Associate Professor Zhu Kunfu published in the Journal of International Money and Finance

Recently, a collaborative paper entitled "Global value chains over business cycles" by Prof. Wang Zhi from the Institute of Global Value Chains at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Prof. Wei Shangjin from Columbia University Business School, Associate Professor Yu Xinding from the School of International Business and Economics at UIBE and Associate Professor Zhu Kunfu from the School of Economics at Renmin University of China was published in the Journal of International Money and Finance.

Abstract

Global Value Chains (GVCs) now represent a key aspect of economic interdependence across countries. This paper makes two methodological contributions. First, it proposes a framework with which to decompose total production activities at the country, sector, or country-sector level into different types depending on whether they are for pure domestic demand, traditional international trade, simple GVC activities, and complex GVC activities. Second, this work proposes a set of GVC participation indices that improves on measures used in the literature. Upon applying this framework to Inter-Country Input-Output Tables, we find a number of interesting patterns connecting value chains and business cycles. First, the composition of global production has evolved dramatically since 1995. Second, production activities of complex GVC activities comove with global business cycles more than other types of production activities. Third, the level of GVC participation affects the performance of economic growth.

About the Author

Zhu Kunfu, Associate Professor from the School of Economics, Renmin University of China. Prof. Zhu mainly focuses on GVC quantification methods, input-output techniques, accounting for trade in value added, and trade and energy environment analysis. He has published dozens of articles in international journals such as Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Comparative Economics, China Economic Review, Economic Systems Research, Energy Economics, Nature Climate Change, One Earth, Chinese Social Sciences, Economic Research and Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc. He has chaired one National Natural Science Foundation of China for Distinguished Young Scholars, two general projects, and more than 10 policy consultation projects at provincial and ministerial levels. He has been awarded the 13th Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Sciences (2009), the 2nd Zhang Peigang Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Research in Development Economics (2009), the 19th An Zijie Prize for International Trade Research (2016, first prize), the 1st Chen Xikang Prize for Input-Output Technology (2016), the Science and Technology for Development Award (2015, second prize), the 2nd Science Research Famous Achievement Award in Higher Institution (Humanities and Social Sciences) (2019), and the 19th Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Sciences (2020).