IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/integr/0602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moving up the Quality Ladder? EU-China Dynamics in Clothing

Author

Listed:
  • Vandenbussche, Hylke

    (Department of Economics, IRES-CORE, Université Catholique de Louvain)

  • Di Comite, Francesco

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS))

  • Rovegno, Laura

    (Center of Research in Economic Analysis (CREA), University of Luxembourg)

  • Viegelahn, Christian

    (International Labour Organization (ILO) Office, Employment Trends Unit)

Abstract

We apply a simple method to study the relative quality of Chinese versus European products exported in the clothing sector after the end of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement. Based on the model of Foster et al., (2008), we interpret the change in relative export prices and quantities sold in narrowly defined product categories as an indicator of quality shifts. Using UN Comtrade data, we find that European varieties exported to the US typically sell for a higher price than identical Chinese varieties exported to the US, but this price gap is narrowing. Despite rising prices, Chinese varieties are gaining market share. This opposite movement of relative prices and quantities sold in the same destination market are a strong indication of China’s moving up the quality ladder in its clothing exports relative to the EU. While European core products in clothing are stable over time, Chinese exports show product dynamics with exit and entry of new core products every year.

Suggested Citation

  • Vandenbussche, Hylke & Di Comite, Francesco & Rovegno, Laura & Viegelahn, Christian, 2013. "Moving up the Quality Ladder? EU-China Dynamics in Clothing," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 28, pages 303-326.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:integr:0602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://sejong.metapress.com/
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sandrina Moreira & Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo, 2017. "A contribution to a multidimensional analysis of trade competition," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(10), pages 2301-2326, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade; Quality upgrading; Import competition; Product dynamics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:integr:0602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Yunhoe Kim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desejkr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.