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We present a new disaggregated dataset on Germany's exports and imports from 1880 to 1913. The data covers trade in both quantity and value at the product level. It thus comprises the universe of the data in terms of products and trade partners, at annual frequency. To ensure comparability over time and to data from other countries, the historical product categories are re-classified according to the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC, Rev. 2 and Rev. 4). Moreover, we integrate Hamburg and Bremen into the German trade statistics – two important port cities, which were not covered by the major German trade records until 1888. We describe the new data in terms of five stylized facts and make suggestions for its use in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the biomedical industry in various countries, the global trade of biomedical products is increasingly active. Based on the biomedical products trade data in the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database from 2000 to 2020, social network analysis is applied to reveal the structural characteristics of the global biomedical products trade network and the evolution of China's position. The study shows that: ①The global biomedical products trade network is closely linked, with a relatively stable trade network structure and the characteristics of a "small world" network. ②The spatial distribution of nodes in the global biomedical products trade network is uneven, with high node degree countries located at the core of the network and little network heterogeneity. ③The core-edge structure of the global biomedical products trade network has changed from the "four-legged" situation formed by the US, Germany, France and Belgium to the "three-legged" situation formed by the US, France and Belgium. The community structure has evolved in a trend of fragmentation followed by restructuring. ④China's position in the global biomedical products trade network is gradually increasing, its role as a hub is obvious, and its dependence on the major global biomedical products trading countries is gradually decreasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Central Asian Economic Review is the property of Narxoz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a growing demand for statistics to better understand the globalisation that is accelerating due to the removal of barriers in international trade and to technological progress. Key players in globalisation are the multinational enterprise (MNE) groups that have increased in number and complexity and need to be properly represented by macroeconomic and business statistics. To deal with this need, the European Union Member States, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and Eurostat have collaborated to create the EuroGroups Register (EGR). This paper explores the use of web intelligence to improve the accuracy and completeness of the EGR, which makes use of tools for extracting and exploring information from the World Wide Web. Additionally, it presents a methodology to assess the quality of the information retrieved from the web, based on an ex-post comparison with the official information contained in the EGR. The results provide indications about the possibility of using web intelligence tools to support MNE group monitoring and to complete the EGR data in cases where this information is missing. Finally, it dives deeply into the approach to harness Wikipedia as a data source and into the techniques and methodology used to extract data from this source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contaduría y Administración is the property of Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion-Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although Hong Kong's entrepôt role in China's foreign trade has long received scholarly attention, there is a relative paucity of studies on China's indirect exports via Hong Kong in the Mao era (1949–1976). Using data from Chinese and Hong Kong trade statistics, this study estimates China's indirect exports via Hong Kong in the 1950s and calculates their share in China's export trade. The principal findings are threefold. First, their value, destination, and commodity composition changed markedly. Second, their share in China's export trade declined during the decade, but the speed and extent of the decline varied by destination. In particular, their share in China's exports to the non-Communist world initially increased from 1950 to 1952 and subsequently decreased. Third, their share in China's exports to the non-Communist world was slightly higher in the 1950s than in the 1980s. These findings support recent historical studies indicating that Hong Kong played an essential role in selling Chinese goods to non-Communist countries during the early Mao era. Fundamentally, this study modifies the widely held view that Hong Kong's entrepôt role in China's foreign trade was much less important in the Mao era than in the post-1978 reform era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the policy effect of belt and road initiative (BRI) on China's import. We use highly detailed, product‐country level data from China Customs Trade Statistics Database which covers 5364 types of products and 201 economies from 2010 to 2017 to investigate the policy effects and the underlying mechanisms. We find that the BRI has significantly boosted China's imports from countries along the route. The BRI have significant expansion effect on imports of existing products as well as positive effects on imports of new product import and product exit, which means BRI may also contribute to the optimization of product structure and growth in value of China's imports. Moreover, BRI have positive effects on both general trade and processing trade. Mechanism analysis shows that policy coordination, cultural affinity, and maritime transportation connectivity have strong explanatory power on the policy effects of BRI. We also find that the BRI has played a "boosting" role for import boost for new RTA partner as well as non‐RTA members along the route. We further examine the impact of BRI on global bilateral trade, and the result shows that BRI has generally promoted bilateral trade among all countries along the route, not limited to origin‐China pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Indonesia is one of the countries exporting caught, cultivated, and frozen shrimp to both developed and developing countries. Previously, the frozen shrimp export data was categorized based on the countries it was exported to. However, the list of frozen shrimp