Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D.

Managing Director & Principal Investigator, Kiel Centre for Globalization
Professor of International Economics, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel
Acting President and Head of Research Centre “International Trade and Investment”, Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Email: holger.goerg@ifw-kiel.de
Tel.: +49(0)431-8814-258

Expertise:

  • Impact of Globalisation
  • Activities of Multinational Enterprises
  • International Outsourcing

Germany’s Path Forward: Building on Leading Edges to Counter China’s Challenges

24th March 2025
KCG Secretary
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
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[...]

Görg on Trump’s blackmail strategy: “Then the trade order would be completely dead

3rd February 2025
KCG Secretary
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
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[...]

Holger Görg commented on the initiative “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor”

17th October 2023
KCG Secretary

During the G20 summit in mid-September 2023 in New Delhi, the governments of India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Germany, the European Union and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding, aiming to establish the India – Middle East – Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). This is expected to improve and intensify the connectivity and economic integration between Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe through railway and shipping networks. Shortly after the announcement […]

Open for conference registration: Advancing Sustainability of Critical Supply Chains in Developing Countries

18th September 2023
KCG Secretary
On September 26 and 27, the Research Network Sustainable Global Supply Chains will organise a scientific conference “Advancing Sustainability of Critical Supply Chains in Developing Countries” at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (and online). This conference aims at discussing recent research related to sustainability in global supply chains, with a focus on impacts in developing countries[...]

Africa’s Female Entrepreneurs – Underfunded or Underperforming?

23rd May 2023
KCG Secretary
Authors: Charles Ackah, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley and Cecília Hornok (Small Business Economics, 2024, 62:1051–1074)

We explore the export performance of Africa’s underperforming female entrepreneurs, using the Ghanaian ISSER-IGC panel, a comprehensive dataset of manufacturing firms for 2011–2015. Uniquely, the data provides information about the severity of key business constraints, across both male and female entrepreneurs[...]

Podcast Interviews on Globalization, Global Value Chains and Friendshoring

11th May 2023
KCG Secretary
The development of the global economy faces great challenges nowadays including the US-China trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion in Ukraine and the rising geopolitical tensions, just to name a few. All these lead to question the future of globalization.
Against this background, Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (Acting President of the Kiel Institute and Managing Director of KCG) gave two Podcast interviews, in which he discusses several key aspects of globalization, particularly of global value chains[...]

Görg warns that throwing around subsidies will not change long-term investment decisions

21st March 2023
KCG Secretary
Last August, United States President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with ensuring the US’s role as the global leader in clean energy technology, manufacturing and innovation as one of its main goals. The IRA’S tax incentives and investment programs supported by massive US government subsidies may increase the attractiveness of the US to many more multinationals, including those from Europe[...]

State Aid can Produce Unintended Losers

23rd February 2023
KCG Secretary
Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed to transform the State Aid Temporary Crisis Framework to facilitate the green transition in Europe. One main policy focus of the proposed Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework is to relax the strict state aid rules in the EU, in order to facilitate “the roll-out of renewable energies and to support the decarbonisation of the industry”[...]

Kiel Focus: “Germany’s Planned China Strategy Is the Wrong Approach”

26th January 2023
KCG Secretary
How should we engage with China? That question is currently being widely debated. Just a decade ago, the EU and China concluded the EU–China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, which aimed at promoting a wide-ranging strategic partnership involving broad-based bilateral cooperation across a variety of areas. Although frequently modified, long-term cooperation was the foundation of bilateral relations between the partners[...]

Görg: “The Supply Chain Law has become a Bureaucracy Monster”

2nd January 2023
KCG Secretary
Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy & Managing Director of Kiel Centre for Globalization) comments on the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, which comes into force on January 1, 2023.
"The Law has become a bureaucracy monster that neither promotes its acceptance among the companies affected nor has much to do with the basic idea of the Law. Companies with more than 3,000 employees currently have to slog through and answer a 400-question catalog from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control[...]

KCG Involved in a New Large-scale Research Project on Global Supply Chains

5th December 2022
KCG Secretary
A research team at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy led by Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (Acting President at the Kiel Institute and KCG Managing Director) has received a new grant of almost three million euros from the EU’s Horizon Europe Program for a major EU research project: “Rethinking Global Supply Chains: Measurement, Impact and Policy (RETHINK-GSC)”. KCG (external) researchers, Prof. Dr. Julian Hinz, Saskia Meuchelböck and Dr. Birgit Meyer, are also involved in the project[...]

2022 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization Open for Registration

29th November 2022
KCG Secretary
The 2022 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI) will take place under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises” in Vienna and online on December 6, 2022. FGI 2022 will bring together key stakeholders from policy and representatives from the private sector, academia and civil society to discuss sustainability in light of the energy crisis, changes in the global economic landscape and heterogeneity in global trade regulation which governs sustainability-related issues[...]

Görg on G20: “The Fine Words Must Now Finally be Followed by Action.”

21st November 2022
KCG Secretary
In 2008 the G20 Summit was held for the first time in response to the worldwide financial and economic crisis. Since then the G20 Summit was held annually. The latest G20 Summit took place in Bali, Indonesia on Nov. 15-16, 2022. The G20 shall serve as a crucial forum for fostering global economic cooperation. The multidimensional crises and rising protectionism, and geopolitical tensions particularly in the recent past have posed a serious challenge to the G20, its functionality and its relevance for global governance[...]

