[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-85776-en":3,"doc-seo-85776-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},85776,2336464648322,"Aria","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2200025388227c56fec?_k=1778556882303663488",8,"Research & Report","Political Power in International Trade","Economic power in international trade is defined as the capacity of one country to impose losses on another by withdrawing from a trading relationship. The paper quantifies this using a short-run model that represents each restriction as a pattern of barred entries in a world input-output input-share matrix and converts the disruption into country- and sector-level loss vectors. Asymmetry in losses under equal severance measures power, reflecting substitution gaps driven by network position and the scope for reallocation via RAS balancing. Evidence on 9,480 counterfactual severances for 2022 shows pronounced non-mutual dependence, with hierarchical patterns core versus periphery.","arXiv :2607 .09990v1 [ econ .GN] 10 Jul 2026  \nPolitical Power in International Trade  \nAshwin Bhattathiripad∗ Vipin P. Veetil∗  \nJuly 2026  \nAbstract  \nEconomic power in international trade is the capacity of one country to impose loss on another by withdrawing from a trading relationship. This paper measures it. A model of the short run represents each trade restriction as a pattern of barred entries in the world matrix of input shares and maps it into a vector of losses by country and sector. The asymmetry between the two countries’ losses under the same severance is the measure of power: a gap in substitution, since a buyer’s dependence turns on how easily it finds another source and a seller’s on how easily it finds another market. When a relationship is barred, buyers lean on alternative suppliers and barred suppliers on alternative buyers already present in the benchmark network, under the ceiling that no producer exceeds its pre-shock scale. The reallocation is a RAS balancing of the disrupted matrix that lets both sides adjust together. Across 9,480 counterfactual severanceson the 2022 world input–output network, mutual trade dependence is anything but mutual. The average bilateral asymmetry is 0.6 on a scale that runs from balance at zero to complete lopsidedness at one. The United States holds the favourable side in all its relationships, China in all but one—the United States. The same tilt runs far down the hierarchy: a severance with Russia would cost Belarus more than a tenth of its economic activity, but Russia only half of one percent. The asymmetry bears only a weak relation to bilateral trade imbalance but closely tracks whether a country sits at the core or the periphery. Power is a property of network position, not of deficits.  \nJEL Codes: F51, C67, D85, F14, F15, O53 .  \nKey Words: National Power, World Trade, Sanctions, Production Network.  \n∗ Economics Area, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kerala 673 570, India.  \n1 Introduction  \nThe classical case for international trade is that it lets a country consume beyond what it could make alone, the gains mutual. But trade also creates dependence, which is not mutual in the same degree. A country that can be starved of an input it cannot replace, or denied a market it cannot do without, has placed a part of its fortunes in the hands of whoever sits at the other end of the relationship. The question of this paper is not how much trade enriches but how unevenly it empowers. We ask how the structure of who buys what from whom distributes, across the world economy, the capacity of one nation to injure another by the bare act of withdrawal. This power originates not in the size of a flow but in what goes wrong when it is cut—a cost not even proportional to the severed link’s value—which is why a ledger of bilateral balances cannot capture it. What a severance destroys is not the shipment at the border but the production it fed, wherever in the world that production sits, and the production that depended on that, up and down the chain: the cost is drawn by the global production network. A country that buys little directly from a partner can be devastated when that partner is cut, if what it buys has no near substitute and feeds much of what goes on downstream. A country that buys a great deal can be barely touched, if the same goods can be had elsewhere. Power, in such a world, is a property of the whole network and not of any isolated pair within it.  \nWe build a model of the short run that computes what a severance finally costs. We begin from the observation that any restriction is ultimately a pattern of attenuated entries in the world input–output matrix that records the flow of goods across country-sectors. A directional sanction bars one country from supplying another; a bilateral rupture severs the relationship both ways; the two differ only in which entries they strike. No restriction is watertight—evasion and indirect routing leak some trade thr","cbCaimQBA9GgvUHG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimQBA9GgvUHG","pdf",2032730,1,120,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n## Measurement Framework\n## Substitution and Network Mechanisms\n## Data and Counterfactual Evidence\n## Findings on Asymmetry","[{\"question\":\"How does the paper define economic power in international trade?\",\"answer\":\"Economic power is the ability of one country to impose losses on another by withdrawing from a trading relationship. It focuses on harm from severance, not just the value of the lost link.\"},{\"question\":\"What model is used to measure the cost of a trade restriction?\",\"answer\":\"The model treats each restriction as a pattern of barred entries in the world input-share matrix and maps the disruption into loss vectors by country and sector. It incorporates network rebalancing through RAS (biproportional) adjustment.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the paper find about mutual dependence across countries?\",\"answer\":\"Dependence is anything but mutual. The average bilateral asymmetry is around 0.6 on a 0-to-1 scale, with the United States holding the favorable side in all relationships and China in all but one.\"}]",1784206206,302,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"political-power-in-international-trade","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/political-power-in-international-trade/85776/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"How does the paper define economic power in international trade?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Economic power is the ability of one country to impose losses on another by withdrawing from a trading relationship. It focuses on harm from severance, not just the value of the lost link.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What model is used to measure the cost of a trade restriction?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The model treats each restriction as a pattern of barred entries in the world input-share matrix and maps the disruption into loss vectors by country and sector. It incorporates network rebalancing through RAS (biproportional) adjustment.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What does the paper find about mutual dependence across countries?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"Dependence is anything but mutual. The average bilateral asymmetry is around 0.6 on a 0-to-1 scale, with the United States holding the favorable side in all relationships and China in all but one.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,104,109,114,119,122,127,130,134],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]