exports did not include the export levels. This research aims to explore the application of machine learning to analyze the frozen shrimp export data from the main destination countries using the K-Medoids cluster. The data for this research was sourced from the Bulletin of Foreign Trade Export Statistics documents by Product Group and Country, January 2023. The data used in this study covers the period from 2022 to 2023 and includes research variables such as net weight of goods (in tons) and FOB value (free on board). The cluster analysis revealed the formation of two clusters: one with high export levels and another with medium and low export levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Koopman et al. (2014) and Los et al. (2016) decomposed gross exports into various value-added components by adopting the input–output assumption of disconnection between production and final demand. Such an assumption, however, neglects the ability of production inflows to generate income and consumption, and therefore additional impacts on production. To achieve a more complete understanding of the role played by trade, this article presents a method for quantifying the value added of exports that reflects the linkages between production and private consumption. In the tradition of Miyazawa (1968, 1976) and Sonis and Hewings (1973), the proposed model endogenously defines household consumption in the output determination, thus improving the way in which the interdependencies between income and output generation processes are revealed. The proposal is directly applicable empirically through available world trade databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Economic History Research / Investigaciones de Historia Económica is the property of Asociacion Espanola de Historia Economica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

En este artículo se ofrece un retrato de la heterogeneidad de las empresas asociadas a actividades internacionales. Se analiza el impacto de los márgenes extensivos de las exportaciones e importaciones y del comercio con diferentes tipos socios en el desempeño de las empresas. Para ello, se utilizan datos administrativos de aduanas nacionales y de las encuestas industriales del Uruguay para el período 1997-2005. Se encuentra que el comercio está muy concentrado y que las empresas que se dedican a la exportación y la importación registran un mejor desempeño. Además, el margen extensivo de productos de las importaciones y el margen extensivo de países de las exportaciones inciden favorablemente en dos variables clave: la productividad total de los factores y el empleo. Por último, se observa que las empresas que comercian tanto con países de ingreso alto como con los socios del Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) obtienen mejores resultados. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín Económico de ICE is the property of S.G.E.E.I.P.C., Secretaria de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Boletín Económico de ICE is the property of S.G.E.E.I.P.C., Secretaria de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Boletín Económico de ICE is the property of S.G.E.E.I.P.C., Secretaria de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Protein food products, especially chicken meat, are the most important sources of animal protein in Egypt, and the rise in red meat prices has led to an increase in the demand for white meat, and since poultry production is characterized by a short production period and fast turnover of capital, this requires or requires increased attention. In this industry by increasing the quantity produced from it for the needs of consumers and at prices suitable for the entry of members of society, as the prices of these products have risen significantly in the recent period, which prompted the state to import large quantities of chicken meat due to the inability of local production to cover the increasing local consumption as a result of the increase. The research problem is the failure to achieve self-sufficiency in chicken meat, which prompted the state to import from abroad to cover this deficit. During the study of the development of productive and economic indicators of chicken meat, and models for the optimal distribution of Egypt's imports of chicken meat using linear programming, and The research relied on the published data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the Economic Affairs Sector, the Central Administration for Agricultural Economy and Statistics, the Food Balance Bulletin in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and global trade data from the United Nations website UN Comtrade, and the linear programming method was used to reach the optimal distribution of imports Egypt chicken meat. The research has reached several results, including: 1- An increase in the average amount of local production, the amount of local consumption, and the average per capita annual increase, a statistically significant annual increase, and an annual decrease in the percentage of self-sufficiency that is statistically significant, amounting to about 6.2%, 6.3% 30.38% and 3.5% of the annual average for each of them, respectively. 2- The amount of Egyptian imports of chicken meat amounted to about 105,660 thousand tons, with a value of about 146,516 million dollars, as an average for the period (2015-2019). 3- According to the results of solving the linear programming models, the five proposed models in the research have achieved the goal of decreasing the value of Egyptian imports of chicken meat and achieving savings (return) in the country’s trade balance, with a value of about 111.74, 122.77, 126.4, 142.61, 112.84 million dollars, respectively, with a savings rate (return) of about 23.7%, 16.2%, 13.73%, 2.67%, and 23% over the current geographical distribution, respectively. Accordingly, the research recommends restructuring the geographical distribution of Egypt's imports of chicken meat according to the best model, the second model, to preserve all markets, in order to achieve a decrease in the value of imports, with a focus on the market of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Polish market due to the low import price of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on five years of capacity building designed to improve the skills of producers and users of international trade statistics all over the world, with a particular focus on developing countries. This training programme is a joint activity between UNCTAD, UNSD and WTO, based on an innovative (Blended Learning) approach, combining e-learning and face-to-face workshops. It is adapted to