Görg Emphasised “German Companies Must Continue to Innovate” in a new GTAI Export Analysis

15th September 2022
KCG Secretary
„Banner_Toolbox_Wettbewerbsanalyse_RZ_300x250px.jpg“ Copyright: GTAI
Against the background of a continuously rising global market competition, Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) published its new export analysis on September 9, 2022 to provide an up-to-date overview of German exporters’ competitiveness in an international comparison. The report focuses on Germany’s four leading sectors, incl. mechanical engineering, automotive, chemicals and the electronics/digital industry. It aims at analyzing[...]

Who wins and who loses from state subsidies?

6th September 2022
KCG Secretary
Authors: Jun Du, Sourafel Girma, Holger Görg, Ignat Stepanok (Canadian Journal of Economics, 2023, 56(3): 1007-1031)

China is perceived to rely on subsidizing firms in targeted industries to improve their performance and stay competitive. We implement an approach that allows for the joint estimation of direct and indirect effects of subsidies on subsidized and non-subsidized firms. We find that firms that receive subsidies experience a boost for productivity[...]

Multinational enterprises and the welfare state

6th September 2022
KCG Secretary
Authors: Nigel Driffield, Holger Görg, Yama Temouric and Xiaocan Yuan (Transnational Corporations, 2022, 29(2): 1–24 )

This paper presents an empirical analysis on the extent to which a country’s welfare spending influences foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions, particularly as they relate to relocations. We argue, and subsequently empirically test, that higher welfare spending by governments attracts foreign investment[...]

KCG Seminar by Alina Mulyukova on Impacts of India’s Special Economic Zones on Firm Performance

7th March 2022
KCG Secretary
Mulyukova_Alina
China’s open-door policy that strongly drove its economic growth and its intensive integration into the world economy over the past decades started with the establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) in South China. In response to China’s positive experience with SEZs, many other developing countries worldwide introduced place-based policies and set up a large number of SEZs in the hope of pushing forward their own economic development[...]

Does the Belt and Road Initiative stimulate Chinese Exports? Evidence from Micro Data

25th February 2022
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg, Haiou Mao (The World Economy, forthcoming)

This paper evaluates firms’ exporting responses to BRI and considers their heterogeneity in ownership types, product types, regional origin and trade mode. This is done by analyzing firm-product-destination level customs data from 2008 to 2016. Our empirical results show that aggregate export behavior increased significantly after BRI[...]

Görg Gave an Interview on the Impact of China’s 20-year WTO Membership and on China-Germany Economic Relations

13th January 2022
KCG Secretary
In late 2021, China celebrated the 20th anniversary of its WTO membership. On December 11, 2001 China became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after a long-lasting negotiation process and large-scale economic reforms to fulfil the accession requirements. Through China’s WTO accession, it became – formally and institutionally – an important part of the multilateral trading system[...]

FGI 2021 on Global Production Networks for Sustainability on Dec. 6, 2021: Open for Registration

30th November 2021
KCG Secretary
The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted global production networks. It has brought to the forefront a sense of urgency for governments and internationally operating enterprises to re-evaluate their approaches towards ensuring resilience and sustainability in their supply chains. At the same time it offers a unique opportunity to re-think established approaches, to embrace sustainability as a core value creator, and to link long-term recovery strategies to the guiding principles and objectives of the UN Agenda 2030[...]

Kiel Week 2021 Presentations by KCG Researchers about Supply Chain Law, CO2 Border Adjustment and Global Coffee Trade

3rd September 2021
KCG Secretary
On the coming Saturday the Kiel Week 2021, in its 140th year, will officially start. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a founding institute of the Kiel Centre for Globalization, will again offer public presentations on various economics topics based on its current research work. There will be four such Kiel Week 2021 presentations provided by the Kiel Institute and three of them will be given by KCG researchers[...]

KCG Managing Director Holger Görg is Invited to Join a Hearing on Supply Chain Law Today

28th April 2021
KCG Secretary
Today there will be a hearing on “Supply Chain Law” in the Environment and Agriculture Committee of the State Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein. Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (KCG Managing Director) is invited to provide his views on this topic. In total, 16 experts and representatives of environmental and development organisations as well as industry/business associations are expected to share their opinion on the topic from various aspects at the hearing[...]

Productivity Effects of Processing and Ordinary Export Market Entry: A Time-varying Treatments Approach

14th April 2021
KCG Secretary
Authors: Sourafel Girma, Holger Görg (Review of International Economics, forthcoming)
China’s policy of encouraging export processing has been the topic of much discussion in the academic literature and policy debate. We use a recently developed econometric approach that allows for time varying “treatments” and estimate economically and statistically significant positive causal effects of entering into export processing and ordinary export markets on subsequent firm level productivity[..]

New KCG Study on Productivity Effects of Processing and Ordinary Export Market Entry

30th March 2021
KCG Secretary
The ubiquitous “Made in China” label epitomizes China’s transformation from a virtual autarky in the 1970s to a veritable exporting powerhouse in little more than a generation. This transformation arguably owes much to the country’s ever-increasing integration in global value chains. This has undoubtedly been helped by policy. As early as the mid-1980s China introduced special “processing trade” schemes in an attempt to boost exports. The hallmark of this scheme is that there are tariff-exemptions on imported inputs as long as these are only processed in the country and then re-exported. Domestic sales of these processed goods are, in general, not permitted[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 23: Productivity effects of processing and ordinary export market entry: A time-varying treatments approach

30th March 2021
KCG Secretary
Authors: Sourafel Girma and Holger Görg

China’s policy of encouraging export processing has been the topic of much discussion in the academic literature and policy debate. We use a recently developed econometric approach that allows for time varying “treatments” and estimate economically and statistically significant positive causal effects of entering into export processing and ordinary export markets on subsequent firm level productivity[...]

