Global Value Chains and the Transmission of Business Cycle Shocks

The collapse of trade during the great recession of 2008–2009 has raised the question of whether the rise of global value chains (GVCs) has increased or accelerated the international transmission of business cycle shocks. In this paper, we empirically investigate two channels through which a country’s integration into GVCs may increase the income elasticity of its exports. First, GVCs may simply be concentrated in sectors that are more sensitive to external income fluctuations (composition effect). Alternatively, there may be characteristics that are inherent to GVCs that trigger a faster and more amplified propagation of business cycle shocks (supply chain effect). Using trade data from the People’s Republic of China, we find supporting evidence for the composition effect. However, we find no evidence that trade within GVCs have an intrinsically higher income elasticity than regular trade.