Revised Floyd-Warshall Algorithm to Find Optimal Path in Similarity-Weight Network and Its Application in the Analysis of Global Value Chain

Abstract

This paper focuses on measuring the globally and nationally economic system's connectedness and industrial sector's function on the Global Value Chain (GVC), as reinforcements to the present studies on international trade. Firstly, we reconsidered the length-related and position-related measures in literatures about vertical specialization from the perspective of econophysics. Secondly, we redefined the inter-country and inter-sector propagating process of intermediate goods and proposed the concept of Strongest Relevance Path Length (SRPL) based on Revised Floyd-Warshall Algorithm (RFWA), which is the basis of new measurement. Thirdly, enlightened by betweenness centrality of node and edge, we introduced SRPL-based index to measure the Value-Added Pivotability of Industrial Sectors and Input-Output Relationships. Fourthly, we also proposed the concepts of Backward Closeness and Forward Closeness of Industrial Sectors based on closeness centrality.