IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1809.10781.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Methods and Concepts in Economic Complexity

Author

Listed:
  • Andres Gomez-Lievano

Abstract

Knowhow in societies accumulates as it gets transmitted from group to group, and from generation to generation. However, we lack of a unified quantitative formalism that takes into account the structured process for how this accumulation occurs, and this has precluded the development of a unified view of human development in the past and in the present. Here, we summarize a paradigm to understand and model this process. The paradigm goes under the general name of the Theory of Economic Complexity (TEC). Based on it, we present a combination of analytical, numerical and empirical results that illustrate how to characterize the process of development, providing measurable quantities that can be used to predict future developments. The emphasis is the quantification of the collective knowhow an economy has accumulated, and what are the directions in which it is likely to expand. As a case study we consider data on trade, which provides consistent data on the technological diversification of 200 countries across more than 50 years. The paradigm represented by TEC should be relevant for anthropologists, sociologists, and economists interested in the role of collective knowhow as the main determinant of the success and welfare of a society.

Suggested Citation

  • Andres Gomez-Lievano, 2018. "Methods and Concepts in Economic Complexity," Papers 1809.10781, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1809.10781
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1809.10781
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    2. C. A. Hidalgo & B. Klinger & A. -L. Barabasi & R. Hausmann, 2007. "The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations," Papers 0708.2090, arXiv.org.
    3. Kemp-Benedict, Eric, 2014. "An interpretation and critique of the Method of Reflections," MPRA Paper 60705, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning, 2013. "Skill relatedness and firm diversification," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 297-316, March.
    5. Frank Neffke, 2017. "Coworker Complementarity," Growth Lab Working Papers 92, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    6. César Hidalgo & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Mercedes Delgado & Maryann Feldma & Koen Frenken & Edward Glaeser & Canfei He & Dieter F. Kogler & Andrea Morrison & Frank Neffke & David Rigby, 2018. "The Principle of Relatedness," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1830, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2018.
    7. Andres Gomez-Lievano & Oscar Patterson-Lomba & Ricardo Hausmann, 2017. "Explaining the prevalence, scaling and variance of urban phenomena," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, January.
    8. Ricardo Hausmann & César Hidalgo, 2011. "The network structure of economic output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 309-342, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dutta, Sourish, 2019. "A Simple Model of Global Value Chains," MPRA Paper 108553, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Yang Li & Frank Neffke, 2022. "Relatedness in regional development: in search of the right specification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2208, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2022.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "Reprint of The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    2. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    3. Yamada, Eri & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Kawakami, Tetsu & Nemoto, Jiro, 2025. "The structure and dynamics of the auto parts industry: Product space and complexity perspectives," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 472-485.
    4. Bahar, Dany & Rosenow, Samuel & Stein, Ernesto & Wagner, Rodrigo, 2019. "Export take-offs and acceleration: Unpacking cross-sector linkages in the evolution of comparative advantage," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 48-60.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1f59r6ssre9eiqb2rso9ui50m2 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Yang Li & Frank Neffke, 2022. "Relatedness in regional development: in search of the right specification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2208, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2022.
    7. Andres Gomez-Lievano & Oscar Patterson-Lomba, 2018. "Estimating the drivers of urban economic complexity and their connection to economic performance," Papers 1812.02842, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2021.
    8. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    9. Pinheiro, Cristina, 2025. "Relatedness and economic complexity as tools for industrial policy: Insights and limitations," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Penny Mealy & Diane Coyle, 2022. "To them that hath: economic complexity and local industrial strategy in the UK," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 358-377, April.
    11. S. Stavropoulos & F. G. Oort & M. J. Burger, 2020. "Heterogeneous relatedness and firm productivity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(2), pages 403-437, October.
    12. Michael Klien & Michael Böheim & Matthias Firgo & Andreas Reinstaller & Peter Reschenhofer & Yvonne Wolfmayr, 2021. "Stärkung der Unabhängigkeit des Wirtschaftsstandortes Österreich bei kritischen Produkten," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67234.
    13. Eduardo Lora, 2016. "The Path to Labor Formality: Urban Agglomeration and the Emergence of Complex Industries," CID Working Papers 78, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    14. Cilem Selin Hazir & Flora Bellone & Cyrielle Gaglio, 2019. "Local product space and firm-level churning in exported products," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(6), pages 1473-1496.
    15. Bustos, Sebastián & Yıldırım, Muhammed A., 2022. "Production Ability and economic growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    16. Claudius Gräbner & Anna Hornykewycz, 2022. "Capability accumulation and product innovation: an agent-based perspective," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 87-121, January.
    17. Mealy, Penny & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2022. "Economic complexity and the green economy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    18. Koch, Philipp & Schwarzbauer, Wolfgang, 2021. "Yet another space: Why the Industry Space adds value to the understanding of structural change and economic development," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 198-213.
    19. Marco Capasso & Michael Spjelkavik Mark, 2021. "The Evolving Economic Employment of ICT Education: The Case of Norway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    20. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1f59r6ssre9eiqb2rso9ui50m2 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Roberto Antonietti & Chiara Burlina, 2023. "Exploring the entropy-complexity nexus. Evidence from Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(1), pages 257-283, April.
    22. O’Clery, Neave & Kinsella, Stephen, 2022. "Modular structure in labour networks reveals skill basins," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1809.10781. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.