We describe the theory and practice of real GDP comparisons across countries and over time. Effective with version 8, the Penn World Table (PWT) will be taken over by the University of California, Davis and the University of Groningen, with continued input from Alan Heston at the University of Pennsylvania. Version 8 will expand on previous versions of PWT in three respects. First, it will distinguish real GDP on the expenditure side from real GDP on the output side, which differ by the terms of trade faced by countries. Second, it will distinguish growth rates of GDP based on national accounts data from growth rates that are benchmarked in multiple years to cross-country price data. Third, data on capital stocks will be reintroduced. Some illustrative results from PWT version 8 are discussed, including new results that show how the Penn effect is not emergent but a stable relationship over time.

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Online Appendix to: The Next Generation of the Penn World Table*

This article provides guidance to prudent use of the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) in analyses of international trade. The WIOD contains annual time-series of world input–output tables and factor requirements covering the period from 1995 to 2011. Underlying concepts, construction methods and data sources are introduced, pointing out particular strengths and weaknesses. We illustrate its usefulness by analyzing the geographical and factorial distribution of value added in global automotive production and show increasing fragmentation, both within and across regions. Possible improvements and extensions to the data are discussed.

/pdf/an-illustrated-user-guide-to-the-world-input-output-database-2n8pok84wu.pdf

An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input-Output Database : the Case of Global Automotive Production

This paper proposes a framework for gross exports accounting that breaks up a country's gross exports into various value-added components by source and additional double counted terms. By identifying which parts of the official trade data are double counted and the sources of the double counting, it bridges official trade (in gross value terms) and national accounts statistics (in value added terms). Our parsimonious framework integrates all previous measures of vertical specialization and value-added trade in the literature into a unified framework. To illustrate the potential of such a method, we present a number of applications including re-computing revealed comparative advantages and the magnifying impact of multi-stage production on trade costs.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/nber_w18579.pdf?abstractid=2183038&mirid=1&type=2

Tracing Value-Added and Double Counting in Gross Exports

Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Pippa Norris. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 303 pp. $60 hbk., $20 pbk. Forecasts that the Internet heralds a world of more democracy and less poverty seem as inflated as dot.com stocks. This rosy view has electronic voting, political chat rooms, and email access re-engaging apathetic publics in politics. Digital technologies redress economic disparities, and the benefits of the Internet percolate down to transform poor societies. Equally exaggerated is the gloom of naysayers. The Internet Age has done little to narrow the gap between rich and poor countries, the information haves and havenots, cyber-skeptics contend. Indeed, digital technologies could create new inequalities and reinforce the dominance of power elites. In her new book, Digital Divide, Pippa Norris, associate director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, steps into this fusillade of cyber-hyperbole, lowers the decibel with a well-written and thoughtful examination of Internet use and access in 179 countries and dissects the claims and counter-claims. Her research and findings place her on middle ground, somewhere between current reality and optimism. The Internet era seems to be changing "politics as usual" in a number of countries, expanding and loosening information about governments and politics, allowing the entrance of new political players, and fostering international movements on the environment, women's rights, and other issues across borders. The disappointment is that digital technologies are activating the already politically active and passing up the disengaged and uninterested. A major challenge to digital democracy is the gulf between the United States, Scandinavia, and other early Internet adopters and the rest of the world. That gap is now so wide that at the turn of the century, more than three-quarters of the online community lived in the developed world. Internet use tracks the path of economic and technological development. But that situation could begin to change, Norris says. The Internet is in its technological adolescence. Costs of access are falling. And governments can make a difference if policymakers take the initiative. We have the historical patterns of other communication technologies to study. Norris examines theories of technological diffusion and points out that the American response to the Internet is more akin to the rapid spread of televisions and VCRs than the slower adoption of telephones and radios. American dominance could recede as Internet access grows worldwide. Contrary to what officials of the Bush Administration contend, Norris finds that the digital divide between rich and poor within the United States remains substantial. Europe mirrors that trend. In the long run, the Internet could become more accessible to the excluded: lower income families, minorities, and women. …

Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide

This article describes the contents and the construction of the EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts. This database contains industry-level measures of output, inputs and productivity for 25 European countries, Japan and the US for the period from 1970 onwards. The article considers the methodology employed in constructing the database and shows how it can be useful in comparing productivity trends. Although growth accounts are the organising principle, it is argued that the database is useful for a wider range of applications. We give some guidance to prudent use and indicate possible extensions.

