should contribute to knowledge sharing and exchanging experience of countries with similar developments relevant to trade, investment innovation, and structural policies. An important question raised by the project would be how to enhance upgrading of V4 countries within the GVC.

The book is available here

The project was supported by

Other publications (in Czech)

can be found here