Characterizing Global and Regional Manufacturing Value Chains : Stable and Evolving Features

Since the extent of offshoring and production sharing varies by sector and country, we develop measures of GVCs in terms of length, intensity, and location of participation at the levels of country, country-sector, and bilateral sector, and distinguish among pure domestic, directly traded, and indirectly traded production activities. Using these measures, we characterize cross-country production sharing patterns and GVC related trade activities for 35 sectors and 40 countries over 17 years. We find that the production chain for the world as a whole has become longer. While the relative ranking of the length at the sector level is stable across countries, the average length for a given country-sector, of both the domestic and international components, and their participation and position in GVCs in general, do evolve significantly over time. The results contribute to a better understanding of features of global value chains and patterns of participation by individual country-sectors