Concept of Vertical Specialization: a new view at world trade and position of different countries and regions in it

Abstract

Expansion of countries' participation in world trade which occurs along with the tendency of strengthening of national economies' regionalization, make it necessary to reconsider current approaches of evaluation of the level of involvement and participation of different countries and regions in creation of added value of goods and services, traded on world markets. In this respect the concept of vertical specialization is getting more urgent, as it allows to estimate the real contribution of every country in world merchandise exports. The article gives the definition of the concept of «vertical specialization», provides an assessment of the volume of world trade in intermediate goods, examines the place of individual countries and regions in this process. The assessment of the real involvement of countries in world trade in high-tech goods is explained on the example of China. The article includes characteristic of the Russian Federation as an active participant of world merchandise and service trade, including the position of country in the framework of vertical specialization. All the above allows to make a conclusion about the necessity of creation and expansion of a statistical database on foreign trade of all countries of the world which would take into account the role of individual countries in world trade, based on their real contribution to the process of creating added value in the production chain.