Place and role of food industry in modern economies

Abstract

In a period of economic crisis, there is a constantly increasing need to have a general picture on the place and role of different branches in fabrics of modern, open national economies. Based on Leontief's input-output model, using the unified, structural database of OECD, the article analyses the economic role of the food industry in national economies of OECD member states as well as in economic structure of some important emerging markets by approach of network analysis. Applying this unique combination of a comprehensive database and network analysis methods, it is proven that the centrality of the food industry, determined on the basis of these indicators, is much higher than the average of other sectors of the national economies. This fact can be explained by the specific "bridge" role of the food industry between the different sectors of national economy. Results have proven the importance of the food industry and highlight the necessity of revision of governmental resource-allocation principles for R+D and industrial policy in member-states of the European Union.