Assessing the Role of Economies in Global Production Networks: A New Perspective on Cycle Structures

ABSTRACT The global economy is undergoing rapid structural change, and economies have differentiated development trends in the global production network (GPN). This article proposes a new perspective of cycle structure and quantifies the circular role of economies in GPNs based on an improved circular contribution algorithm. The results show that the degree of participation of most economies in the global supply cycle shows an increasing trend, but the degree of demand cycle is greater than the supply cycle. Ireland, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic participate in the global production cycle to a greater extent. China's participation in the global production cycle is on a downward trend. Our findings demonstrate that it is necessary to monitor and protect the economies that play a key role in the global cycle, which has theoretical and practical significance for in‐depth research on the globalization development and regional competitiveness.