This paper addresses the link between the generation of economic knowledge and economic policy conclusions. Focusing on the case of research in international trade, It establishes a taxonomy of rhetorical practices used to make such a link. The flexibility observed in these practices contrasts...

Countries subject to the same degree of exposure to globalization may experience very different levels of economic insecurity depending on social support or employment protections provided by the state or even due to insurance obtained by households. We identify five varieties of industrialized...

Abstract We adopt a ‘parsimonious’ approach to measuring economic and social upgrading over 1990-2009 in four global value chains – apparel, mobile phones, agrofoods and tourism – based entirely on data published by international institutions. Economic upgrading is defined as a...

Abstract We implement a “parsimonious” and operational approach to measuring economic and social upgrading over 1990-2009 in four global value chains -- apparel, mobile phones, agrofoods and tourism -- based entirely on data published by international institutions. Economic upgrading is...

Abstract The massive globalization of production led by large firms in industrialized countries, combined with the policy shift in developing countries toward export-oriented growth, has meant that economic development has increasingly become synonymous with “economic upgrading” within...

Abstract Vertical specialization is a measure of the import content of exports. Given the widely recognized importance of trade in tasks and global production networks, vertical specialization has recently gained the attention of international trade researchers and policy makers. In this note,...

The author argues in this paper that the quantitative rise in world trade openness since 1980 may be less significant than the qualitative change in the structure of world trade, specifically the rise in intermediate goods trade resulting form the breaking up of the production process into...

This paper shifts the focus of discussion on the 2008 financial crisis from the problems of the financial sector to its effects on the real economy. We step back from the immediate facts of the crisis to consider the reason for finance and its importance in firm innovation, both theoretically...