Outsourcing and structural change. Application to a set of OECD countries

The examination in this paper aims to bridge outsourcing and structural change analyses in order to obtain more accurate insights into the extent of outsourcing and to extract more reliable policy recommendations for dealing with its effects. We do this by applying a ‘battery’ of outsourcing measurements to a group of OECD countries from 1980 to the mid 1990s. Expected results (e.g. the idiosyncratic outsourcing patterns of the UK) are confirmed on a more systematic and comparable basis, while original results (e.g. the low integration of business services in manufacturing in the former socialist economies) are based on the exploitation of new data.     

分工、经济服务化与区域轮动战略研究

20世纪70年代以来,发达国家经济服务化历程主要是以产品价值链为基础的国际分工与专业化演进的扩展与深化。在知识性要素禀赋方面,由于发展中国家与发达国家存在巨大差距,中国在经济服务化方面面临着两难境况。但是,中国经济具有地区差异、多元结构以及适应性等特征,可以采取"区域协同、渐次轮动"的战略思路,根据各类生产要素的地区差异及其动态演化,以国内区际分工与专业化深化过程复制发达国家的经济服务化历程,循序渐进地实现中国经济的服务化转型。     

珠三角地区产业结构服务化转型的战略思路

目前珠三角地区的禀赋结构得到了较大程度改善但劳动要素的层次不高,人力资本具一定配置优势但外源性特征明显,交易效率具有市场化优势但正逐渐缩小。珠三角地区为实现产业结构服务化转型:一要加快推进劳动密集型产业偕同低端劳动力的双转移;二要充分利用资本积累优势,大力推进区域产业结构升级;三要完善人力资本形成与再投资机制,改变外源性人力资本发展模式;四要大力推进服务业国际化,以分工深化助推服务化转型。     

Is the Chinese Economy Moving in the Direction of Tertiarization？

Drawing upon output, employment, consumption and trade data, this article examtnes whether there is an economic tertiarization trend in China ＇s economy and evaluates the common factors driving current trends. It shows that the tertiarization trend is evident for the overall economy and most regions in terms of the service nominal value-added ratio and service employment and consumption. However, the tertiarization trend is not significant in terms of the service real value-added ratio, and there is even some concurrent ＂detertiarization ＂ because of the decreasing proportion of services in imports and exports. lndeed, China ＇s tertiarization trend is far behind its industrialization trend The rise in the relative prices of services explains the rising proportion of household service consumption expenditure and further illuminates why the service real value-added ratio has not grown. The main cause for the growing percentage of service employment is the lag in service labor productivity growth in interaction with the price inelasticity of service demand ＂Cost disease ＂ has appeared in service consumption.