icio: Economic analysis with intercountry input–output tables

Abstract

Several new statistical tools and analytical frameworks have been recently developed to measure countries’ and sectors’ involvement in global value chains. Such a wealth of methodologies reflects the fact that different empirical questions call for distinct accounting methods and different levels of aggregation of trade flows. In this article, we describe icio, a new command for the computation of the most appropriate measures of trade in value added as well as participation in global value chains. icio follows the conceptual framework proposed by Borin and Mancini (2019, Policy Research Working Paper WPS 8804; WDR 2020 Background Paper, World Bank Group), which in turn extends, refines, and reconciles the other main contributions in this strand of the literature. icio is flexible enough to work with any intercountry input–output table and with any level of aggregation of trade flows.