Strategic sectors and the diffusion of the effect of a shock in Mexico for 2008 and 2012

Abstract

We combine input–output analysis with a diffusion measure and complex network measures of centrality to propose a method to identify strategic or key sectors in an economy. We then apply our method to the case of Mexico for the years 2008 and 2012. Results for Mexico show that the ranking sectors according to the diffusion measure allows identifying strategic sectors with desirable properties such as high centrality and a high correlation to the aggregate effect of a shock. Furthermore, these sectors also have a good performance according to macroeconomic variables, such as exports and value-added. The disaggregation of the aggregate effect of a shock, together with our results on diffusion, suggests that one should focus on sectors with good diffusion to design policy recommendations.