Today: KCG Seminar on Role of Foreign Divestment for China’s Innovation Edge by Holger Görg

16th March 2021
KCG Secretary
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is often seen as being advantageous for fostering the economic development of host countries. Since investors bring in not only financial capital as well as know-how and technologies, FDI is also considered to be able to support firms and countries receiving FDI to deal with financial and technological difficulties in innovation activities[...]

KCG Policy Paper No. 7: Ein Lieferkettengesetz für Deutschland?

12th February 2021
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, Ludger Heidbrink, Stefan Hoffmann, Till Requate

Ein Lieferkettengesetz kann einen starken Anreiz dafür setzen, dass deutsche Unternehmen sich für nachhaltige Sozial- und Umweltbedingungen in globalen Lieferketten einsetzen. Dabei sollte jedoch überdacht werden, ob es zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt nicht sinnvoller wäre, eine gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Haftung durch eine zunächst zeitlich befristete Selbstverpflichtungsphase zu ersetzen oder zu ergänzen[…]

UNIDO-IfW-KCG Joint Article about Risk, Resilience and Recalibration in Global Value Chains

22nd December 2020
KCG Secretary
Current global value chains (GVCs) are highly efficient, specialized and interconnected, but they are also highly vulnerable to global risks. The high vulnerability to global risks was made clear particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic that caused supply-side disruptions in the first quarter of 2020, as China and other Asian economies were hit by the outbreak of the virus which later spread globally, leading to business closures around the world[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 22: Why are Africa’s Female Entrepreneurs not Playing the Export Game? Evidence from Ghana

7th October 2020
KCG Secretary
Authors: Charles Ackah, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, and Cecília Hornok

We explore the export performance of Africa’s underperforming female entrepreneurs, using the Ghanaian ISSER-IGC panel, a comprehensive dataset of manufacturing firms for 2011–2015. Uniquely, the data provides information about the severity of key business constraints, across both male and female entrepreneurs[...]

A New KCG Paper on Foreign Trade and Sustainable Business Practices in Ghana is Published Today

5th October 2020
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
Foreign trade and sustainability is high on the political agenda. German and international policy-makers undertake increasing efforts to use trade policy more effectively for sustainable development purposes. A growing toolbox is meant to facilitate these policy aims, including sustainability chapters in trade agreements, sustainable value chains and sustainability standards. Meanwhile, scientific evidence on how trading activities impact on firms’ sustainable behaviour is limited[...]

Görg: Blockchain Technologies can Help Improve Transparency of Global Supply Chains

23rd July 2020
KCG Secretary
The German Federal Government is working on a Supply Chain Law that will require German companies with more than 500 employees to better ensure that both human rights as well as environmental sustainability standards along their supply chains are well protected and/or followed. The Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Hubertus Heil, expects that the Draft Law can be passed by the cabinet in August and thus can enter the legislative process soon with the goal of being effective in 2021[...]

Friends like this: The Impact of the US – China Trade War on Global Value Chains

8th June 2020
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg and Haiou Mao (The World Economy, 2020, Vol. 43(7), 1776-1791)

This paper considers the indirect impact the recent tariff increases between the US and China can have in third countries through links in global supply chains. We combine data from inputoutput relationships, imports and tariffs, to calculate the impact of the tariff increases by both the US and China on cumulative tariffs for other countries and thus hurt trade partners further downstream in global supply chains[...]

A New KCG Research Project on the Impact of Special Economic Zones on Inequality

11th May 2020
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
Inward foreign direct investment (FDI) is generally considered to be advantageous for supporting economic development in the emerging economies. Foreign investors do not only bring financial resources, know-how and technologies that are (relatively) limited on site into the FDI destination countries but also help local firms to gain better access to and benefit from the global production networks[...]

UNIDO Published an Opinion Piece on GVC Impact of COVID-19 in Cooperation with KCG

17th April 2020
KCG Secretary
The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 damages the global health and challenges the world economy. One key aspect here is the global value chains which have been extensively developed since decades. Experts from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG) at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy[...]

KCG Researchers Gave Presentations at the Aarhus-Kiel Workshop 2019

27th December 2019
KCG Secretary
The Aarhus-Kiel Workshop is an annual research workshop, jointly organized by the Research Centre for Firms and Industry Dynamics at the Aarhus University and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in cooperation with KCG. It serves as an excellent platform for scholars from Aarhus and Kiel who are specialised in globalization research to present and discuss research (in progress) with other experts in the field[...]

KCG Recently Started a Further Research Project on Trade and Sustainable Development in Ghana

19th December 2019
KCG Secretary
With a specific focus on Africa, KCG researchers were involved in several research projects focusing on trade and foreign direct investment as well as their impact in Africa in 2018/2019. The projects were financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH). As to trade, KCG researchers carried out a first project focusing on Ghana from late 2018 to mid-2019, in cooperation with Dr. Charles Ackah (University of Ghana)[...]

