My research interests include International trade, Global Value Chains, Firm-level upgrading, Digital economy. Address: Manchester, England, United Kingdom
In this paper, we analyse the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Africa's trade in dig... more In this paper, we analyse the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Africa's trade in digitizable products, digitally deliverable services (DDSs), and e-commerce, and we outline the challenges of a digitally led recovery from the pandemic for African countries. The analysis is based on macro- and micro-level data and a review of extant literature. We find that almost 60% of the global exports of digital products in 2020 originated from the EU, with another 16% from North America. Africa's share in global exports of digital products, by contrast, was less than 1%. In the case of intra-Africa trade, exports of digital products are concentrated in just a few countries. Online supply in services is found to be more resilient to negative shocks from the pandemic compared to other modes of supply. We also find that e-commerce has important potential for economic recovery, but that its impact in Africa is constrained by high internet costs, weaknesses in postal services and cap...
On 11th December 2017, ACET in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), held th... more On 11th December 2017, ACET in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), held the first substantive working session for the Manufacturing Chapter of the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT). The session aimed to foster discussions between government officials, the private sector and other stakeholders in order to build a consensus on core Chapter objectives, identify regional and country-specific issues, discuss actions taken by countries to date, and obtain feedback on challenges faced. Those in attendance sought to identify workable solutions to common problems faced by African countries in industrialising. Progress made in PACT will be presented at the African Transformation Forum in 2018, to be attended by global thought leaders, key private sector actors, active civil society groups, and high-level governmental and intergovernmental organisation representatives, with the aim to inform policy.
This paper analyses the impact of GVC linkages on product upgrading using the Indian firm-level d... more This paper analyses the impact of GVC linkages on product upgrading using the Indian firm-level dataset Prowess, and methodologies of System-GMM and Propensity score matching. Defining product upgrading as a movement towards more sophisticated products, we use Haussmann’s product sophistication index to calculate a sales-weighted average sophistication level of Indian manufacturing firms in the period 2000/01-2014/15. The first section of the paper empirically investigates whether GVC firms produce more sophisticated goods than non-GVC firms. In the next section, we take the sub-sample of GVC firms to analyse the impact of depth of GVC integration on firm-level sophistication. Lastly, the study draws on Gereffi’s (2005)) governance framework and quantifies different types of governance structures to analyse how power asymmetries can impact the sophistication levels of developing country supplier firms. The study finds that the on average, Indian firms participating in GVCs produce more sophisticated goods than non-GVC firms, and increasing GVC integration significantly and positively impacts firm level sophistication. These results lend empirical support to the learning by importing and exporting hypothesis. However, our results also show that firms that link into Captive global value chains produce significantly less sophisticated goods than firms linking into Relational chains.
Digital trade is increasingly touted as a key pathway for mitigating economic losses from COVID-1... more Digital trade is increasingly touted as a key pathway for mitigating economic losses from COVID-19. On the one hand, the pandemic has accelerated the scope of a digital-led recovery; on the other, the existing digital divide across countries has been exacerbated by a sudden and increased reliance on digital technologies. This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the contribution digital trade can make in supporting a post-COVID economic recovery in the Commonwealth, and to situate this within the context of the diversity of challenges involved in growing digital trade and expanding the digital economy in Commonwealth countries. Analyses are presented for (i) trade in information and communications technology (ICT) and digital goods; (ii) trade in ICT and ICT-enabled services; and (iii) e-commerce.
The European Journal of Development Research, 2021
This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in Gl... more This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in Global Value Chains (GVCs). Analysis is done for a sample of Indian manufacturing GVC firms in the period 2001–2015 from the firm-level database Prowess, using the methodology of System Generalised Method of Moments. Product upgrading is captured by a novel sales-weighted average product sophistication indicator constructed at the firm level. Digitalisation is captured through a digital capability index, constructed using principal component analysis, which draws information on both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ digital assets for firms. Empirical results indicate that an increase in digital capability of an Indian GVC firm has a significant and positive impact on its product sophistication, implying that by investing in digital capabilities, Indian manufacturing firms can produce better and more sophisticated products in GVCs, enabling them to upgrade and climb up the value-chain ladder. Firms that a...
