Ambassador Donoghue gave a brief summary of Ireland’s economic structure and history to begin the November 29 session. The Permanent Mission of Ireland organized the meeting, and Mr. Steve Landefeld provided attendants with an in-depth summary and outline of the associated data. Mr. Ataman Ozyidirim discussed the current trends, uncertainties, and relevant “disruptions” that will determine Ireland’s economic future. He discussed TCB data that supports global economic growth projections and explained advancements in productivity data new this year. He ended and stressed the importance of creating value through qualitative growth by implementing more reliable and effective ways of measuring GDP. Mr. Klaus Tilmes and Ms. Deborah Winkler discussed ways to make global value chains (GVCs) work for development. They lectured on development through GVC Participation, relevant policy questions, assessing GVC participation, and WGB country engagement. Mr. Klaus and Ms. Winkler provided examples of multifaceted approaches relevant in Bangladesh, the ICT sector in Vietnam, and the livestock sector in Mali.

Mr. Michael Connolly’s presentation focused on Irish national accounts and payment balance within them. He focused on MNE dominance, communication challenges, the impact of increasing stocks in capital assets, trends in net exports, the impact of relocation (GDP to GNI transition), contribution of domestic demand and net exports to annual GDP, and the trends in Irish and EU household savings.The final panelist examined how to more efficiently measure global value chains, the impacts of technology, productivity, comparative advantage, and trade on U.S. employment, the growth and benefits of GVCs and trade, and the need for a system of extended international accounts and business statistics. The panelists ended the with case studies of globalization, an emphasis on the need for consistent aggregate estimates, and a discussion of MNCs and trade, MNCs and domestic economy, and MNE rates of return.

Meeting: Seminar on “Measuring the Impact of Economic Globalization” (organized by the Permanent Mission of Ireland)

Date/Location: Tuesday, 29 November 2016; 10:00 to 13:00; UN Headquarters, Conference Room 12

Speakers: H.E. Ambassador Donoghue of the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations; Mr. Steve Landefeld of the UN Statistics Division; Mr. Ataman Ozyidirim (Director, Business Cycles and Growth Research of the Conference Board); Mr. Klaus Tilmes and Ms. Deborah Winkler of the World Bank; Mr. Michael Connolly (Director of the Central Statistics Office, Ireland); Mr. Timothy J. Sturgeon (Senior researcher MIT Industrial Performance Center)

Written By: Renée S. Landzberg, WIT Representative