The 2019 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization Successfully Took Place in Vienna

5th December 2019
KCG Secretary
As part of a multi-year cooperation between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) and KCG, the 2019 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI) “The Future of Global Value Chains (GVCs): How the Fourth Industrial Revolution is Changing Global Production Networks” took place on November 19, 2019 at the UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna. The 2019 FGI brought together around 100 policymakers[...]

KCG Researchers Gave Presentations at the Annual Conference of the European Trade Study Group

11th November 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG’s thematic focus has been to work on an interdisciplinary research agenda that evaluates the proliferation of global value chains (GVCs) as an important aspect of globalization. As a matter of course, trade and related research issues belong to KCG’s priority research topics. To share the research insights obtained and exchange knowledge with other trade experts, KCG researchers actively attended international trade workshops and conferences, incl. the Annual Conference of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG) – one of the large-scale trade conferences worldwide. The ETSG Conference provides a forum for discussion and research on international trade and attracts economists and experts interested in trade related issues from universities and research institutes over the world[...]

KCG Research: Active Engagement of MNEs Matters for Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa

5th November 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
Economic research has provided evidence showing that developing countries’ integration into global value chains is highly advantageous for encouraging their economic and social development over time. Events in practice such as Rana Plaza Collapse in 2013 showed, however, that the benefits of globalization may be realized (partially) at the cost of labour welfare and environmental sustainability on site. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) from economically more advanced countries have been often criticized for focusing on maximizing their profits only and thus ignoring their social responsibility while investing in and/or doing business with firms in the developing countries[...]

2019 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization is Now Open for Registration

16th October 2019
KCG Secretary
The 2019 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI) with its overarching topic “The Future of Global Value Chains (GVCs): How the Fourth Industrial Revolution is Changing Global Production Networks” will take place on Nov. 19, 2019 at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria. This is the fourth annual conference jointly organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG) at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy[...]

KCG Involved in a New DFG Project on Social and Vicarious Consumer Animosity

28th August 2019
KCG Secretary
Prof. Dr. Stefan Hoffmann (KCG and Kiel University) will lead a new research project “Me, we, and them: A context-sensitive model of social and vicarious consumer animosity (ME-WE-THEM)”, in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Oliver Trendel (Grenoble Ecole de Management) and Prof. Dr. Robert Mai (Grenoble Ecole de Management). Two further KCG Research Fellows will be[…]

KCG Researchers Commented on US-China Trade War

15th August 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
A recent KCG study “Friends like this: the Impact of the US – China Trade War on Global Value Chains” by Dr. Haiou Mao (Wuhan University and KCG Guest Researcher) and Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (KCG Managing Director) investigates the indirect impact of the tariff increases between the US and China on third countries through their (differently strong) links in the global value chains. The analysis shows that the tariff hikes increase cumulative tariffs for other countries and[…]

KCG Researchers Gave Presentations at the Second HSU-IfW-Workshop in Development and Environmental Economics

25th July 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Researchers Prof. Gabriel Felbermayr, Ph.D., Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D., Dr. Birgit Meyer, Finn Ole Semrau and Frauke Steglich joined the second HSU-IfW-Workshop in Development and Environmental Economics, which took place on June 7, 2019 at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) in Kiel, Germany. The HSU-IfW-Workshop in Development Economics and Environmental Economics, which was co-organized by IfW and the Helmut Schmidt University[…]

Trade Liberalization and Labor Market Adjustments: Does Rent Sharing Matter?

16th July 2019
KCG Secretary
Authors: Pham Dinh Long, Pham Thi Bich Ngoc and Holger Görg (Forthcoming, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade)

Using a firm level data set, this paper investigates the impact of trade liberalization on employment and wages in Vietnamese manufacturing during 2003 - 2008. Different from the previous researches, we consider indirect effects of trade liberalization via real output for the employment[…]

Research Report on Trade for Development in Ghana Published Today

5th June 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
A new research report “Can Trade Foster Development? Firm-level Evidence for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana” as a key output of the KCG research project “How can Trade Contribute to Development? Micro-based Evidence for Ghana” is published and available online today. The research project has been funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH). The report was prepared by Prof. Holger Görg Ph.D. (KCG Managing Director) and Cecília Hornok, Ph.D. (KCG Fellow), in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Charles Ackah from the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic[…]

Which Boats are lifted by a Foreign Tide? Direct and Indirect Wage Effects of Foreign Ownership

4th June 2019
KCG Secretary
Authors: Sourafel Girma, Holger Görg and Erasmus Kersting (Journal of International Business Studies, 2019, Vol. 50(6), 923-947)

The attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) is considered to be of particular importance for emerging economies because it represents a channel through which international convergence in standards of living may be achieved. One important effect of FDI is its impact on wages, both within the targeted firm (direct) and the local firms within the same geographic region and sector (indirect). In this paper we investigate the question whether multinational enterprises[…]

KCG Study on Trade for Development Presented in Accra, Ghana

21st May 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
A new KCG Study “Can Trade Foster Development? Firm-level Evidence for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana”, in cooperation with the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of the University of Ghana, will be presented by Prof. Dr. Charles Ackah (University of Ghana) and Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (KCG Managing Director) for the first time at a dissemination and policy workshop of the same name on May 21, 2019 in Accra, Ghana. The study, financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), investigates the impact of Ghanaian manufacturing SMEs’ exporting and importing activities on their own and other firms’ productivity, employment structure, wage levels, skill structure, and training activities and on the gender equality based on a unique survey-based firm-level database. Cecília Hornok […]

Holger Görg in a ZDFinfo Documentary on Globalization to be Shown on April 11, 2019

