(Structural Factors of Global Trade Slowdown and Their Implications)

Abstract

Korean Abstract: 본 연구는 세계무역의 현황을 살펴보고 세계무역 변화의 구조적인 요인을 분석하여 우리나라 무역의 안정적 성장을 위한 정책적 시사점을 도출하기 위해 추진하였다. 이를 위해 세계투입산출 데이터베이스를 이용하여 세계무역의 구조 변화를 분석하고, 부가가치무역의 변동을 항목별로 분해하였다. 제2장에서는 2000년대 중반 이래의 세계무역 추이와 GDP 비중 등을 살펴보고 주요국별 및 주요 산업별 수출증가율의 변화를 살펴보았다. 제3장에서는 세계무역의 구조가 어떻게 변화하고 있는지를 살펴보았다. 제4장에서는 세계적 무역둔화 요인을 분해하기 위해 세계투입산출표를 이용하여 수출부가가치(VAX: value added exports)의 변화를 분해하였다. 제5장에서는 2017년 세계무역의 회복 요인을 평가하고 앞서의 분석 결과를 토대로 우리나라 무역에 대한 정책시사점을 도출하였다. 본 연구의 분석결과는 수출부가가치의 제고와 국내산업의 핵심역량 강화를 위한 정책 마련에 활용될 것으로 기대된다. English Abstract: The global trade slowdown since 2012 is reputed to be very astonishing in that it was unpredictable in terms of the magnitude. This trade slowdown was cyclical in that it mainly resulted from the global economic recessions especially in China and Europe. Also, this phenomena can be explained by structural reasons such as the fall in the income elasticity of trade, that is, the rise in income does not contribute to the trade expansion as it used to. This study aims to investigate the structural change in global trade mainly using the world input-output database and to decompose the change in value added exports into three relevant factors. This study reveals that the composition of global commodity demand has changed in recent years and the share of intermediate goods to the total import has declined as the low economic growth rate, low price level, high interest rate, and high unemployment rate have dominated the global economy since 2012. Chinese re-balancing turns out to have reduced the demand for import from the world as China, the global factory, transitioned from an export-oriented development strategy to policy focusing on domestic demand. The global value chain turns out to have diminished since the global financial crisis, thereby contributing to the global trade slowdown. The non-tariff barriers such as anti-dumping duties, TBT, and SPS, among others, have been more prevalent in recent years while the average tariff rates in most of the countries have been falling since the mid-1990s. On the other hand, this paper estimated value added exports (VAX) by using the World Input-Output Database released in 2016, in order to analyze causes of the recent global trade slowdown. We also decomposed the change in value added exports into the three factors of value-added coefficients, change in input structure, and change in final demands. According to the results, the change in value added exports in Korea are largely explained by the change in input structure, and change in value-added coefficients. Since 2012, the increase in final demands has played a major role in the recovery of value added exports at world level, while in Korea, increase in input structure explains more of rise in value added exports. That is to say, the change in value added export is cyclical at the world level, while structural in the case of Korea. The findings of this study indicate that it is crucial for Korea to reinforce the core competence of domestic industries in line with the following. First, Korean industries need to diversify their export products and gear up for standardization of parts and materials, thereby pursuing preemptive industrial restructuring. Second, Korean industries need to strengthen the knowledge intensity of high-skilled labor and make the best of global value chains. Third, the Korean government needs to support processes to improve transaction practices and incentive systems for large companies and small- and medium-sized companies, thereby establishing a fair market mechanism. Finally, the Korean government will need to contribute to multilateral as well as regional trade liberalization.