Structure of Comparative Advantage for Japan, South Korea, and China in East Asia Based on Progress, Changes in the Shift to a Modular Product Architecture

         
Author Name KUWAHARA Satoru  (Toyo Engineering Corporation)
Creation Date/NO. January 2011 11-J-001
Research Project Empirical Analysis of Change in the Comparative Advantage Structure in Trade in East Asia under the Modularization of Product Architecture
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Abstract

Japan, South Korea and China are the major economic players in East Asia, with each country at a different stage of development. The three are rapidly deepening their ties amid economic globalization, and this makes it significant to study what factors are decisive to the division of labor among them. This paper focuses on product architecture to demonstrate that there is some correlation between the level of modularization and the comparative advantage among the three countries. It also reveals that changes in China’s comparative advantage structure are thought to have had a relatively greater impact on South Korea.