9th April 2019
KCG Secretary
It is widely recognised among economists that globalization is an important driver of economic growth. Globalization does not only have winners but also losers and undesirable side-effects, however. In reality, we thus observe that globalization benefits have been increasingly questioned from various sides. Companies and employees, for example, are concerned about business relocations and increasing import competition driven by more highly integrated global value chains than ever. They fear a collapse of the industrial base, the outflow of technical knowledge, the threat to jobs, the income loss and growing income inequalities.  Many also fear a creeping erosion of high domestic standards for safety of consumption and environmental […]

KCG Researchers Contributed to a BMF Research Project on FDI and the German Current Account

4th April 2019
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
KCG Researchers, Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D., Cecília Hornok, Ph.D, and Dr. Léa Marchal, worked on a joint research project titled “On the Economic Relevance of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and their Role for the German Current Account Balance” with the Forecasting Centre  at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The project was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)  from October 2017 to March 2018. With project members from both KCG and the Forecasting Centre, the team was able to investigate the economic relevance of German FDI from both macro- and microeconomic perspectives[…]

KCG Research Seminar by Charles G. Ackah on Firm Responses to Electricity Shortages in Ghana

26th February 2019
KCG Secretary
Within the framework of a joint project “How can Trade Contribute to Development? Micro-based Evidence for Ghana”, Dr. Charles G. Ackah (University of Ghana) will visit the Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG) from February 26 to March 1, 2019. In addition to research meetings and discussions with the KCG project members, Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (KCG Managing Director) and Cecilia Hornok, Ph.D. (KCG Fellow), Ackah will give a KCG research seminar based on his current paper “Productivity Losses and Firm Responses to Electricity Shortages: Evidence from Ghana”[…]

Die Effekte deutscher Direktinvestitionen im Empfängerland vor dem Hintergrund des Leistungsbilanzüberschusses: Empirische Evidenz mit Mikrodaten für Frankreich

21st February 2019
KCG Secretary
Autoren: Holger Görg und Léa Marchal (Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, 2019, Band 20, Heft 1, 53-69)

Deutschland hat seit Jahren einen Leistungsbilanzüberschuss, der international kritisiert wird. Die Bedeutung der deutschen Direktinvestitionen im Ausland ist dabei in den letzten Jahren stark angestiegen. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht diese Studie die Effekte von Direktinvestitionen auf Unternehmen im Gastland. Dazu werden Unternehmensdaten für Frankreich verwendet. Insgesamt liefert die Studie zwei wirtschaftspolitisch relevante Ergebnisse. Zum einen haben deutsche Übernahmen von französischen Unternehmen im Durchschnitt keine negativen Auswirkungen auf Produktivität, Qualifikationsstruktur und Handelsaktivität der übernommenen Unternehmen. Zum anderen zeigt sich[…]

More Needs to be Done to Improve the Quality of Institutions in Africa for Development

8th February 2019
KCG Secretary
On December 18, 2018 the Africa-Europe Forum with the overarching theme “Taking Cooperation to the Digital Age” took place in Vienna, Austria. At the Forum key decision makers from politics and business and other stakeholders from both Africa and Europe discussed about what should and can be done to foster both sides’ prosperity and competitiveness and to further intensify the bilateral relationships between the two continents in various economic and societal aspects. One key concluding remark of the Forum[…]

Trade for Development? A New KCG Research Project Focusing on Ghana

9th November 2018
KCG Secretary
KCG Logo
The Aid for Trade (AfT) Initiative of the World Trade Organisation aims at supporting developing countries to better deal with trade-related constraints and barriers so that they can be better integrated into the world economy through their engagement in international trade. A key principle behind the AfT Initiative is that free and fair trade can make significant contributions to the economic development and poverty reduction in the developing and emerging countries. Many industrialised countries have initiated new policy measures and/or adjusted the existing ones to support the implementation of the AfT Initiative. One example is Germany[…]

Offshoring: Causes and Consequences at the Firm and Worker Level

11th September 2018
KCG Secretary
This volume brings together research papers dealing with the causes and consequences of offshoring. The first part considers causes and motives of offshoring. Using firm level data for countries such as Ireland, France, and the UK, this book looks at issues such as the increasing availability of business services or the internet, and improvements in intellectual property rights protection as stimulants of offshoring. The second part then looks at the implications of offshoring for the firms involved. Based on firm level data for Ireland, Sweden, the UK and a number of Emerging Market Economies, the book also focuses on productivity effects of offshoring as well as the implications for innovation activities of firms, and for profitability[…]

KCG Researchers Contributed to a New UNIDO Report on Global Value Chains with Focus on Asia

16th August 2018
KCG Secretary
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) recently published a new report “Global Value Chains (GVCs) and Industrial Development – Lessons from China, South-East and South Asia” to provide evidence on the evolution of global and regional value chains in Asia. From the Asian lessons policy suggestions are derived to support firms’ and countries’ participation in GVCs and encourage their upgrading over time[…]

Attracting FDI in Middle-skilled Supply Chains

15th June 2018
KCG Secretary
Authors: Theordore Moran, Holger Görg, Adnan Seric and Christiane Krieger-Boden (Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Vol. 12 (2018-26), 1-9)

