Bangladesh’s textile and clothing sector is central to the country’s export-led industrialisation, yet the strong growth in export earnings has not been matched by clear evidence of domestic value creation. Although Bangladesh has become one of the world’s leading apparel exporters, concerns persist that its integration into global value chains (GVCs) is characterised by limited domestic value gain and dependence on imported intermediate goods. To address these concerns, this study conducts a destination-specific decomposition of Bangladesh’s textile exports using the Asian Development Bank Multi-Regional Input–Output (ADB MRIO) table over the period 2007–2023. By disaggregating domestic value added (DVA) into domestic value absorbed abroad (DAVAX), re-exported domestic value (REX), and returned domestic value (REF), the analysis reveals marked differences in value-capture performance—the domestic income Bangladesh retains per unit of exports, indicated primarily by DAVAX—across major export partners. While export values expanded steadily over the period, domestic value retention stagnated or declined in most destinations, and reliance on foreign intermediate goods intensified. These patterns reflect the functional roles destinations play within value chains: North America absorbs Bangladeshi value directly as final demand (high DAVAX), Europe increasingly channels it through re-export networks (rising REX, lower DAVAX), and Asia–Pacific exhibits mixed, unstable pathways. In typological terms, these correspond to three functional destination types: final-demand markets, re-export and processing hubs, and mixed destinations—categories to which each partner economy can be assigned based on its DAVAX–REX signature. These findings highlight that Bangladesh’s export growth has not translated into proportional domestic income gains, underscoring the need for stronger backward linkages and deeper domestic production capabilities to support meaningful industrial upgrading.

This study examines the structural dependence of Bangladesh’s textile and clothing industry (TCI) within the national production system and benchmarks it against Vietnam and Pakistan. Using an input–output framework, the analysis quantifies economy-wide losses in total output and gross value added (GVA) when the sector’s inter-industry linkages are hypothetically removed and simulates partial disruptions to assess short-run vulnerability. Under complete extraction, Bangladesh experiences the largest systemic losses—output declines by 18% and GVA by 13%—indicating deep intersectoral reliance on the TCI. Vietnam and Pakistan show smaller but meaningful impacts due to greater industrial diversification and upstream reliance on agriculture-based inputs, respectively. Backward dependence is strongest in Bangladesh, while Vietnam’s limited forward dependence reflects its export-oriented structure; Pakistan’s linkages remain concentrated upstream in raw-material supply. A 20% contraction scenario further highlights Bangladesh’s vulnerability compared to the other two countries, underscoring the TCI’s central role in propagating output and value-added across the economy. The comparative results indicate differentiated policy priorities: strengthening domestic intermediate textile production and supply-chain efficiency in Bangladesh; increasing domestic supplier participation in Vietnam’s export networks; and modernizing upstream input industries in Pakistan. JEL Classification: C67, D57, F14, O11, R15

This study examines the structural dependence of Bangladesh’s textile and clothing industry (TCI) within the national production system and benchmark

The prime objective of this paper is to examine the direct and moderating role of remittances in the innovation-growth nexus in MICs. Middle-income countries (MICs) can drive global economic growth by utilizing 75% of the population through technological development and boosting GDP by over one-third of the total. However, using human resources effectively and maintaining technical advancement standards in response to rapid economic changes remain a significant challenge. The study utilizes the "2nd generation unit root test and the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) and the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS)" approaches. The FGLS and "Dumitrescu-Hurlin (D-H)" causality tests are applied to confirm the robustness of the PCSE approach. The study highlights the distinct and interconnected effects of remittances and innovation on economic growth in MICs, emphasizing their mutually reinforcing role in sustained growth. The interactive span demonstrates that remittances functioned as a substitute in the innovation-growth association. Finally, the study reveals a bidirectional causal affiliation between remittances and economic growth and a unidirectional causal connection between economic growth and innovation. MICs should enhance remittance transfer systems, invest in innovation, enhance skills, utilize public-private partnerships for efficient allocation, and balance entrepreneurship with macroeconomic stability.