Productive structure and the linkage effects in the era of global value chains: An input-output analysis

‪This paper analyzes the relationship between the degree of participation in global value chains (GVC) and the complexity of productive structures for a set of developed and developing countries between 1995 and 2011. For this, we analyze the participation of these countries in GVCs by means of their import content of exports. In view of the complexity of productive structures, we suggest using global circularity as an indicator of structural complexity, and average propagation length as an indicator of the size of production chains. We argue that the degree and the type of intersectoral linkages help define the form and intensity of the integration into GVCs. Our results show a non-linear relationship between countries’ participation in GVCs and the degree of complexity of their productive structures.‪JEL Classification: L16; C67; F1.