Closing the Gaps between Trade Theories, Trade Policies and Global Production Statistics : A Practitioner's Perspective

The geographical fragmentation of industrial production alters many of the stylized facts on which trade and trade-and-development models are based, with profound economic and social implications at home. The coexistence of three interconnected dimensions – product, income and finance – has important consequences for understanding the dynamics of globalized production, the micro-macro interaction of national economies and the accumulation of imbalances. To guide policy makers, theory and statistics should go hand in hand: it is important to develop the right empirical tools to back academic research, guide analysts and decision makers. This paper, presented at the Conference of European Statisticians, reviews the recent progress achieved in developing new statistical frameworks and identify knowledge gaps that require further attention