Silly Little Country

Where are iPods Made?

A CNN reporter, discussing the gift to the Queen, suggested that maybe next time a Cadillac should be the gift, and laughingly commented, "After all, they're all American-made".
Not so fast!
In fact, in the NY Times Hal Varian looked at this some time ago. And the conclusion is that it is hard to say where anything is made!

This value added calculation illustrates the futility of summarizing such a complex manufacturing process by using conventional trade statistics. Even though Chinese workers contribute only about 1 percent of the value of the iPod, the export of a finished iPod to the United States directly contributes about $150 to our bilateral trade deficit with the Chinese.

Ultimately, there is no simple answer to who makes the iPod or where it is made. The iPod, like many other products, is made in several countries by dozens of companies, with each stage of production contributing a different amount to the final value.

And I am sure it is the same when one analyzes a Cadillac.
Protectionist bullshit is bullshit.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 11:00 AM