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Measuring Country Competitiveness: A Survey of Exporting-based Indexes

Author

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  • Cyrielle Gaglio

    (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis
    GREDEG-CNRS)

Abstract

In the context of increasing globalization and world trade flows, this survey reviews the most recent literature related to country competitiveness. Although Krugman (1994) maintains that competitiveness at country level is a "dangerous obsession", this concept is becoming more prominent in public debate. However, it lacks a clear definition and confusion between the country and firm levels. This survey focuses on competitiveness from an export perspective because "what you export matters" (Hausmann et al., 2007), and tries to fill the gap between the former understanding and the new theoretical insights/stylized facts. More precisely, this literature review investigates four complementary indexes related to a country's productive and export structure: (i) productive diversification, (ii) export sophistication, (iii) product space, and (iv) economic complexity. It proposes nine building blocks for competitiveness at country level.

Suggested Citation

  • Cyrielle Gaglio, 2015. "Measuring Country Competitiveness: A Survey of Exporting-based Indexes," GREDEG Working Papers 2015-42, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-42
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    File URL: http://195.220.198.217/GREDEG-WP-2015-42.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Jolanta Droždz & Arūnas Burinskas & Viktorija Cohen, 2023. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Revealed Comparative Advantage of Industries in the Baltic States," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Country competitiveness; Diversification; Sophistication; Product space; Complexity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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