Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

Laura  Alfaro; Pol  Antràs; Davin  Chor; Paola  Conconi

Article | Journal of Political Economy | April 2019

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

by Laura Alfaro, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi

Abstract

In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the extent of control to exert over the different segments of their production processes. We describe a property-rights model of firm boundary choices along the value chain that generalizes Antràs and Chor (2013). To assess the evidence, we construct firm-level measures of the upstreamness of integrated and non-integrated inputs by combining information on the production activities of firms operating in more than 100 countries with input-output tables. In line with the model's predictions, we find that whether a firm integrates upstream or downstream suppliers depends crucially on the elasticity of demand for its final product. Moreover, a firm's propensity to integrate a given stage of the value chain is shaped by the relative contractibility of the stages located upstream versus downstream from that stage, as well as by the firm's productivity. Our results suggest that contractual frictions play an important role in shaping the integration choices of firms around the world.

Keywords: Global value chains; Sequential production; Incomplete Contracts; Demand and Consumers; Customer Value and Value Chain; Globalization;

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Alfaro, Laura, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor, and Paola Conconi. "Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis." Journal of Political Economy 127, no. 2 (April 2019): 508–559. (See Online Appendix. Replications files available here. Also NBER Working Paper 21582.)

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For decades, Chile was heralded as South America’s pillar of stable economic growth. Chile was the world’s largest producer of copper and enjoyed a long period of over 30 years of world demand for its resources. In 2013, the commodity boom ended and was replaced by a slow period of economic activity. By 2019, a culmination of factors had contributed to widespread protests. Major streets in Santiago were shut down due to demonstrations by workers across 20 ports. Mining unions urged the government to lift the state of emergency and end curfews. It was unclear how these stoppages would affect copper production and prices in a country that produced a third of the world’s supply.

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Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

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