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There are two opposite spatial characteristics for production systems in terms of their level of concentration: Diffused production. Represents industrial activities gaining from specific local/regional comparative advantages, such as access to resources or labor. Its main drawback resides in the linkages between the elements that can be difficult to maintain

Source: Z/Yen Group, Global Financial Centers Index, 2021.Note: The index considers five major factors; human resources, the business environment, market access, infrastructure (e.g. real estate), and general competitiveness. The global economy and its commercial geography are coordinated by major financial centers, many of which correspond to the most important cities in the world in

Economic systems mainly deal with the relationships between production (supply) and consumption (demand). What is being produced has to be consumed and what is being consumed has to be produced. Four elements define production: Regulation. The way the production system is controlled and regulated, such as taxation, incentives, standards (e.g.

Source: WTO. The more integrated an economic bloc is, the more likely that a significant share of its international trade will take place between member countries. For the EU (European Union) and NAFTA (North American Free-Trade Agreement), which are considered the world’s most integrated trade agreements, 62.3% and 51.2% of

A common misconception about international trade is to consider that nations are the trading units. Nations are simply the unit used to record accounts since trade flows crossing borders are usually subject to customs procedures and declarations. In reality, the great majority of trade flows concern corporations exchanging parts and

Source: Financial Times Global 500. Note: bar labels are declared employees. There are several ways to measure the size of a corporation, including its number of employees or its revenues. Another is its market value (or market capitalization), which considers the total value of the issued shares of a company at a

Source: World Bank and Drewry Shipping Consultants. There is a high correlation between global merchandise exports and global container throughput (R square of 0.97). Although this relation is proportional, there are fluctuations in this proportionality. Prior to the mid-1990s, the residuals (the difference between the curve and the exports/throughput observation)

Source: Population and GDP from World Bank, World Development Indicators. Exports from World Trade Organization. Container port throughput compiled from Containerization International. Containerization has been the most dynamic physical component of globalization, far exceeding the growth of the value of exports and the GDP. As globalization developed, each new individual,

Source: adapted from OECD (2011) “Global Value Chains: Preliminary Evidence and Policy Issues”, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, DSTI/IND(2011)3, Paris, 2011. The iPhone, a popular cellular phone designed and marketed by Apple Computers, reflects a product with an international division of production with parts and assembly taking place in

Source: WTO. An overview of the world’s largest exporters and importers underlines that international trade reflects market size but is also characterized by acute imbalances: Market size. The United States, Germany, China, and Japan are the world’s largest importers and, consequently, the world’s largest economies. The integration of China into