Does digitalization spur global value chain participation? Firm-level evidence from emerging markets

Sasidaran Gopalan, P Ketan Reddy, Subash Sasidharan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Does digitalization by firms spur participation in Global Value Chains (GVCs)? Rapid strides in information and communication technology (ICT) through cost-effective and reliable telecommunications have facilitated multinational firms to outsource complex production activities across borders over the years. While the rise of GVCs to prominence has coincided with the ICT revolution, there is very little systematic empirical evidence at the firm-level documenting the nexus between digitalization of firms and their participation in GVCs. By using rich firm-level data for a sample of 24,839 firms across 52 countries spanning the period 2006–2018, we empirically test the importance of digitalization in deepening GVC participation. After correcting for potential biases arising from self-selection and reverse causality, our empirical analysis shows that digitalization by firms positively influences GVC deepening. Our results are quite robust to various measures of GVCs and digitalization. Further, we also document how digitalization boosts GVC integration of firms that are financially constrained.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100972
JournalINFORMATION ECONOMICS AND POLICY
Volume59
Early online date4 Apr 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022

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