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This paper aims to overview the recent body of empirical work on the importance of Global Value Chains (GVCs) in international production and trade. We begin by reviewing different approaches and levels of GVC analysis. We then consider developments in methods and data. Focusing on the agriculture and food sector, we present a map of GVC measures - at the country and sectoral level - computed using trade in value added data to allow researchers to better assess the countries' engagement in GVCs. We also apply this data to show some stylized facts on GVC participation and positioning in agriculture and food and provide empirical evidence of the economic impact of the GVCs on these sectors. We conclude with some critical issues and speculative thoughts regarding the future of GVCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the likely trade effects of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which defines the post-Brexit trading environment between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). We apply a computable general equilibrium model and focus on trade in value added rather than just the gross values of exports and imports. We describe the TCA and estimate its effects on the costs of conducting UK–EU trade, including various non-tariff barriers in both goods and services. We suggest that the TCA will reduce UK trade significantly: total exports by around 7 per cent and imports by around 14 per cent. In terms of value added (i.e. incomes generated), textiles and vehicles, both of which trade extensively with the EU, suffer heavily, as do services which trade significantly with the EU, face large increases in trade barriers, and experience declining demand from other sectors as those sectors' exports fall. Such inter-industry linkages spread the losses from Brexit widely through the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African Continental Free Trade Area agreement will create the largest single market in the world in terms of the number of countries and people. We analyse the effects of regional trade liberalisation on production fragmentation and networks using a global computable general equilibrium model adapted to take into account the value-added structure of international trade. This permits the analysis of the impact of trade policies in the presence of global upstream and downstream linkages through a counterfactual analysis. The analysis goes beyond previous studies by focusing on member countries' agricultural and food integration in regional and global value chains through backward and forward linkages. Our simulation results suggest that the agreement could have a significant impact on trade patterns in terms of value-added structure and extra- or intra-regional destinations. The reduction in trade costs within the region has a higher incidence on agriculture and food backward intra-regional integration than on forward participation, but this pattern varies substantially across countries. We find that the continental agreement translates in more widely spread benefits across sectors if we consider the income generated within each sector (value added) rather than simply accounting for gross exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]