Emerging markets in the global economic network: Real(ly) decoupling?

We evaluate the degree of business cycle interdependence in the global economic network, focusing on the hypothesis that emergent market (EM) economies have decoupled from advanced economies in the recent period of globalization. We employ a novel methodological approach to the study of business cycles synchronization that combines network analysis and dynamic correlations. We find a process of increasing transnational interdependence within and across all economic development groups. Our results suggest that EM do not form a cohesive group and support the view of an increasingly multipolar and interdependent global economic network.