Stefan Pahl

UNIDO

Stefan Pahl is Associate Expert for UNIDO, while also holds an Associate Fellow position at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). His research focusses on the role of global value chains for economic development through job creation, productivity growth and structural change. Stefan has previously worked with UNIDO and IFPRI on topics of industrial development and structural transformation. He has been lecturer at the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) at the University of Groningen where he also obtained his PhD.

MORE ABOUT STEFAN PAHL >
Jan 1, 2021
Stefan Pahl, Clara Brandi, Jakob Schwab, Frederik Stender

Cling together, swing together: the contagious effects of COVID‐19 on developing countries through global value chains

This paper aims at estimating the economic vulnerability of developing countries to disruptions in global value chains (GVCs) due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. It uses trade in value added data for a sample of 12 developing countries in sub‐Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America to assess their depe...

Jan 1, 2019
Stefan Pahl, Marcel P. Timmer

Do Global Value Chains Enhance Economic Upgrading? A Long View

Exporting through global value chains (GVCs) has recently been highlighted as a panacea for weak industrialisation trends in the South. We study the long-run effects of GVC participation for a large set of countries between 1970 and 2008. We find strong evidence for the positive effects on productiv...

Jan 1, 2019
Stefan Pahl, Marcel P. Timmer

Patterns of vertical specialisation in trade: long-run evidence for 91 countries

The authors estimate the domestic value-added content in exports of manufacturing goods (VAX-D ratio) for 91 countries over the period from 1970 to 2013. They find a strong decline in the world VAX-D ratio since the mid-1980s mostly accounted for by the substitution of foreign for domestic intermedi...

Jan 1, 2019
Stefan Pahl, Marcel P. Timmer, Reitze Gouma, Pieter J. Woltjer

Jobs in Global Value Chains: New Evidence for Four African Countries in International Perspective

What is the potential for job growth in Africa under participation in global value chains (GVCs)? In this study the concept of GVC jobs is introduced which tracks the number of jobs associated with GVC production of goods. A novel decomposition approach is used to account for GVC jobs by three proxi...

Jan 1, 2021
Marcel P. Timmer, Stefan Pahl

Structural Change in Exports: from product to functional specialization

Trade analysis on the basis of countries’ export baskets can be misleading when production is globally fragmented. The chapter argues for a switch to analysis of the type of activities that are embodied in exports. The chapter discusses two steps towards this goal. It first discusses the transit...

Jul 4, 2022
Stefan Pahl

Why do countries experience diverging job growth trajectories in GVCs?

May 25, 2021

Fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Global Value Chains: The Role of the G20

Mar 15, 2024
Stefan Pahl, Marcel P. Timmer, Reitze Gouma, Pieter J. Woltjer

Jobs and Productivity Growth in Global Value Chains: New Evidence for Twenty-five Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Using newly developed data, the evolution of job and productivity growth in global value chains (GVCs) is analyzed for 25 low- and middle-income countries. GVC jobs are found to be more productive than non-GVC jobs. Their share in the total labor force is small, in particular for low-income countrie...

Scroll to Top