I am really hoping DAME CACAO is an hilarious acronym for the big-chocolate research lobby!

our case the technical aspects of production-processes). If I come across additional work, I will be sure to share here.

...documents, by extracting key entities/concepts and then linking these. But to my knowledge our paper is the first to build a network dataset from a standing-start, such that we begin with nodes (in our case products) and completely generate the connections by tapping into latent concepts (in ..

Thanks for reaching out. The methodology is fairly well documented in our working paper (cepr.org/publications...). There are someML/data science tools applied to build graphical data structures to improve LLM inference, and there is also some work which uses LLMs to link text ...

In our paper, "AI-Generated Production Networks" (2024), joint with with @trfetzer.com Bennet Feld @prashantgarg.bsky.social , we used AI to build a granular input/output network across 5,000+ traded goods. This public dataset can be used to study the knock-on impacts of trade shocks.

Context: This move follows Beijing's recent export controls on germanium & gallium—critical rare earth metals for advanced manufacturing (my coauthor
@prashantgarg.bsky.social
wrote about this recently: bsky.app/profile/pras...

📈 Historical shift: Unlike previous trade tensions that targeted consumer goods, today's strategic battleground is upstream—focusing on critical inputs for high-tech manufacturing:
-- Semiconductors
-- EV components
-- Renewable tech

Ostensibly the goal of this move is to support domestic solar production, a highly complex production process which requires key components targeted in this action. Our input/output network can be used to identify all the production linkages for this, and 5,000+ other products:

📊 Key Finding: Above figure calculates the share of trade across products which rely on these five components being targeted. These components are used widely to produce other goods (1st order), which themselves are used wider still (2nd order).

Version 1 of the AIPNET Production Network, with all data, is available at aipnet.io. You can also interact with the network in real time on the site! Please reach out if you want to discuss further!

We are in a world where trade barriers are rising rapidly, yet technological change is insisting on making production ever more complex and interdependent. We hope our (public) data product can provide policy makers, Statistical Authorities, and Researchers with a new lens to study this tension.

Pooling over all products using product-dyads in a DiD setting, there is clear evidence of "onshoring" i.e. increased import demand for upstream/critical products linked to shock-exposed final goods.

Finally, by identifying all the input/output relationships we can empirically test for vertical substition patterns i.e. "onshoring". We take a large trade shock to a small open economy and follow demand for both the focal product and it's basket of production inputs.

Another neat feature of our granular production network is the ability to identify emerging critical inputs, such as Chips, Lasers, Lithium - v. helpful to inform industrial strategy!

Across broad BEC product groups, "Capital Goods" and "Industrial Supplies" have become ever more critical parts of the production network.

We also leverage the AIPNET network structure to measure shifts in import composition towards more critical/central/upstream inputs. We see lots of divergence e.g. 🇨🇳China: Building domestic capabilities 🇺🇸US: Reducing upstream input dependence.

How do we build this? We develop and deploy a new "build-prune" approach using ensemble LLM queries to process & link products at scale. This delivers highly granular connections, vs coarse IO tables or hard-to-access firm-to-firm records.

Some products are incredibly complex, like "Wind powered generators" which require huge amounts of complex parts and materials:

The AI-built Production Network (AIPNET) maps 5,000+ products, connecting them based on production processes. Each node is a product, connections show input/output links. E.g. "Full-fat milk".