The economic growth of the last decade of the twentieth century and the opening decade of the twenty-first rested on an intense process of trade integration, characterized by the fragmentation of production and the rise of global value chains (GVCs). The latter have been a key driver of economic globalization, albeit with asymmetric effects across countries and economic agents.

Their advance stalled in the wake of the Great Recession, sowing doubts about their future and the whole future of globalization. Further, recent years have brought new disruptions, like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, both of which have dealt major shocks to global production chains, supplies, and international trade whose long-term effects remain to be seen.

In this context, the book analyzes the evolution of chains in the past two decades with particular regard to Spain, along with associated changes in the degree of connectedness between economies. To this end, its authors employ not only the standard indicators in CVG analysis but complementary measures like neutral openness and connectedness, which provide information on both the density and characteristics of trade exchanges and the existence of geographic biases in such connections within GVCs.

The book also explores the extent to which recent shocks have affected value chains and degree of connectedness, and the ability to adapt to such shocks, again with reference to the Spanish case.

The analysis is conducted at national and world regional levels, with a focus on the differences between trade in goods and services, and between sectors exhibiting disparate degrees of GVC development.

This publication may be of value to professionals dealing in matters related to the international economy, public administrators and consultants, as well as members of university economics departments.