Channels of Power in Production Networks: A Taxonomy for Measuring Technological Dependence¶

Stefane Fermigier (Abilian) · sf@abilian.com

Draft working paper v0.7, 2026-08-04. Complete draft; the operation and structure channels are anchored in measured data, and the cognition-channel observables are stated as measurement protocols awaiting their datasets.

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Abstract¶

Measuring technological dependence requires knowing every way one actor in a production network can move another, and the measurement traditions each carry a partial list: trade economics sees supply, corporate-control studies see equity, the coercion literature sees law, platform economics sees distribution. The soft channels through which markets are actually steered day to day (analyst gatekeeping, standards authorship, narrative and expectation management, training and certification pipelines, the governance of open-source commons, and lobbying) are studied in separate literatures that the measurement work rarely touches.

This paper assembles the complete formal list. Fifteen channels fall into three families, distinguished by what they act on: operation channels act on the feasibility and cost of running a technology stack today (supply, technology and licensing, operational service, data and identity, distribution, legal reach); structure channels act on who exists and who controls what (equity, capital, competence supply); cognition channels act on what buyers consider, believe, and know how to do (evaluation gatekeeping, standards authorship, narrative, epistemic formation, commons governance, rule shaping). Each channel is specified by its mechanism, timescale, observables, formal slot, and literature anchor.

The formal thesis is that the cognition family drives a wedge between three option sets that measurement must keep apart: the feasible options that exist, the considered options that enter decisions, and the exercised options that revenue keeps alive. Because unexercised options decay, consideration capture today becomes feasibility collapse tomorrow, so soft power turns hard without any actor ever denying anything.

Applied to the European digital stack, the taxonomy shows which channels the existing measurement already covers, which are quantifiable next and how, and why sovereignty audits that ignore the cognition family systematically overstate the breadth Europe actually has. The schema is domain-portable: nothing in it is specific to digital technology.

Keywords: dependence, production networks, soft power, industry analysts, standards, expectations, skills, open source, lobbying, measurement.

JEL: F52, L14, D85, L86, D83, O33.

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Fermigier, S. (2026). Channels of Power in Production Networks: A Taxonomy for Measuring Technological Dependence.
Draft working paper v0.7, Abilian Econ Lab.
https://econ.lab.abilian.com/papers/channels/