While popular opinion often pictures FDI flowing in search of lowest-wage, lowest-skilled activities in emerging markets, actual FDI to such countries increasingly addresses medium to high-skilled manufacturing sectors. Such FDI might be called “Quality FDI” that contributes to the creation of decent and value-adding jobs, enhancing the skill base of host economies, facilitating transfer of technology, knowledge and know-how, boosting competitiveness of domestic firms and enabling their access to world-wide markets[…]

Holger Görg: Governments Need to Deal with Negative Impact of Globalization

15th June 2018
KCG Secretary
The recent trade dispute, also observed at the G7 Summit last week, shows again how highly relevant and urgent it is to learn more about negative impact of globalization and to develop adequate policies and measures to deal with such impact. Imposing higher tariffs on imports may be an easy action to take. But protectionist measures cannot be the right solutions here. Protectionist measures hinder trade and investment across countries and leave parts of potential benefits of globalization unrealized[…]

UNIDO-KCG Conference 2018 to be Held in Vienna on June 18

24th May 2018
KCG Secretary
The UNIDO-KCG Forum on Globalization and Industrialization 2018 will take place on June 18 at the Vienna International Centre. Following its thematic tradition from the past UNIDO-KCG Conferences, the 2018 Conference will continue to focus its discussions on some key selected aspects of global value chains with “Global Value Chains as Drivers for Structural Change” as its overarching theme this year[…]

Home-country Employment Protection Matters for Firms’ Relocation Propensity

3rd May 2018
KCG Secretary
Since the 1990s a great number of policy measures have been observed to promote inflows of foreign direction investment (FDI), with the expectation that foreign investors would not only bring in financial resources but also know-how and technologies to support and facilitate the economic and societal development of the host countries. Some of these policy measures aimed at improving host countries’ business and investment environment to enhance their attractiveness for foreign firms. Labour market regulation was one of the key aspects considered here. Many previous studies showed that less strict labour market regulations, or say a higher level of labour market flexibility, may attract more foreign investors to move in and invest. What was rather hardly studied in the past, was the relevance of home-country labour market regulations on firms’ propensity to relocate (parts) of their operations abroad[…]

Holger Görg Gave an Interview on US New Tariffs on Steel and Aluminium Imports

13th March 2018
KCG Secretary
US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation authorising new tariffs on US steel and aluminium imports on March 8, 2018. Following his plan, foreign steel and aluminium products sold to the US are going to face a tariff of 25% and a tariff of 10% in the future, respectively. Steel and aluminium products from Canada and Mexico will be excluded from this new tariff plan. Whether further countries will be placed on the exclusion list, is still an open question. Shortly before Trump’s order, Prof. Holger Görg Ph.D., Managing Director of the Kiel Centre for Globalization[…]

Holger Görg Joined the KAS-BKU Expert Conference “Grenzen des Handel(n)s (Limits to Trade/Action)” as a Panelist in January

15th February 2018
KCG Secretary
Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Kiel Centre for Globalization was invited to be a panelist at the 11th KAS-BKU Expert Conference of Development and Economics on January 26-27, 2018 in Bonn. The overarching topic of the Expert Conference this year was “Grenzen des Handel(n)s (Limits to Trade/Action)”. The Conference started with opening remarks by Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrich Hemel (Chairman of BKU) and Dr. Peter Fischer-Bollin (Deputy Head of the Dept. “European and International Cooperation” at KAS), followed by speeches and three panel sessions[…]

Leibniz President Matthias Kleiner visited Kiel Centre for Globalization

1st February 2018
KCG Secretary
Prof. Dr. Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association, visited Leibniz ScienceCampi in Kiel on Jan. 31, 2018. His visit started with two morning meetings with Prof. Dr. Sonja Peterson, Scientific Director of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and most of the research members of the Kiel Centre for Globalization led by Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D., KCG Managing Director. Prof. Kleiner was accompanied by Dr. Bettina Böhm (Secretary-General), Dr. Kristina Hahn (Advisor) and Dr. Felix Kießling (Advisor) for visiting KCG […]

KCG Professors Have Contributed to the Report of the German Council of Economic Advisors

16th November 2017
KCG Secretary
Holger Görg and Aoife Hanley wrote a background paper for the latest report by the German Council of Economic Advisors (Sachverständigenrat). The background paper, entitled “Globalization: Implications for Firms in Germany”, looks at data at the firm level to shed light on questions such as: What types of firms are involved in trade or investments? What distinguishes these globalized firms, if anything, from firms that are not engaged in these international activities?[…]

Firms’ Financial Health was Key to Avoid Export Market Exit in the Global Financial Crisis

27th October 2017
KCG Secretary
The volume of international trade declined dramatically during the global financial crisis of 2008-09. Since then several explanations have been proposed for this sudden trade collapse. These include a fall in global demand, reviving trade protectionism, a domino effect created by global value chains, and the restriction in external finance for firms. Uncovering the contribution of these various causes to the severity of the trade collapse is crucial to understand the functioning of the global trade system and to mitigate the effects of future economic crises..[…]

KCG Working Paper No. 4: Export Market Exit and Financial Health in Crises Periods

19th October 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg and Marina-Eliza Spaliara

This paper uses rich firm-level data for the UK to investigate the link between firms’ financial health and export exit, paying attention to the ERM currency crisis and the global financial crisis. Our results show that deterioration in the financial position of firms has increased the hazard of export exit during the 2007-09 crisis but has no significant effect on the early 1990s crisis. We also explore the extent to which firms in financially vulnerable industries face greater sensitivity of export exit to financial conditions. We conclude that firms in sectors with great reliance on external finance experience higher hazards of exiting the export market during the 2007-09 crisis..[…]

