Kinas betydelse för Sveriges och västvärldens produktivitet

Abstract

Internationally leading economists have taken much interest in the impact of trade with China on the West in recent years. In line with this, this article presents an analysis on how the growing use of Chinese intermediates affects the labour productivity growth along the production chains of the Swedish manufacturing sector for the first time. The result is clear: like the West as a whole, the association is positive and economically relevant. This applies before and after the financial crisis and is robust to different model specifications. Two mechanisms explaining this result is shown to be reduced employment and reduced producer prices.