China's Growing Role in World Trade

In less than three decades, China has grown from playing a negligible role in world trade to being one of the world's largest exporters, a substantial importer of raw materials, intermediate outputs, and other goods, and both a recipient and source of foreign investment. Not surprisingly, China's economic dynamism has generated considerable attention and concern in the United States and beyond. While some analysts have warned of the potential pitfalls of China's rise—the loss of jobs, for example—others have highlighted the benefits of less expensive goods and services purchased by U.S. consumers along with new market and investment opportunities for U.S. firms.

Bringing together an expert group of contributors, China's Growing Role in World Trade undertakes an empirical investigation of the effects of China's new status. The essays collected here provide detailed analyses of the microstructure of trade, the macroeconomic implications, sector-level issues, and foreign direct investment. This volume's careful examination of micro data in light of established economic theories clarifies a number of misconceptions, overturns some conventional wisdom, and documents data patterns that enhance our understanding of issues related to China's trade.

Robert C. Feenstra holds the C. Bryan Cameron Distinguished Chair in International Economics at the University of California, Davis, and he directs the International Trade and Investment Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Shang-Jin Wei is the N. T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy at Columbia University, and he directs the NBER Working Group on the Chinese Economy.

Microstructure of international trade — The anatomy of China's export growth / Mary Amiti and Caroline Freund — Comment: Bin Xu — What accounts for the rising sophistication of China's exports? / Zhi Wang and Shang-Jin Wei — Comment: Galina Hale — China's local comparative advantage / James Harrigan and Haiyan Deng — Comment: Chong Xiang — China and the manufacturing exports of other developing countries / Gordon H. Hanson and Raymond Robertson — Comment: Irene Brambilla — Macroeconomic issues — China's exports and employment / Robert C. Feenstra and Chang Hong — Comment: Michael Dooley — Exporting deflation? : Chinese exports and Japanese prices / Christian Broda and David E. Weinstein — Comment: Joshua Aizenman — China's current account and exchange rate / Yin-Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, and Eiji Fujii — Comment: Jeffrey Frankel — Sectoral issues and trade policies — China's WTO entry: antidumping, safeguards, and dispute settlement / Chad P. Bown — Comment: Thomas J. Prusa — China's experience under the multi-fiber arrangement (MFA) and the agreement on textiles and clothing (ATC) / Irene Brambilla, Amit K. Khandelwal, and Peter K. Schott — Comment: Joseph Francois — Agricultural trade reform and rural prosperity: lessons from China / Jikun Huang ... [et al.] — Comment: Kym Anderson — Trade growth, production fragmentation, and China's environment / Judith M. Dean and Mary E. Lovely — Comment: Arik Levinson — Foreign investment and trade — Please pass the catch-up: the relative performance of Chinese and foreign firms in Chinese exports / Bruce A. Blonigen and Alyson C. Ma — Comment: Raymond Robertson — Facts and fallacies about U.S. FDI in China / Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley — Comment: Stephen Yeaple — China's outward foreign direct investment / Leonard K. Cheng and Zihui Ma — Comment: Nicholas Lardy.