A comparative analysis of automobile parts trade exchange between France and Germany: crossing international economics and industrial dynamics (In French)

Abstract

This paper proposes a new way for analysing the international trade of intermediaries good. We consider the case of automobile parts with the objective to cross analytic tools from international economics and industrial dynamics. Within the Economy of proximity framework, we propose a method for studying the international fragmentation of global value chain. We construct a typology for auto parts based on the modularity approach and we identify three types of parts: components, meso-components and macro-components. Then we study the evolution of trade for France and Germany for 20 parts during the period 2003/2008. Our main empirical conclusion is to stress that the situation of the German part industry is less favourable that we usually consider and that it is more and more dependant from eastern European countries. We conclude we some suggestions for improving this methodology.modularity; international trade; global value chain; automobile; France; Germany