 Globalisation and De-Industrialisation in Belgium. On the Role of Imports and International SourcingK. Coucke Review of Business and Economic Literature, 2007, vol. LII, issue 1, 13-36 Abstract: As an open economy with a strong dependence on trade and activities of multinational firms, Belgium is one of the countries most sensitive to the economic globalisation process. We show how imports of intermediate products have risen strongly, especially in those industries where local manufacturing activities are strongly dependent on the presence of multinational firms. We make a distinction between ‘relocating’ sectors where growing imports go hand in hand with a decrease in value added to output ratio, and ‘upgrading’ sectors where rising imports go together with an increase in the value added to output ratio. In terms of industry dynamics, we find that upgrading sectors are showing strong expansion of output and employment, while relocating sectors show strong declines in employment. In particular, our paper highlights the finding that if upgrading is possible, foreign sourcing can help to expand activities in Belgium and improve the competitiveness of the Belgian economy. Keywords: Sourcing; Manufacturing; Import (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ete:revbec:20070102 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Review of Business and Economic Literature from KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.