World export champion
World export champion is a political catchphrase that describes a state with the world's highest positive external contribution .
General
As a world champion in sport tops tables , a state tops the list of trade surpluses . The export world champion is therefore the economy with the largest export of goods . This means that its exports are higher than its imports and the difference between the two is in turn higher than that of other countries. The difference is called the external contribution or, in the case of the world export champion, specifically net export . The term "export world champion" is usually not used in technical jargon because it has a positive or negative connotation .
The monetary value of exports is often measured in US dollars or euros . Since fluctuations in exchange rates can inevitably have a strong influence on the statistics, the value of goods is sometimes determined alternatively in purchasing power parities . The national economy is usually understood to be the economy of a nation state , only rarely larger economic areas such as the European internal market .
history
Between 1900 and 2002 the United States were mostly export champions. Only between 1986 and 1988 and 1990 was the Federal Republic of Germany the world export champion in this phase. In 2000, Japan led with USD 99.7 billion, ahead of Germany with USD 77.9 billion. From 2003 to 2008, Germany was once again the world export champion. In 2009, the People's Republic of China was the world's first export champion.
The United States was second or third in goods export statistics from 2003 to 2010. The United Kingdom lost its longstanding second position to Germany in 1960 and its third position to Japan in 1971. This was third from 1971 to 2000 and between 2001 and 2003. China was third for the first time in 2004 and finished second in 2007 and 2008. After China's rise to become the world's export champion, Germany came second in 2009.
Germany was export world champion for a long time, especially because product quality / service quality (“ made in Germany ”), price-performance ratio , product innovations , improved production processes with the following increase in productivity , work motivation and state infrastructure fulfilled important basic conditions for this. These improved international competitiveness despite the increased labor costs and the revaluation of the DM . With the goods and services, know-how and technology were inevitably transferred, which served as models for imitation products abroad.
statistics
The countries with the highest net exports (only trade surplus) in 2019 were:
| Country | 2019 export surplus in billion US $ |
|---|---|
 People's Republic of China
|
+ 421.90 |
 Germany
|
+ 254.94 |
 Russia
|
+ 164.24 |
 Saudi Arabia
|
+ 126.70 |
 Netherlands
|
+ 73.26 |
 Ireland
|
+ 71.30 |
 Italy
|
+ 59.15 |
 Australia
|
+ 50.02 |
 Taiwan
|
+ 43.46 |
 Qatar
|
+ 41.29 |
The People's Republic of China has topped the list of export world champions since 2009, followed by Germany and Russia in 2019.
economic aspects
Of considerable importance in foreign trade is the question of the extent to which a state provides its services to other countries net or receives net services from abroad for its own use ; this question is answered by the external contribution. Economically, the world export champion deviates from the national goal of external balance, like all net exporting countries . With an external contribution of "zero", the gross domestic product (GDP) corresponds to the domestic use, with a net export abroad absorbs part of the domestic GDP, with a net import the home uses services from abroad. The external balance is therefore often used as a measure of external balance. The external balance can be a national objective, such as in Germany, where § 1 StabG requires the federal government and states the requirements of their economic and financial policies macroeconomic balance have to be observed. "The measures are to be taken in such a way that, within the framework of the market economy, they simultaneously contribute to the stability of the price level , a high level of employment and an external balance with steady and appropriate economic growth ". The EU Commission assumes an external balance in the EU member states as long as the current account surplus or current account deficit does not exceed the threshold of 6% of gross domestic product within 3 years.
In 2015, 123 countries worldwide had a trade deficit , but only 62 countries had a trade surplus . Both are lacking in external balance, because the trade deficit is also an imbalance. Equilibrium means that the balance of expenditure from imports and income from exports is "zero" in the medium term. Even an external balance of “zero” does not mean an external balance because the other partial balances can show surpluses or deficits.
A positive external contribution is usually offset by a net capital export because the net export of goods and services from abroad is not paid for in the form of a return delivery of goods and services. If, for example, the USA imports more from Germany than it exports to Germany itself, this makes Germany necessary to export capital to the USA (if the balance of payments is not settled via another sub-balance), be it that the USA is granted a loan from Germany , be it that German economic subjects buy a company in the USA so that the USA can use this income to pay for its import surplus vis-à-vis Germany, or similar forms of capital export. A sustained export surplus therefore leads to an increase in the net financial external assets , i.e. H. either to increase a net creditor position or to reduce a net debtor position, although not necessarily in relation to GDP.