local needs, uses the pool of experts working at international organisations, and ensures continuous review and enhancement of the applied methods and tools. The results reviewed in this paper confirm that the program has reached the target population. Furthermore, it has global coverage and is gender-balanced. During the five years since the programme has begun, participation in the courses has increased considerably; success rates have risen from 72% to 79% and satisfaction rates from 77% to 88%. Plans for the future include delivering training in additional languages, increasing interactivity, and adding new components addressing specific training needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we descriptively investigate the Covid‐19 pandemic's early impact on the fruit and vegetable supply chain in Senegal, using trade statistics and survey data collected through online questionnaires and telephone interviews with smallholder farmers, agro‐industrial companies, agricultural workers, traders, importers, and consumers. Our results point to major differences in how Covid‐19 and containment measures disrupt supply chains between the modern export‐oriented supply chain that is centered around a few large vertically integrated agro‐industrial companies, and the more traditional domestic‐oriented supply chain with a large number of smallholder farmers and informal traders—with the former being more resilient to the Covid‐19 shock. We show that both the modern and the traditional supply chain innovate to cope with the Covid‐19 containment measures. While our study is subject to some limitations, our findings bring nuance in the debate on the resilience of the food system to the pandemic, and have important policy and research implications toward international trade, social safety measures, and food and nutrition security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of intangibles has brought significant challenges for our understanding of capitalism and international trade. This paper develops a framework for the measurement of global trade that integrates trade in intangibles and trade in goods and services to analyse the global trade imbalance. Through in‐depth discussions of the five modes through which trade in tangibles are carried out, it develops an integrated framework for the measurement of international trade. Applying this framework to the estimation of trade imbalance of a group of the world's top innovative countries, we see significant adjustments of their trade balance. The overall trade deficit of the United States reduces by nearly half of its size from USD763 billion to 390 billion in 2015, the year for which we have the latest trade in value‐added data. The paper argues that the true picture of global trade imbalance is of much smaller scale than the traditional trade statistics suggest. Policy responses to rebalance should be discussed using a framework that fully incorporates different types of trade activities in the twenty‐first century. Implications of the new conundrum of globalisation are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). Thousands of studies rely on disaggregated trade data, but the quality of these studies' unit of analysis—bins of goods categories arranged in certain hierarchies—is rarely studied. It is often unclear what a product or a variety really is. Meanwhile, increasingly granular trade data from before the 1950s are lifted from the archives that require standardization. The SITC provides a framework for that. We make four contributions: First, we work out the specificities of each SITC revision, analyze how revisions are related, and provide improved correspondence tables between all revisions. We show that revision choice can affect the analysis of historical trade data. Second, we propose basic rules for translating historical, unstandardized trade statistics to the SITC. Third, we translate German product-level trade data from the first globalization to both SITC revisions 2 and 4 in order to find out which revision may be more applicable to historical data. Fourth, we then develop metrics to quantitatively assess our translation exercise. We argue that despite inevitable imperfections, applying the SITC yields useful results, even on a very disaggregated level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Export is very important for the growth of economy as it leads to the gaining of foreign exchange which helps in the growth of the economy. More growth of the economy leads to more prosperous nation. The main objective of the present study is to make a comprehensive analysis of India's agricultural exports growth in the post-liberalization period. (i) To analyze the trends and growth rate of agricultural exports in India during 1991-92 to 2016-17. (ii) To examine the impact of post liberalization on agricultural exports in India. (iii) To identify the determinants of agricultural exports in India. The present study is based entirely on secondary data. The study focuses on the impact of post liberalization on agricultural exports in India. The data for this study have been collected from secondary sources of information mainly from the journals, international trade data source such as Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), World Trade Organization Trade Statistics 2017, Hand Book of statistics on Indian Economy 2017-18, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), World Bank, United Nations Trade Data, Commodity Trade Statistics. United Nations Trade Data, Commodity Trade Statistics, World Bank database. The study used multiple regression model mainly for examining the impact of post liberalization on agricultural exports in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article deals with the problems of structural changes in the international division of labour. