  Economic systems, traditionally analyzed as almost independent national
systems, are increasingly connected on a global scale. Only recently becoming
available, the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) is one of the first efforts
to construct the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) tables at the global level.
By viewing the world input-output system as an interdependent network where the
nodes are the individual industries in different economies and the edges are
the monetary goods flows between industries, we study the network properties of
the so-called world input-output network (WION) and document its evolution over
time. We are able to quantify not only some global network properties such as
assortativity, clustering coefficient, and degree and strength distributions,
but also its subgraph structure and dynamics by using community detection
techniques. Over time, we detect a marked increase in cross-country
connectivity of the production system, only temporarily interrupted by the
2008-2009 crisis. Moreover, we find a growing input-output regional community
in Europe led by Germany and the rise of China in the global production system.
Finally, we use the network-based PageRank centrality and community coreness
measure to identify the key industries and economies in the WION and the
results are different from the one obtained by the traditional
final-demand-weighted backward linkage measure.