In this paper, we analyse the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Africa's trade in dig... more In this paper, we analyse the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Africa's trade in digitizable products, digitally deliverable services (DDSs), and e-commerce, and we outline the challenges of a digitally led recovery from the pandemic for African countries. The analysis is based on macro- and micro-level data and a review of extant literature. We find that almost 60% of the global exports of digital products in 2020 originated from the EU, with another 16% from North America. Africa's share in global exports of digital products, by contrast, was less than 1%. In the case of intra-Africa trade, exports of digital products are concentrated in just a few countries. Online supply in services is found to be more resilient to negative shocks from the pandemic compared to other modes of supply. We also find that e-commerce has important potential for economic recovery, but that its impact in Africa is constrained by high internet costs, weaknesses in postal services and cap...
On 11th December 2017, ACET in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), held th... more On 11th December 2017, ACET in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), held the first substantive working session for the Manufacturing Chapter of the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT). The session aimed to foster discussions between government officials, the private sector and other stakeholders in order to build a consensus on core Chapter objectives, identify regional and country-specific issues, discuss actions taken by countries to date, and obtain feedback on challenges faced. Those in attendance sought to identify workable solutions to common problems faced by African countries in industrialising. Progress made in PACT will be presented at the African Transformation Forum in 2018, to be attended by global thought leaders, key private sector actors, active civil society groups, and high-level governmental and intergovernmental organisation representatives, with the aim to inform policy.
This paper analyses the impact of GVC linkages on product upgrading using the Indian firm-level d... more This paper analyses the impact of GVC linkages on product upgrading using the Indian firm-level dataset Prowess, and methodologies of System-GMM and Propensity score matching. Defining product upgrading as a movement towards more sophisticated products, we use Haussmann’s product sophistication index to calculate a sales-weighted average sophistication level of Indian manufacturing firms in the period 2000/01-2014/15. The first section of the paper empirically investigates whether GVC firms produce more sophisticated goods than non-GVC firms. In the next section, we take the sub-sample of GVC firms to analyse the impact of depth of GVC integration on firm-level sophistication. Lastly, the study draws on Gereffi’s (2005)) governance framework and quantifies different types of governance structures to analyse how power asymmetries can impact the sophistication levels of developing country supplier firms. The study finds that the on average, Indian firms participating in GVCs produce more sophisticated goods than non-GVC firms, and increasing GVC integration significantly and positively impacts firm level sophistication. These results lend empirical support to the learning by importing and exporting hypothesis. However, our results also show that firms that link into Captive global value chains produce significantly less sophisticated goods than firms linking into Relational chains.
Digital trade is increasingly touted as a key pathway for mitigating economic losses from COVID-1... more Digital trade is increasingly touted as a key pathway for mitigating economic losses from COVID-19. On the one hand, the pandemic has accelerated the scope of a digital-led recovery; on the other, the existing digital divide across countries has been exacerbated by a sudden and increased reliance on digital technologies. This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the contribution digital trade can make in supporting a post-COVID economic recovery in the Commonwealth, and to situate this within the context of the diversity of challenges involved in growing digital trade and expanding the digital economy in Commonwealth countries. Analyses are presented for (i) trade in information and communications technology (ICT) and digital goods; (ii) trade in ICT and ICT-enabled services; and (iii) e-commerce.
The European Journal of Development Research, 2021
This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in Gl... more This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in Global Value Chains (GVCs). Analysis is done for a sample of Indian manufacturing GVC firms in the period 2001–2015 from the firm-level database Prowess, using the methodology of System Generalised Method of Moments. Product upgrading is captured by a novel sales-weighted average product sophistication indicator constructed at the firm level. Digitalisation is captured through a digital capability index, constructed using principal component analysis, which draws information on both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ digital assets for firms. Empirical results indicate that an increase in digital capability of an Indian GVC firm has a significant and positive impact on its product sophistication, implying that by investing in digital capabilities, Indian manufacturing firms can produce better and more sophisticated products in GVCs, enabling them to upgrade and climb up the value-chain ladder. Firms that a...
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Papers by Karishma Banga