Bring the boys back home: The impact of foreign divestments on local firms 27th June 2025 KCG Secretary KCG Journal Articles Publications Authors: Holger Görg, Haiou Mao, Nigel Driffield (The World Economy, forthcoming) Divestments by foreign multinationals are an important phenomenon that is largely neglected in the literature. We use firm level panel data from China to estimate the impact of such divestments on the performance of domestic firms in the local economy. To the best of our knowledge, there is no empirical study that has looked at these effects[...]
RETHINK-GSC: Policy Proposal to Mitigate Threats to Knowledge Spillovers through Global Supply Chains 23rd June 2025 KCG Secretary Further KCG Projects News Publications Publications Publications For economic development and innovation, knowledge transfer and spillovers are essential. Knowledge transfer and spillovers occur not only locally but also through global supply chains (GSC) and thus can benefit stakeholders and countries involved in the supply chains globally[...]
IfW Experts Propose Strategies to the new German Government to Tackle Global Economic Challenges 7th May 2025 KCG Secretary News Public Contributions Public Contributions Public Contributions Considering current international developments with the United States (US) imposing and threatening high tariffs and China becoming a stronger competitor in European key industries, Germany’s new federal government, which takes office in May 2025, needs to tackle multiple global economic challenges[...]
Kiel Research Project on Global Producers in China and their Impact on Environment 5th May 2025 KCG Secretary Further KCG Projects News News News Global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have led to supply shortages of various critical products, heightening concerns about the reliability of global value chains (GVCs) and the risks of excessive economic dependence on individual, often authoritarian, countries like China[...]
Germany’s Path Forward: Building on Leading Edges to Counter China’s Challenges 24th March 2025 KCG Secretary News Public Contributions Public Contributions Public Contributions China has made substantial economic progress during the last decades, shifting towards advanced manufacturing and technologies. Chinese firms in key sectors have received massive subsidies which enable them to produce at lower costs and to better compete in the global markets. One key example here is the car industry, particularly the production of electric vehicles (EVs)[...]
Trade Policy in Turbulent Times (in German) 24th March 2025 KCG Secretary Books Publications Publications Publications Deutschland sieht sich massiven handelspolitischen Herausforderungen gegenüber. In den vergangenen Jahren ging es dabei vor allem um den Umgang mit China hinsichtlich der Reduzierung von Abhängigkeiten sowohl auf der Export- als auch auf der Importseite. Seit der Amtsübernahme des neuen US-Präsidenten Donald Trump ist jedoch auch klar, dass die Handelsbeziehungen mit den USA wegen angekündigter Zölle und dem damit verbundenen Angriff auf die globale Handelsordnung zunehmend problematisch werden. Das alles findet vor dem Hintergrund einer Wachstumsschwäche der deutschen Wirtschaft statt[...]
“Sustainable Global Supply Chains” Annual Report 2024: Decent Work in Global Supply Chains 24th March 2025 KCG Secretary Books Publications Publications Publications The Annual Report 2024 brings together recent and timely research on “Decent Work in Global Supply Chains”. The report consists of 10 concise chapters, written by the hosts and members of the Research Network Sustainable Global Supply Chains, which distil the latest research on key issues related to achieving decent work and advancing labour standards in global supply chains. Central themes include the impacts of GVCs on decent work, how GVCs can be leveraged for better jobs, and the crucial role of local labour regimes—such as workers’ bargaining power — and structural transformation processes in shaping equitable outcomes[...]
Görg on Trump’s blackmail strategy: “Then the trade order would be completely dead 3rd February 2025 KCG Secretary News Public Contributions Public Contributions Public Contributions US President Donald Trump is imposing an additional 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on imports from China until the crises of illegal migration and drugs are alleviated. A week ago, President Trump also threatened to implement steep tariffs on imports from Colombia after the country barred deportation flights from landing. In the end, Colombia agreed to accept deported migrants, temporarily avoiding a trade war between the two countries[...]
How consumer animosity drives anti-consumption: A multi-country examination of social animosity 29th January 2025 KCG Secretary KCG Journal Articles Publications Authors: Tinka Krüger, Stefan Hoffmann, Ipek N. Nibat, Robert Mai, Olivier Trendel, Holger Görg, Wassili Lasarov (Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2024, 81: 103990) In times of uncertainty, the study of consumer animosity and how it affects anti-consumption behavior becomes more important for both academics and practitioners. This study focuses on the social nature of boycotts and contributes to the literature by analyzing the influence of normative components[...]
How Importers Hedge Demand Uncertainty Through Dual Sourcing and Safety Inventory 29th January 2025 KCG Secretary KCG Journal Articles Publications Authors: Chris Muris, Horst Raff, Nicolas Schmitt and Frank Stähler (Canadian Journal of Economics, forthcoming) We develop a dynamic model of inventory and trade to study how an importer may hedge demand uncertainty when importing involves an order lead time. We show that when the import cost is low, the importer optimally holds safety inventory, i.e., inventory of imported goods in excess of expected sales to deal with demand surges[...]