Sébastien Miroudot

OECD

Sébastien Miroudot is Senior Trade Policy Analyst at the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate, and holds a PhD in International Economics from SciencesPo Paris. Before joining the OECD, he worked for several years at Groupe d’ Economie Mondiale. His research interests include global value chains, the relationship between trade and investment and the role of multinational enterprises and services in international trade and global value chains.

publication

Made in the World? Global Value Chains in the Midst of Rising Protectionism

In the last decade, the concept of ‘global value chain’ (GVC) has become popular to describe the way firms fragment production into different stages that are located in different economies. However, recent evidence indicates that there are lower levels of fragmentation of production. Some authors also suggest that supply chains are regional rather than global. We offer a comprehensive review of the evidence based on the 2018 update of the OECD trade in value added database. The ‘made in the world’ narrative is correct when describing the rise of GVCs in the 2000s. But globalization reached a peak in 2012, and since then supply chains are becoming more domestic rather than more regional.

publication

Reshaping the policy debate on the implications of COVID-19 for global supply chains

Disruptions in global supply chains in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic have re-opened the debate on the vulnerabilities associated with production in complex international production networks. To build resilience in supply chains, several authors suggest making them shorter, more domestic, and more diversified. This paper argues that before redesigning global supply chains, one needs to identify the concrete issues faced by firms during the crisis and the policies that can solve them. It highlights that the solutions that have been proposed tend to be disconnected from the conclusions of the supply chain literature, where reshoring does not lead to resilience, and could further benefit from the insights of international business and global value chain scholars. Lastly, the paper discusses the policies that can build resilience at the firm and global levels and the narrative that could replace the current one to reshape the debate on the policy implications of COVID-19 for global supply chains.

publication

Multinational production and trade in services

Using the OECD analytical AMNE database, this paper provides new evidence on the services activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and discusses the relationship between cross-border trade in services and the production of services through foreign affiliates (“mode 3” trade in services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services). An econometric analysis indicates that policies restricting trade in services (as captured in the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index) are associated with a lower output of foreign affiliates not only in services industries but also in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, services trade restrictions also impact the choice of firms when it comes to engaging in exports or in foreign direct investment to serve foreign markets. Overall, the results in this paper demonstrate the intertwined nature of manufacturing and services activities in global value chains.

publication

Functional specialisation in trade

Production processes are fragmenting across borders with countries trading tasks rather than products. Export statistics based on value added reveal a process of vertical specialisation. Yet, what do countries do when exporting? In this article, we provide novel evidence on functional specialisation (FS) in trade. We find surprisingly large and pervasive heterogeneity in specialisation across countries. A positive (negative) correlation between GDP per capita and specialisation in R&D (fabrication) functions is documented. Specialisation in management and marketing functions is unrelated to income. We show how our approach can be easily extended to study FS in trade at the sub-national level. We argue that this is needed to better understand the potential for regional development under global integration.

Economic development and upgrading

Social and working conditions

Environment and climate change

Sustainability standards

Corporate responsibility and lead firms

Agriculture and food

Mining

Textile and garments

Manufacturing industries

Trade and Services

Global Shifts – Business, Politics, and Deforestation in a Changing World Economy

Taking advantage of Global Value Chains to spread green energy technologies across countries

Sébastien Miroudot

Made in the World? Global Value Chains in the Midst of Rising Protectionism

Reshaping the policy debate on the implications of COVID-19 for global supply chains

Multinational production and trade in services

Functional specialisation in trade