Trading processing for goods:a different view from the past on Italian trade flows?

Ludovico Bracci (), Silvia Fabiani () and Alberto Felettigh
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Ludovico Bracci: Istat

No 284, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: The new international standards for national accounts and balance of payments statistics (ESA 2010 and BPM6) introduced a new treatment of goods sent abroad for processing without changing ownership, now considered as an exchange of services. In this paper we explore to what extent this innovation affects the structural analysis of Italian trade flows, in particular along the geo-sectoral dimension. We also draw, for the first time, a detailed picture of exports and imports of processing services in order to shed light on how Italian firms participate, through this channel, in global value chains. Our findings largely validate the geo-sectoral interpretations based on the previous statistical standards. The data reveal that Italy is historically a net exporter of processing services, especially for high-technology products; flows are highly concentrated across destinations and sectors.

Keywords: trade; processing services; global value chains. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 F14 F62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-eur, nep-ino and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_284_15

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