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China is the manufacturing superpower

cepr.org

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Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#2

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

The GGR measure suggests they have a self sustaining economy to some extent. This manufacturing capacity, even if it’s “only” a third of global capacity, is a danger to free societies. It’ll ultimately be used to force the CCP’s authoritarian control on Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and probably others.

Unfortunately I don’t know what short term options there are to contain the CCP’s power and control over this capability. The conclusion of this informative article says this:

> China is now the world’s sole manufacturing giant. As its recent success in electric vehicles demonstrates, its wide and deep industrial base can help it gain a competitive edge in virtually all sectors. The exceptions are the most advanced sectors, where the G7 countries still dominate.

> Politicians who indulge in loose talk about decoupling from China need a clear-eyed look at the facts. As we have shown (Baldwin et al. 2023), all the major manufacturers in the world source at least 2% of all their industrial inputs from China. Decoupling would be difficult, to say the least.

Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#3

Post by advael »

Huh. For all the claims that US manufacturing is down, it does seem that if we adjusted per-capita it's on par with China based on the figures presented here, which I really didn't expect to see

I'm no expert and of course I have no clue if it even makes sense to measure per-capita manufacturing share, and also assume a lot of other factors matter here - what kinds of things we're manufacturing, how much those products serve domestic versus export markets, etc - but it's still surprising

Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#4

Post by euroderf »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #2

The GGR measure suggests they have a self sustaining economy to some extent. This manufacturing capacity, even if it’s “only” a third of global capacity, is a danger to free societies. It’ll ultimately be used to force the CCP’s authoritarian control on Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and probably others. Unfortunately I don’t know what short term options there are to contain the CCP’s power and control over this…

There is no political will - or sufficient tax revenue - to subsidise a broad-based OECD manufacturing economy. Factorio-China produces more than the world (or China itself) can affordably buy. Let's see if it's all sustainable. Are many American homes not warehouses for Chinese overproduction ?

Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#5

Post by defrost » 

  Six nations manufacture at least 3% of the world total.

  China is followed by the US, Japan, Germany, India, and South Korea.

  Note how the world has changed. Only three of these are long-established industrial economies; the other three are newly industrialised economies.

  Four of the G7 don’t make the cut.
s/ 3% / 63% /

Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#6

Post by elashri »

advael wrote: post #3

Huh. For all the claims that US manufacturing is down, it does seem that if we adjusted per-capita it's on par with China based on the figures presented here, which I really didn't expect to see I'm no expert and of course I have no clue if it even makes sense to measure per-capita manufacturing share, and also assume a lot of other factors matter here - what kinds of things we're manufacturing, how much those produc…

> it does seem that if we adjusted per-capita it's on par with China based on the figures presented here

Ironically this will make Taiwan the manufacturing superpower if it is calculated per-capita. Which is the other china (I am just referring to the history of both PRC and Taiwan claiming to be the historical China successor).

And the claims that US manifacruting is down is correct because it used to be much higher percentage wise from the world total manifacruting power. China was only about 3% when people who are now 30yrs were born. That's massive increase in manifacturing share. There is a discussion about domestic vs export in the study too that you might find interesting..

Re: China is the manufacturing superpower

#9

Post by anovikov »

defrost wrote: post #5

Six nations manufacture at least 3% of the world total. China is followed by the US, Japan, Germany, India, and South Korea. Note how the world has changed. Only three of these are long-established industrial economies; the other three are newly industrialised economies. Four of the G7 don’t make the cut. s/ 3% / 63% /

It's not surprising: everyone is using the same manufacturing equipment now, due to free markets and trade. So it's only about numbers of workers.
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