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the world trade statistics and reports by WTO. Findings: The purpose of this article is to analyse the evolution of global international trade after the crisis of 2007 with a view to find out the new balance between sectors and individual partners. It concludes that after 2007, the international exchange was growing by increasing the demand for technologically advanced products, diversity and services. Trade development increased the position of New Industrial Countries in international division of labour due to global value chains. Originality/value: The publication verifies the theories of international trade, while at the same time giving a response to the thesis concerning which theories correspond to modern reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to international trade, it is still difficult to find regional trade statistics within a nation. Given that the gravity model continues to be very popular, we test two gravity-RAS approaches used for interregional trade estimation: a standard one and an extended version, which additionally estimates intra-regional flows. We assess the accuracy with the help of two measures and for different sectoral aggregation levels. For that, we use the survey-based 2005 interregional input–output table of Japan as a benchmark. Results show high overall accuracy levels for the standard approach, better than when using international data, albeit with heterogeneous errors for sectors and regions. We further find that the results of a multiregional input-output model are highly sensitive to the trade estimation approach and that errors slightly increase for increasing sectoral disaggregation levels. Results from an experiment based on a random number generator show how RAS influences results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tradability of services increases and transforms business processes around the world. This article illustrates the statistical tools that are available today to analyse this development. It describes global datasets on trade in services drawn from official statistics, shows experimental datasets on trade in services by partner or by mode of supply, and sketches out indicators that depict deviations from global trends. Possible statistical frames to measure new phenomena such as digital trade or sources for analysing regulations are described as well as research issues to help improve trade in services statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A slowdown in global trade activity due to COVID-19 has led to a reduction in commercial shipping traffic into the Port of Vancouver. The Ocean Networks Canada observatory system provides researchers real-time access to oceanographic data from a wide range of instruments including hydrophones located along the offshore and inshore approaches to Vancouver. Measurements of power spectral density at 100 Hz from four of these bottom mounted hydrophones are presented, along with AIS data and shipping and trade statistics to assess to what extent the economic impact of COVID-19 can be observed acoustically and in near real-time. The quarterly trend in median weekly noise power in the shipping band of frequencies shows that a reduction in noise commensurate with the economic slowdown has been observed at three of the four hydrophone stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of International Affairs (04866096) is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Optimum: Journal of Economics & Management Sciences / Ekonomi ve Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Optimum: Journal of Economics & Management Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Misreporting tricks of different sorts applied to the transfer of goods between different countries are typically exploited by criminals worldwide for money laundering ends. The main international anti‐money laundering organisations started paying attention to this phenomenon, dubbed "trade‐based money laundering" (TBML), a long time ago, but the failure to develop appropriate analytical tools has reportedly dogged preventive actions. Nonetheless, literature has widely advocated the possibility that the analysis of inconsistencies in mirrored bilateral trade data could provide some help. By building on previous contributions in the field, this work sets up a model factoring in the main structural determinants of discrepancies between mirrored data concerning Italy's 2010 to 2013 external trade at a highly detailed (6‐digit) level of goods classification for each partner country. Point estimates of freight costs are used to net each observation of the corresponding cif/fob discrepancy. The regression estimates are then deployed in order to compute TBML risk indicators at a country/4‐digit product level. Based on the indicators, rankings of countries and product lines can be compiled, which may be used for a risk‐driven search of potential illegal commercial transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one of the major producers and consumer of cardamom. The export performance of cardamom has witnessed several changes over the past few decades. This paper analyses the trends and performance of cardamom commodity from India. Using secondary data from the Spices Board and the Ministry of Commerce along with international trade data from the United Nations International Trade Statistics Database, the trend in the domestic production and export markets is clearly drawn out. The changes in Revealed Comparative Advantage in cardamom exports over the years is used to study the level and changes in the export competitiveness of the commodity. The study identifies a revival in export competiveness in the recent years along with an increase in the share of global cardamom exports. The highly concentrated production of cardamom, the preference for Indian cardamom in Middle East economies and the revival of export competitiveness can benefit the Indian cardamom producers. The study argues for strengthening research investments in cardamom for sustaining and enhancing the benefits from cardamom exports from the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern customs administrations aim to both facilitate legal trade and combat fraud. To meet this dual objective, many customs administrations in developing countries must give risk management a highly prominent role. In this context of modernisation, this paper first provides stylised facts on the performance of the customs controls carried out at the Gabon border. Then, we compare Gabon′s granular import customs data with international trade statistics. Based on this comparison, we identify undetected fraud and present a methodology to target ex post audits. Finally, we define indicators to monitor the performance of customs valuation controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses some differences in marketing between the U.S. and Canada in the 1950's. Canada has not established a marketing education program at the university level. Access to government statistics is limited in comparison with the U.S. Canada relies significantly on exports which affects their marketing efforts. Many Canadian brands advertised in U.S. publications are not available to U.S. consumers. The cost of obtaining marketing research is higher in Canada than in the U.S. It is estimated that the readership of advertisements is higher in Canada but that the cost of advertising bilingually is a hindrance.

