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Trade Balance: Numbers Can be Deceiving
Author(s) -
Li Yuefen
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
china and world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.815
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1749-124X
pISSN - 1671-2234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-124x.2006.00022.x
Subject(s) - balance (ability) , developing country , china , balance of trade , international trade , business , international economics , economics , production (economics) , economic growth , macroeconomics , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , political science , law
Trade disputes have become more prevalent and acute in recent years. Almost all center on bilateral trade balance and/or market access of certain merchandise or services. However, since at least the mid 1980s, affiliate sales have become a more direct and more powerful form of market access than the traditional cross‐border commercial transactions for developed countries, whereas developing countries still rely predominantly on traditional trade. The importance of the international production supply chain is increasing with a bias against downstream producers. The current data collection and compilation system of trade balance can not reflect these changes in the world economic environment. It overstates exports of developing countries and understates their imports. None of the countries in the world can illustrate the weakness of the conventional system better than China. (Edited by Zhinan Zhang)