The core idea behind the paper is that trade policy matters for the organization of global value chains, a notion largely neglected by economists but which has important implications for our understanding of trade and the international transmission of trade policy shocks. We develop a...

Previous studies have argued that global value chains (GVCs) have increased the sensitivity of trade to external business cycle shocks. This may occur either because GVC trade is concentrated in durable goods industries, which are known to have high income elasticities (a composition effect), or...

The surge of oil prices in recent years has led to speculation that rising transportation costs could end the period of dramatic world trade growth Ñin the words of Rubin (2009), ÒÉYour world is going to get a whole lot smaller.Ó Using data from ChinaÕs Customs Statistics, we examine the...

We investigate whether global value chains have increased the sensitivity of Chinese trade to foreign income shocks. This may occur through either composition or supply chain effects. We find evidence for the former, but not the latter.