Copyright of Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian & Latin American Economic History is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The rapid growth of the construction industry prompts the interregional imports of building materials, leading to the embodied carbon (EC) transfers. Previous studies evaluated trade-driven EC through Input-Output analysis or focused on individual products, lacking the detailed analysis of EC of building material at the product level. This study examines the EC in the import of 52 building material commodities to Hong Kong in 2012–2021. The EC is calculated by multiplying the quantities of imported building materials by the emission factor for their production in the exporters. The import quantity data are obtained and validated by local and international trading statistics, while the emission factors are collected from the literature and relevant life cycle database (e.g. Ecoinvent). The results show that the EC was between 3.18 and 6.76 Mt/a over the ten years, equivalent to 7.5–17.7% of operational emissions in Hong Kong's construction sector. The EC transfer to Mainland China is found the most significant, accounting for 58.7–76.1% of the total, followed by that to Japan, Taiwan of China, and Vietnam. This uneven EC transfers mainly result from various quantities and types of imported materials from different exporters. The EC per import value is unevenly transferred, ranging from 4.05 to over 2000 g/HKD. The EC mitigation effects of the material efficiency measure were generally negative, ranging from −1.80 to 0.23 Mt. Meanwhile, the EC mitigation effects of the cleaner production measure of materials were continuously positive, from 0.03 to 0.33 Mt. This study proposes the methodology to quantify the trade-driven EC and support the classification of consumption-based responsibility of the construction sector in Hong Kong and beyond. • Embodied carbon (EC) of importing 52 types of building materials to HK was examined. • EC was calculated by multiplying the material import quantity by emission factor. • The EC of imported building materials to HK ranged 3.18–6.76 Mt/a in 2012–2021. • Mainland China received 58.7–76.1% of EC transfer of HK's building material imports. • Material efficiency measure had the overall mitigation effects of EC by −5.56 Mt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity fuels the international wildlife trade, much of which is illegal and/or unsustainable. Border agents are typically overburdened, having to manually inspect import documents to ensure the legality of contents for often ≥100 shipments per day. Delaying shipments for inspection must be balanced against maintaining live animal welfare and reducing undue costs for traders. Biodiversity within the wildlife trade cannot be accurately estimated because of the multiple harmonization systems used to organize business transactions. Harmonizing wildlife trade data ignores species level classifications and aggregates data at less granular taxonomic or commodity level groupings. Here we describe a Real-Time Automated Species-Level Detection (RTASLD) system that assesses shipment declarations and invoices to collect data on species being traded. We use this to demonstrate how taxonomic imprecision on declarations and invoices can blur trade statistics and, at worst, be intentionally manipulated to conceal illegal wildlife. We address how taxonomic imprecision can interplay with Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed species. When only one or a subset of species within a genus are CITES listed, referred to as a Mixed-CITES-Genus, illegal trade can occur by identifying only to the genus level, and not to the species level which requires a declaration and CITES paperwork. RTASLD can be used to help border wildlife inspectors identify increased risk or presence of illegal wildlife trade that is occurring. Accurate species-level collection of trade data will help to better track biodiversity, stop illegal wildlife trade and maintain business expedience. [Display omitted] • Harmonized codes to increase efficiency in wildlife trade create misinformation in databases. • Misinformation can be Intentional to increase the likelihood and ease of illegal trade. • Real-time automated species level detection can be used to reduce misinformation. • Complex genera with endangered and common species create a unique challenge. • Policy for biodiversity science can maintain business needs but not vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of global value chains (GVCs) characterized by the so-called “outsourcing”, “fragmentation production”, and “trade in tasks” has been considered one of the most important phenomena for the 21st century trade. GVCs also can play a decisive role in trade policy making. However, due to the increasing complexity and sophistication of international production networks, especially in the equipment manufacturing industry, conventional trade statistics and the corresponding trade indicators may give us a distorted picture of trade. This paper applies various network analysis tools to the new GVC accounting system proposed by Koopman et al. (2014) and Wang et al. (2013) in which gross exports can be decomposed into value-added terms through various routes along GVCs. This helps to divide the equipment manufacturing-related GVCs into some sub-networks with clear visualization. The empirical results of this paper significantly improve our understanding of the topology of equipment manufacturing-related GVCs as well as the interdependency of countries in these GVCs that is generally invisible from the traditional trade statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initiated in 2004, the RICardo project focuses on bilateral trade data of all the world's countries from the early nineteenth century to the eve of the Second World War. The project includes the construction of a database and the creation of a website. It is a pioneering work in the field of historical trade statistics that aims at providing easy-to-access research material to the scientific community and at attracting a wider public to the history of trade relationships. The article emphasizes the originality of the project and sums up its various aspects by reviewing previous trade databases, clarifying the main features of historical trade statistics, and describing the construction and use of the RICardo website. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]