Holger Görg and Frauke Steglich Joined the UNIDO-UIBE Workshop on Global Value Chains

20th July 2017
KCG Secretary
KCG Managing Director Prof. Holger Görg Ph.D. and KCG PhD Researcher Frauke Steglich joined the UNIDO-UIBE Workshop on global value chains (GVCs) on July 11-12, 2017 in Vienna. The Workshop organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the University of International Business and Economics of China (UIBE) aimed at bringing together experts in global value chain research to discuss the general strategy, incl. main objectives, research methods and key outcomes, of the project “A Study on Global Value Chains and International Cooperation on Industrial Capacity with a Focus on China, South-East and South Asian Countries”. The main goal of the project is to provide more insights into the role of global value chains for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID), a key component of the Goal 9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a special focus on China and other Asian countries.[…]

South-South FDI: Is It Really Different?

4th July 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Robert Gold, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley and Adnan Šerić (Review of World Economics, 2017, Vol. 153(4), 657-673)

We compare the performance of Northern and Southern multinationals in Sub-Saharan Africa, and contrast it with local firms in the host country. Employing unique firm level data for 19 Sub-Saharan African countries, we show that firms receiving FDI outperform domestic ones, while the origin of the foreign investor is of minor importance. We use four different definitions of “South” to compare Northern and Southern FDI. Overall, we do not find strong differences in terms of firm productivity growth between Northern and Southern FDI, irrespective of how the latter is defined. […]

Holger Görg: G20 May Support Developing Countries to Set up Functioning Investment Promotion Agencies

15th June 2017
KCG Secretary
In a new “Süddeutsche” article, Holger Görg suggests that G20 may help developing countries set up functioning investment promotion agencies, in order to attract not just FDI but Quality FDI to foster economic development in these countries. Empirical studies show clearly that being integrated into global supply chains as parts of multinational enterprises (MNEs) or their suppliers is advantageous for developing countries. Local firms involved have a higher level of productivity and are more capable of paying higher wages compared to other local firms without global engagement[…]

Holger Görg Gave an Interview on Global Supply Chains and Developing Countries

1st June 2017
KCG Secretary
When Labour Ministers of G20 countries met two weeks ago in Germany, they reached a consensus on the critical importance of jointly coping with labour market challenges, such as poor working conditions and unfair wage in particularly emerging and developing countries.

More and more emerging and developing countries as well as their economic agents have been increasingly integrated into the global supply chains through new and/or expanding investments of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from the developed countries. Many argue that these MNEs have invested in emerging and developing countries mainly to seek cost advantages supported by low-wage labour, low-cost resources and less strict environmental and labour market regulations on site.[…]

New KCG Study on South-South FDI in Africa

26th May 2017
KCG Secretary
Foreign direct investment (FDI) was traditionally dominated by firms from developed countries. These countries were also popular FDI destination countries for a long while. Over the past decade, however, more and more developing economies became increasingly intensively integrated in the FDI engagement worldwide – as sourcing as well as destination countries. Driven by the expectation that determinants and effects of FDI from developing economies to developing countries (South-South FDI) may differ from those of traditional FDI both within developed countries (North-North FDI) and from developed countries to developing countries (North-South FDI), there has been an increasing amount of Studies on South-South FDI over time. One of the main research regions for such a specific form of FDI is East/South-East Asia. In contrast, empirical analyses on South-South FDI in Africa are very limited. This may be partially attributable to the lack of reliable representative datasets for the analysis.[…]

KCG Working Paper No. 3: South-South FDI: Is It Really Different?

26th May 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Robert Gold, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley and Adnan Seric

We compare the performance of Northern and Southern multinationals in Sub-Saharan Africa, and contrast it with local firms in the host country. Employing unique firm level data for 19 Sub-Saharan African countries, we show that firms receiving FDI outperform domestic ones, while the origin of the foreign investor is of minor importance. We use four different definitions of “South” to compare Northern and Southern FDI. Overall, we do not find strong differences in terms of firm productivity growth between Northern and Southern FDI, irrespective of how the latter is defined. We also find that employment growth is generally higher for firms receiving FDI from other African investors as compared to Northern FDI, and they also receive more technology transfer from their parent company abroad.

Holger Görg Gave a Talk on Globalization at the German Council of Economic Experts

28th April 2017
KCG Secretary
Prof. Holger Görg Ph.D., KCG Managing Director, was invited to give a presentation on globalization at the German Council of Economic Experts (Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung) on April 27, 2017 in Wiesbaden. His talk aimed at providing research-based evidence to an important question of whether globalization is rather a boon or a bane for Germany[…]

KCG Working Paper No. 2: Firms’ Global Engagement and Management Practices

27th April 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg and Aoife Hanley

We investigate whether firms’ "global engagement", either in the form of exporting or opening up affiliates abroad, is related to the change in their management performance. We use new and unique data from a recent large scale firm survey of management practices in Germany. We calculate management scores for firms as in Bloom et al. (2013), which indicate how structured management is in a given firm .[…]

Holger Görg as Panellist at the Upcoming OECD Global Forum on International Investment

2nd March 2017
KCG Secretary
The OECD Global Forum on International Investment (OECD-GFII) 2017 with the overarching topic “Addressing the Challenges of Globalization: Towards a Society-centred Investment Policy Agenda” is going to take place on March 6th at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France. Holger Görg, Managing Director of the KCG, will act as a panellist in the session “Towards an Investment Policy Agenda that Supports Inclusive Globalization” to share his views and discuss with other experts in the field about a potential research and policy agenda in support of the development and implementation of a more inclusive international investment policy in the long term. […]

KCG Policy Paper No.2: How to Attract Quality FDI?