/pdf/output-input-and-productivity-measures-at-the-industry-level-24askjleqb.pdf

Output, Input and Productivity Measures at the Industry Level: The EU KLEMS Database*

The World Input-Output Database has been developed to analyse the effects of globalization on trade patterns, environmental pressures and socio-economic development across a wide set of countries. The database covers 27 EU countries and 13 other major countries in the world for the period from 1995 to 2009. It is downloadable at http://www.wiod.org/database/index.htm. Length: 74 pages

The World Input-Output Database (WIOD): Contents, Sources and Methods

In an already classic study of the iPod, Dedrick, Kramer, and Linden (2010) n an already classic study of the iPod, Dedrick, Kramer, and Linden (2010) discuss how the iPod is assembled in China from several hundred components discuss how the iPod is assembled in China from several hundred components and parts that are sourced from around the world. This production network is and parts that are sourced from around the world. This production network is led by Apple, a US-based company, which is estimated to capture between one-third led by Apple, a US-based company, which is estimated to capture between one-third and one-half of an iPod’s retail price. Asian fi rms like Toshiba from Japan and and one-half of an iPod’s retail price. Asian fi rms like Toshiba from Japan and Samsung from South Korea capture another major part as profi ts from manufacSamsung from South Korea capture another major part as profi ts from manufacturing high-value components, such as the hard-disk drive, display, and memory. In turing high-value components, such as the hard-disk drive, display, and memory. In contrast, assembling and testing activities by Chinese workers is estimated to capture contrast, assembling and testing activities by Chinese workers is estimated to capture no more than 2 percent. Other studies of tablets, mobile telephones, and laptops no more than 2 percent. Other studies of tablets, mobile telephones, and laptops suggest a similar pattern of specialization; advanced nations deliver capital and suggest a similar pattern of specialization; advanced nations deliver capital and high-skilled labor, capturing most of the value, while emerging countries contribute high-skilled labor, capturing most of the value, while emerging countries contribute low-skilled activities that add little value: in another vivid example, Ali-Yrkko, low-skilled activities that add little value: in another vivid example, Ali-Yrkko, Rouvinen, Seppala, and Yla-Anttila (2011) discuss the Nokia N95 smartphone. Rouvinen, Seppala, and Yla-Anttila (2011) discuss the Nokia N95 smartphone. Such case studies are mainly conducted for high-end electronics and for one point Such case studies are mainly conducted for high-end electronics and for one point in time, which raises obvious questions about the extent to which they represent broader in time, which raises obvious questions about the extent to which they represent broader patterns. How pervasive is the process of international production fragmentation for a patterns. How pervasive is the process of international production fragmentation for a

/pdf/slicing-up-global-value-chains-2ovkeax7ia.pdf

Slicing Up Global Value Chains

The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed a surge in the recent years; nevertheless, the rate of adoption across countries diverges considerably. This divergence is observed regardless of the income levels of countries. In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences in ICT adoption rates across countries using Hofstede?s cultural framework. The results suggest that national culture does influence the ICT adoption rate of a country. The results are robust even after controlling for levels of education and income.

Cross-country differences in ICT adoption. A consequence of Culture?

https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/14438557/05c01.pdf

Abdul Azeez Erumban

Papers

The World Input-Output Database (WIOD): Contents, Sources and Methods

Slicing Up Global Value Chains

Cross-country differences in ICT adoption. A consequence of Culture?

Cross-country differences in ICT adoption: A consequence of Culture?

Information and communication technology and economic growth in India