News
Press releases
Events
The last five databases
Themes
The FPB’s studies cover 11 main themes: Energy, Environmental economic accounts and analyses, International economy, Labour market, Macroeconomic forecasts and analyses, Public finances, Sectoral accounts and analyses, Social protection, demography and prospective studies, Structural studies, Sustainable development, Transport.
This paper estimates the Armington elasticity for the Belgian economy for different levels of (dis)aggregation. At a highly disaggregated level covering about 4,500 HS products, the estimated value of the elasticity ranges from 1.12 to 70.69. Across CPA product groups, the value of the elasticity ranges from 2.40 to 16.63. The corresponding aggregate elasticity ranges from 1.98 to 2.48.
The integration of the global economy has progressed over the past decades through fast growing international trade and cross-border investment. It has been pushed by technological developments, trade liberalisation and the opening up of the economies of big countries like China, India and Brazil. Nowadays, the production of many goods and services is organised in global production networks. For Belgium, this may lead to offshoring, i.e. the relocation abroad of economic activities, but it also provides the chance to attract new activities.
What are the consequences for Belgium of this enhanced economic integration? What determines our competitiveness? Do we need to fear massive relocation of jobs? How do Belgian firms integrate in global production chains? What are the possible policy responses to these challenges?
These issues are addressed in FPB work on international trade and offshoring.
Federal Planning Bureau