A net export leads to increasing currency reserves . They arise from the current account surpluses of a state or economic area . Net exports can help reduce foreign currency debt. Conversely, net imports lead to the depletion of currency reserves because they have to be paid for in foreign currency , which puts a strain on the foreign exchange balance sheet and can contribute to an increase in national debt . Growing external imbalances are critically discussed as a possible cause of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards .
Imported intermediate goods and intermediate products that are further processed domestically and then exported are also considered exports, even if the German share of added value is very low. This is justifiable as long as the products only reach market maturity through further processing .
The title of “world export champion” is questionable. On the one hand, the countries rank differently if one uses the absolute export value or the net exports as a basis. On the other hand, the ranking is also influenced by the currency used . A completely different picture emerges if one takes service exports into account: In 2006, for example, it would not have been Germany but the USA that would have been the “export world champion”.
Germany's export orientation
The globally increasing trade in goods not only leads to an increase in exports or imports of finished goods, but also tends to lead to an increase in imported or exported intermediate consumption . It is questionable whether the relationship between the value of intermediate consumption and the value of export goods (the so-called vertical range of manufacture ) changes and, if so, how the consequences of this trend are to be assessed. Some economists such as Hans-Werner Sinn warn that Germany is degenerating into a bazaar economy in which domestic added value (i.e. the value of exported goods minus the value of imported goods required for production) declines sharply. The fact that Germany was export world champion from 2003 to 2005, but still had rising unemployment , is an indication of this thesis.
Critics of the thesis of the bazaar economy counter that around 75% of the value added to German export products is created in Germany. The vertical range of manufacture is still very significant. Therefore one cannot speak of a bazaar economy. In any case, this trend has to be accepted as an unalterable phenomenon due to increasing global trade integration.
See also
Radio
- Caspar Dohmen : Made in Germany - export champion in the pillory. , Deutschlandfunk - " Background " from February 5, 2014
literature
- Alexander Loschky, Liane Ritter: Export as the economic engine . (PDF). In: Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Economy and Statistics . No. 05/2007 . Wiesbaden 2007 ( Online ( Memento from November 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Export world champion. Ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich V., accessed on January 9, 2018 .
- ↑ China is the world's leading exporter . In: the daily newspaper , January 11, 2010
- ↑ Export world champion Germany - temporary title? ( Memento of November 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) - PDF from the Federal Statistical Office
- ↑ Egbert Scheunemann, Der Jahrhundertfluch , 2003, p. 30 f.
- ↑ Statista from February 2020, countries with the largest trade surplus in 2019
- ↑ Claus Köhler / Gerhard Merk, Geldwirtschaft , Volume 2: Balance of payments and exchange rate , 1979, p. 21
- ↑ Claus Köhler / Gerhard Merk, Geldwirtschaft , Volume 2: Balance of payments and exchange rate , 1979, p. 21
- ↑ Claus Köhler / Gerhard Merk, Geldwirtschaft , Volume 2: Balance of payments and exchange rate , 1979, p. 22
- ↑ Torsten Bleich / Meik Friedrich / Werner A. Halver / Christof Röme / Michael Vorfeld, Volkswirtschaftslehre , 2016, p. 14
- ↑ International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook , October 2015, pp. 25 ff.
- ↑ In addition to the external balance and the capital account , the balance of payments also has other partial balances
- ↑ Olivier Blanchard / Gerhard Illing, Makroökonomie , 4th edition, Munich, 2006, p. 527 ff.
- ↑ Wolfgang Münchau, Meltdown in the Financial System , Carl Hanser Verlag , 2008, p. 155 ff.
- ↑ FAZ.Net, Benedikt Fehr, Bretton Woods II is dead. Long live Bretton Woods III , in: FAZ of May 12, 2009, p. 32
- ↑ Thomas Jäger / Alexander Höse / Kai Oppermann (eds.), German Foreign Policy , 2007, p. 273
- ↑ Joseph Steinfelder, World Export Champion Germany - Temporary Title? , in: Federal Statistical Office (ed.), Economy and Statistics 4/2007 , 2007, p. 367 FN 3
- ↑ Marcel Fratzscher : The Germany Illusion: Why we overestimate our economy and need Europe , Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH Co KG, 2014, ISBN 9783446441453 , chapter "Germany, the world export champion"