Patterns of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services Use Across Europe

Abstract

This paper examines the structure and the relevance of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) consumption for different industries. The research is based upon the analysis of national input-output tables for European countries presented in the last release of the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The dataset allows for the identification of both the largest and the most intensive sectoral users of KIBS among different manufacturing, market services, and all other industries. The results confirm that the KIBS subsectors are very heterogeneous; patterns of consumption substantially differ across the six different types of KIBS that the data distinguish. It is suggested that these differences may be explained by the existence of specific synergies between each type of KIBS and some of the consuming industries.