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Global Taiwan examines the impact of globalization on the industry and economy of Taiwan since the spectacular growth of the 1990s. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with firms in Taiwan, China, the United States, Japan, Europe, and other areas, the book analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwanese firms at a time when they face new competition from powerful global leaders and new producers in China. The contributors cover topics of enormous importance for Taiwan as well as the rest of the world, including transformations in the international economy, technological advances that enabled

Global value chains are radically altering how goods and services are produced. Parts made in one country, for instance, are increasingly assembled in another and sold in a third. The globalisation of production has changed the industrial structure within OECD countries, and in some sectors blunted their competitiveness. Another major consequence has been fears of job losses. This volume is a compilation of the studies that underlie the synthesis report on global value chains, entitled Staying Competitive in the Global Economy: Moving Up the Value Chain. It includes papers on the measurement of globalisation, SMEs in global value chains, the changing nature of manufacturing, impact of international sourcing, foreign affiliates, offshoring and productivity, and the internationalisation of RD.

As credit constraints exclude some firms from external finance and thus from market entry, they affect prices and markups by altering the degree of competition. Lower credit constraints allow less productive firms to enter with the following consequences. On the one hand, more competition tends to reduce average prices, but on the other hand, less productive firms charge above‐average prices. The overall effect is thus ambiguous. We therefore formulate and structurally estimate a quantitative multi‐country version of the model to gauge the direction and magnitude of the effects of credit constraints in a model with variable firm‐specific markups over marginal costs. In a sample of 11 European countries' manufacturing sectors between 2000 and 2005, we find that an abolishment of credit constraints reduces markups by about 6.1% on average, while average prices are predicted to increase by 1.6%. The latter indicates that the effect of credit constraints on productivity dominates the one on competition.

The Lisbon Agenda from 2000 aims to make the European Union the most competitive economy in the world in 2010. This paper discusses the concept of international competitiveness of nations. While journalists and politicians believe that it is important for a country to be competitive, economist have often a different opinion. The World Economic Forum (WEF) presents two indices: the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and the Business Competitiveness Index (BCI). While Europe and the EU on average seem to be not very competitive, several of the European countries are internationally highly ranked. For the WEF a consequence of competitiveness is high standard of living. The paper shows that several of the European countries belong to the ones with the highest living standard in the world. In the sample, 40 European and 4 non-european countries are included. Finally, it could be shown that the correlation coefficients between the rankings of GCI, BCI and livings standards are high and positive.

Global value chains are radically altering how goods and services are produced--parts made in one country, for instance, are increasingly assembled in another and sold in a third. The globalisation of production has changed the industrial structure within OECD countries, and in some sectors blunted their competitiveness. Another major consequence has been fears of job losses, due to outsourcing and offshoring-not only in manufacturing but also in services. The rapid integration of China and India, with their large pool of educated people, further reinforces these concerns. How should OECD countries respond?