%0 Journal Article
%A Amador, João
%A Cabral, Sónia
%A Mastrandrea, Rossana
%A Ruzzenenti, Franco
%D 2017
%F eprints:3737
%J Review of World Economics
%T Who's who in global value chains? A weighted  network approach
%U http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3737/
%X This paper represents global value chains (GVCs) as weighted networks of foreign value  added in exports, which allows for the identification of the specific roles of countries and  for the quantification of their relative importance over time. A major structural change  occurred in the beginning of the century as GVCs steadily turned into global networks,  amid an unprecedented growth of value-added flows and the rise of China as a major  player. First-order network metrics highlight the vital but also distinct roles of Germany,  the US, China and Japan in the international organisation of production. Germany is very relevant both as a user and as a supplier of foreign inputs, while the US acts mostly as a supplier of value added to other countries. Second-order properties of networks shed light on the complex architecture of GVCs, notably in terms of cyclical triangular relationships. Germany's GVCs mostly root in direct relationships, while Japanese ones typically involve more than two countries.