Measuring international specialization

Statistical indicators used to analyze international specialization are manifold. However, most of them do not measure exactly the intensity of revealed comparative advantages and do not distinguish it from other aspects such as trade performance. This paper surveys the available indicators, discriminating between trade specialization and productive specialization (the gap between domestic supply and demand). It is asserted that in order to describe the international specialization pattern of a country, it is enough to consider the product distribution of the elementary trade balances, normalized with respect to trade (trade specialization) or to internal demand (production specialization). Indeed, while the individual, normalized trade balances are only performance indicators, deviations from their average correctly measure the intensity of specialization.

[1]  B. Balassa.  Trade Liberalisation and “Revealed” Comparative Advantage , 1965 .

[2]  H. Grubel,et al.  The Empirical Measurement of Intra- Industry Trade , 1971 .

[3]  H. Grubel,et al.  Intra-industry trade: The theory and measurement of international trade in differentiated products , 1975 .

[4]  Harry P. Bowen,et al.  On the theoretical interpretation of indices of trade intensity and revealed comparative advantage , 1983 .

[5]  Philippe Le Nail.  Economie mondiale : la montée des tensions , 1983 .

[6]  Masini Jean.  Centre d'Études prospectives et d'Informations internationales, Économie mondiale: la montée des tensions , 1983 .

[7]  H. Kyburg.  Theory and measurement , 1984 .

[8]  Robert C. Feenstra,et al.  Empirical methods for international trade , 1988 .

[9]  Trade Policy Issues and Empirical Analysis , 1988 .

[10]  J. Kol,et al.  Corrections for trade imbalance: A survey , 1989 .

[11]  S. Vona.  On the measurement of intra-industry trade: Some further thoughts , 1991 .

[12]  International Economic Transactions: Issues in Measurement and Empirical Research , 1991 .

[13]  P. Hooper,et al.  International Economic Transactions , 1992 .

[14]  Gérard Lafay.  The measurement of revealed comparative advantages , 1992 .

[15]  D. Greenaway,et al.  Surveys in International Trade , 1994 .

[16]  Edward E. Leamer,et al.  International Trade Theory: The Evidence , 1994 .

[17]  D. Greenaway,et al.  Country-specific factors and the pattern of horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade in the UK , 1994 .

[18]  J. Levinsohn,et al.  Chapter 26 International trade theory: The evidence , 1995 .

[19]  D. Greenaway,et al.  Back to the future: Taking stock on intra-industry trade , 1997 .

[20]  H. Grupp,et al.  Changing Patterns of Specialisation in Global High Technology Markets: an Empirical Investigation of Advanced Countries , 1998 .

[21]  Gert Villumsen,et al.  Structural Change in OECD Export Specialisation Patterns: de-specialisation and 'stickiness' , 1998 .

[22]  M. Amiti,et al.  Specialization patterns in Europe , 1999 .