Technological sophistication made in China? – New insights from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests

Silas Dreier () and Wan-Hsin Liu ()
Additional contact information
Silas Dreier: University of Wuerzburg & Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Wan-Hsin Liu: Kiel Institute for the World Economy & Kiel Centre for Globalization

Economics Bulletin, 2023, vol. 43, issue 4, 1555 - 1564

Abstract: By analyzing a unique dataset from Germany's evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests, we show that Chinese firms can excel under today's global competition and produce tests at quality levels higher than China's income level would suggest. We find these achievements are positively associated with China's rising innovation capability and robust industrial base. Further strengthening China's innovation and industrial base to support Chinese firms' future accomplishments is what the Chinese government clearly aims for. This would intensify the challenges facing Western economies that strive for technological sovereignty and eagerly seek to de-risk their economic relations with China.

Keywords: China; product quality; technological sophistication; trade; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12-30
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I4-P135.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00258

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Economics Bulletin from AccessEcon
Bibliographic data for series maintained by John P. Conley ().