Quantitative linkage between global value chains’ backward participation and logistics performance in the host country: a structural gravity model analysis of emerging ASEAN economies

This article addresses issues on the degree of participation in global value chains (GVCs) for emerging economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The main research question is whether there is a linkage between GVC backward participation, that is, vertical trade defined as the foreign value embedded in exports and logistics performance as a component of service links in the host country. The major contributions of this study are the usage of the UNCTAD-Eora Global Value Chain Database for describing vertical trade and the application of a “structural” gravity model setting for the specification of estimated equations. The statistical observations demonstrate that GVC backward participation in emerging ASEAN economies made substantial progress during the 1990s with per capita GDP growth, and a large gap occurred in the degree of GVC backward participation between forerunners and latecomers in the ASEAN economies. Empirical estimation can also identify a quantitative linkage between GVC backward participation and logistics performance in the host country.