14th February 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Theodore H. Moran, Holger Görg, Adnan Seric and Christiane Krieger‐Boden

Foreign direct investment in developing countries has got a bad reputation in some popular discussions where it is set tantamount to first world’s postcolonial exploitation of the raw materials and cheap labour from the third world, associated with pictures of leaking oil fields and collapsing factories. While this does happen, data show that FDI[…]

Key Relevance of Global Supply Chains in Discussing whether Globalization is Good or not

9th February 2017
KCG Secretary
Is globalization good or not? This question has already attracted much attention worldwide with the intensifying globalization during the past decades. Undoubtedly, different economic agents, decision makers and governments from different countries may have strongly different answers to this seemingly simple question. This question turns, however, to be answered in a very simple and provocative way for political purposes over the last year, as did, for example, by Donald Trump on his way to the U.S. Presidency. His belief in globalization doing more harm than good to the U.S. economy induced him to stop ongoing discussions on trade agreements such as TPP and TTIP with different partners in the world[…]

FDI, Involvement in Global Supply Chains and Host Country Development

5th January 2017
KCG Secretary
Over the past decade there were a rising number of firm-level empirical studies investigating direct and indirect effects of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on domestic firms and, more generally, economic development in different host countries. The strong increase in the number of related firm-level studies can be particularly attributable to the substantial progress made in the “New” new trade theory since the beginning of the 21st century on the one hand and to the availability of large-scale firm-level datasets and the development in advanced analytical tools required over the past years on the other hand[…]

Merits of Financial Market Development for Developing Countries

30th December 2016
KCG Secretary
Financial market development has its impact on economic development wide beyond national boundaries. Here multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a crucial role. Recent empirical studies carried out by Görg and Kersting (2016) and Donaubauer et al. (2016) found, among others, that:

Well-developed financial markets, either in source or host countries, foster bilateral foreign direct investment. Well-developed financial markets in source countries compensate for poorly developed financial systems […]

Quality FDI Matters for Economic Development and Growth

16th November 2016
KCG Secretary
quality fdi matters / Photo: © unido flickr
Updated on 16th Nov., 2016

“The Vienna Investment Conference: Quality FDI, Development and Growth” which was co-organized by UNIDO as well as Holger Görg and his team at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy took place in mid-September in Vienna, Austria. At the conference, the Director General of UNIDO Yong Li emphasized that “Quality FDI is a key driver for growth of domestic enterprises and improvement of the overall investment climate, provided the right policies and incentives are […]

KCG Policy Paper No. 1: Quality FDI and Supply-Chains in Manufacturing: Overcoming Obstacles and Supporting Development

16th November 2016
KCG Secretary
Authors: Theodore H. Moran, Holger Görg and Adnan Seric

This paper aims to identify the obstacles to attracting “quality” foreign direct investment (FDI) in middle-skill manufacturing activities, so as to inform an action-agenda for policies that will help developing and emerging market economies to link into global supply chains while building backward linkages deep into their own economies. The evidence reviewed here shows positive benefits from external advice […]


When do Multinational Companies Consider Corporate Social Responsibility? A Multi-Country Study in Sub-Saharan Africa

10th November 2016
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, Stefan Hoffmann and Adnan Šerić (Business & Society Review, 2017, Vol. 122(2), 191-220)

While African countries are becoming more and more relevant as host countries for suppliers of multinational companies little is known about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in this region. To fill this gap, the present paper explores CSR considerations of foreign affiliates of multinational companies when choosing local African suppliers. The paper suggests a model of three types of determinants, namely firm characteristics, exports[…]


Linkages with Multinationals and Domestic Firm Performance: The Role of Assistance for Local Firms

10th November 2016
KCG Secretary
Authors: Holger Görg and Adnan Šerić (European Journal of Development Research, 2016, Vol. 28(4), 605-624)

This paper uses firm level data for 19 African countries to look at the link between domestic firms’ business relationship with multinationals and their performance in terms of innovation and productivity. Quite uniquely, we also evaluate the importance of support received by the domestic firm, either from the government or the multinational business partner, for this link. Overall, our data analysis shows that for the average domestic firm, supplying to a foreign multinational in the country is positively associated with product innovation. Buying from a multinational is positively associated with labour productivity. These results are independent of any type of support from the government or multinationals […]


KCG Working Paper No. 1: When Do Multinational Companies Consider Corporate Social Responsibility?

1st November 2016
KCG Secretary
Authors:
Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, Stefan Hoffmann and Adnan Seric

While African countries are becoming more and more relevant as host countries for suppliers of multinational companies little is known about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in this region.To fill this gap, the present paper explores CSR considerations of foreign affiliates of multinational companies when choosing local African suppliers.[…]

Interview: The Globalization Paradox

5th October 2016
KCG Secretary

Recently, KCG Managing Director Prof. Holger Görg gave an interview to the Capital magazine to discuss about the Globalization Paradox gradually emerging in many countries in the world, the future and the challenges of globalization and the role of emerging economies in the world economy. In the interview he also shares his views of the current development and future perspective of Germany’s economy and of whether China’s “weaker” economic development is or may become a substantial challenge for both the […]