Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Daily Show on Global Rebalancing

The reduction in the trade deficit means a shift in tradable goods production to the US. Or, as the Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi puts it: "you're telling me that we Americans have to make our own cheap plastic crap?"
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Wham-O Moves to America
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Even before China's recent decision to allow the Yuan to resume appreciating, increasing costs due to higher inflation meant it was becoming less undervalued in real terms.

Looking at the factory in the background suggests that Wham-O's manufacturing in the US is very capital-intensive, as standard trade theory would predict since the US is, relative to China, a capital abundant country (however, this may be an example of a violation of the "no factor intensity reversals" assumption...).

See also this report on the Daily Show's visit from Wham-O's local paper.

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