Global trade still conjures images of giant container ships. But our world has changed. The transport of physical goods across borders is no longer the only, or even the primary, driving force behind global integration. Instead, we are increasingly connected by flows of intangibles, services, and talent. From the cloud-based applications that companies use to manage customer relations to the research that led to the development of the Covid-19 vaccines, knowledge is binding our world together.

As we show in a new report, global flows associated with know-how have taken the baton from manufactured good...