The geographical and sectoral concentration of global supply chains

Due to international fragmentation, production increasingly occurs in global supply chains (GSC). The common belief is that this leads to more specialization, which implies more concentration of imports and exports over time. In this paper, we empirically test this hypothesis by analysing the geographical and sectoral concentration of GSC over the period 1995–2011. We adapt the traditional Herfindahl’s concentration indexes to a multi-regional input–output framework. Taking the information on intersectoral and interregional linkages into full account gives the concentration indexes of GSC. The indexes are at different aggregation levels, which enables us to examine both geographical and sectoral concentration patterns. After that, we analyse the effect a country’s geographical and sectoral concentration on its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Our findings are: an increase of geographical and sectoral concentration of GSC from 1995 to 2011; a growing role in global production chains played by China and other Asian countries; less concentration for European Union countries; a significant positive effect of geographical concentration on GDP per capita; and a significant negative effect of sectoral concentration.