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Services play a role in global value chains in many ways, similar to goods. But services deserve special attention because of how they are transacted, how they affect downstream sectors, how they are regulated, and how international cooperation can contribute to integrating national markets. Databases on trade in value added, which cover only cross-border transactions in services, reveal a high and growing share of services in trade in value added across countries and industries. Although international transactions in services that take place through foreign investment are difficult to measure, their economic impact can be estimated. The resulting improved access to financial, communications, and transport services facilitates the emergence of global value chains, enhances downstream manufacturing firms' productivity, and shifts the pattern of comparative advantage toward sectors intensive in these services. Despite significant unilateral liberalization, service markets in many countries remain protected by restrictions on the entry of foreign services and service providers, as well as discretionary and discriminatory regulatory requirements. International cooperation in services has attempted to follow the example of reciprocal market opening for goods, but this approach has delivered little incremental liberalization. More could be achieved through greater emphasis on international regulatory cooperation.

Global Value Chains --- Services

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The information and communications technology sector has undergone a dynamic process of globalization and fragmentation in the past few decades, leading to the creation of global value chains. Global value chains are populated by a constellation of specialized actors collectively responsible for bringing goods and services to market. Most prominently, these key actors include lead firms (brands), contract manufacturers, platform leaders, and increasingly, information and communications technology services and information and communications technology-enabled services providers. Like other emerging markets, Vietnam is coming to play an important role in this global industry. The recent influx of foreign investors, driven by the country's low wages and easy access to regional supply chains, as well as the emergence of various local information and communications technology services and information and communications technology-enabled services firms opens opportunities, yet raises important questions for policy makers about how best to leverage global engagement for local capacity building. This paper situates Vietnam in the global information and communications technology industry, and identifies several constraints to future growth, including the limited availability and quality of trained information and communications technology professionals, ineffective supplier development initiatives, and weak entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially in management skills. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations and forward-looking statements aimed at helping Vietnam move into higher-value activities in the coming years. The analysis is based on relevant statistics published by the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, Government of Vietnam, and Vietnamese industry associations, as well as interviews and site visits conducted by the authors during January 19-30, 2015.

Global Value Chains --- Industrial Policy --- Information And Communication Technologies

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In 2018, the World Bank launched the Human Capital Index (HCI), which is designed to highlight how improvements in current health and education outcomes will shape the productivity of the next generation of workers. The HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to have by age 18, in view of the risks of poor education and poor health that prevail in the country where she or he was born. This update presents the ECA- HCI, which extends the HCI in two dimensions to make it more relevant for countries in Europe and Central Asia. First, the extension includes quality-adjusted years of tertiary education, in addition to basic education. Second, going beyond the child stunting and adult survival rates, the ECA-HCI proxies health status by including risk factors such as obesity, smoking, and heavy drinking, which are prevalent in the region. This exercise reveals that a child born today in the average country in the region would be only half as productive as he/she could have been with full tertiary education and full health.

Brain Drain --- Economic Forecasts --- Global Value Chains --- Labor Mobility --- Migration --- Shift To High-Skill Intensive Report

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With slowing global growth and increasing uncertainty clouding the global economic prospects,the Europe and Central Asia region faces a more challenging context than previously envisioned.Growth in the emerging markets and developing economies in the region slowed in 2018 and isprojected to decline to further in 2019, before picking up in 2020-21. What challenges does theregion face in the coming year? In the long run, how should policy makers design policies thatboost growth and help individuals and firms adjust to the interplay between globalization andtechnological change? Within the global context, this update summarizes the recent developmentsand outlook for the region. The focus of this issue is on financial inclusion in the region, as one ofthe important policy areas that can promote long-term growth, reduce poverty, and enhanceresilience to shocks.

Economic Forecasts --- Global Value Chains --- Shift To High-Skill Intensive Report --- Tradable Services --- Trade --- Transition

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EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This original volume brings together academics and activists from Europe to think creatively about the social and environmental imbalances of global production and how to reform the current economic system.

Capitalism. --- Globalization --- Economic aspects. --- Market economy --- Economics --- Profit --- Capital --- Academic activism; Capitalism; Co-creation; Global value chains; Sustainability; sustainable growth