This paper provides a new perspective on Chinese international competitiveness in manufacturing using relative unit labour costs. We find that Chinese unit labour costs are about 25-40 per cent of US labour costs. They are also low relative to costs in the EU, Japan, Mexico, Korea and most other...

This study investigates the time-series properties of five real yen exchange rates by testing for stationarity in the context of a single structural shift. It finds that all but one of the series are stationary in conjunction with a trend- or mean-break in the late 1950s or early 1970s. By...

In recent years wages in China have been rising and the yuan has appreciated, potentially eroding China’s cost advantage in manufactures. This paper explores the evolution of China’s relative unit labor costs in manufacturing over 1998-2009. Between 1998 and 2003 China’s unit labor costs...

The bilateral trade flows between Canada and the US have grown rapidly in the 1990s. Are they evidence of an emerging North American trading bloc? A gravity model of trade finds that while economic size and proximity can explain much of the substantial trade between Canada and the US, the US...