Recherche Axes de recherche Désindustrialisation

La désindustrialisation est-elle inévitable ?
Le futur de l’industrie au Japon, en Corée, en Allemagne et en France

During the past 30 years, deindustrialization - which can be defined by three concomitant evolutions: the secular decline in manufacturing employment, the lower contribution of manufacturing sector to GDP, and the increasing contribution of service sector to GDP and to employment - have particularly affected the United States and Europe. What is relatively unknown is that this problem has affected Japan from the 1990s and more recently Korea. This is all the more an important for these two countries since that their successful development has been based on the growth of manufacturing industries; The aim of this research project is to analyze the industrial trajectories of Japan and Korean to draw some lessons for European countries.

A starting point of this research is the report published by French Ministry of Finance and Economy, entitled “Deindustrialization in France”. The author, Lilas Demmou, emphasizes the role of three mechanisms: the process of outsourcing of some industrial activities into the service sector; the structural change in the distribution of demand between sectors (in relation with productivity gains in economy) and lastly, the international competitiveness. She also calculates their respective impact between 1980 and 2007 in the case of France, where the manufacturing sector has lost 36% of its employment (1.9 millions jobs) during this period.

Our research program will extend this research from a comparative perspective and in discussing the determinants. For this purpose, we will refer to various strands of literature, whose results have important implications from the viewpoint of the analysis of deindustrialization:

  • outsourcing of industrial activities in the service sector;
  • international trade and domestic industrial dynamics (with a focus on the trade with China);
  • productivity growth and changes in the demand structure;
  • innovation and emergence of new industries;
  • various types of firms and the sources of innovation in manufacturing;
  • firms’ dynamics and changes in the industrial structure (in particular analysis of the complementary relation between innovation and international engagement at the firm level);
  • new theories of the comparative advantage based on the analysis of product design.


Publications

Special issue of the Review of World Economics "Globalization and labor market outcomes: de-industrialization, job security, and wage inequalities"
Edited by Sébastien Lechevalier (Volume 151, Issue 3, August 2015)
>>More information<<

Elsevier Research Policy "Emergence and evolution of new industries: The path-dependent dynamics of knowledge creation. An introduction to the special section"
Jackie Kraffta, Sebastien Lechevalier, Francesco Quatraroa, Cornelia Storz (Volume 43, Issue 10, December 2014)
>>More information<<

Elsevier Research Policy "Diversity in patterns of industry evolution: How an intrapreneurial regime contributed to the emergence of the service robot industry

Sébastien Lechevalier, Junichi Nishimura, Cornelia Storz (Volume 43, Issue 10, December 2014)
>>More information<<

Evénements

10-11 mars 2016, Tokyo
International workshop "Globalization and Labour Market Outcomes"

Co-organized with Keio University
>>Program<<

27 novembre 2014, Brussels
International Symposium "The Future of Industries"

Co-organized with the EU-Japan Center for Industrial Organization
>>Program<<

8-9 avril 2013, Tokyo
Workshop "The International side of deindustrialization and labor market dynamics in Japan, Korea, Germany, and France"
Co-organized with GRIPS
>>Program<<

15-16 mars 2012, Paris
Symposium "Les Sciences Sociales face à la désindustrialisation"

>>Program<<

20-21 mars 2012, Paris
Workshop "Is deindustrialization inevitable? The future of manufacturing in Japan, Korea, Germany, and France"
>>Program<<

Participation à des événements

12 mai 2014, Séoul
Seoul CNRS-NCRS joint workshop

>>Program<<

22 avril 2014, Paris
Conference "Compétitivité et politiques publiques"

Organised by the Département de recherche sur l’innovation et la concurrence (DRIC) de l’OFCE
>>Program<<

Séminaire EHESS
"Industrial Dynamics in Japan and Korea : firms’ strategies and public policies", Sébastien Lechevalier

>>Programme 2011/2012<<

>>Programme 2016/2017<<