2. HOW TO MAKE TRADE WORK FOR ALL
OECD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK, VOLUME 2017 ISSUE 1 © OECD 2017 – PRELIMINARY VERSION
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Figure 2.6. The evolution of goods trade specialisation
Note: RSCA refers to Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage. The index varies from zero to one for product categories in which countries and regions have a revealed comparative advantage and from minus one to zero for product categories in which countries or
regions have a revealed comparative disadvantage. The analysis is undertaken at a disaggregated six-digit HS Harmonised System product level with about 5 000 products, excluding the main commodities. The high level of product disaggregation allows specialisation
at different stages of the production chain but nevertheless the data are measured in terms of gross value and not value added as would be used in measures of global value chains GVCs. DAE refers to Dynamic Asian Economies.
Source: UN Comtrade database; OECD calculations.
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10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
FIN CAN
USA DEU
SWE AUS
NLD IRL
NOR GBR
FRA NZL
BEL CHE
CHL AUT
JPN ESP
ISL OECD
DNK ISR
SVK ITA
CZE GRC
SVN LVA
HUN POL
KOR MEX
EST PRT
TUR DAE
2000 2015
A. Share of products in which China is also specialised
10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
PRT TUR
CHN DAE
KOR LVA
EST SVK
POL GRC
HUN ITA
SVN ESP
CZE AUT
ISL CHL
OECD DNK
NZL MEX
FRA FIN
BEL IRL
SWE CHE
NLD DEU
NOR CAN
AUS JPN
ISR GBR
B. Share of products in which United States is also specialised
10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
10 20
30 40
50 60
of goods with positive RSCA
DAE CHL
CHN TUR
PRT ISL
MEX GRC
AUS EST
NZL IRL
LVA KOR
ISR ESP
CAN POL
HUN OECD
NLD BEL
SVK USA
ITA DNK
NOR FRA
SVN CZE
GBR JPN
AUT FIN
SWE CHE
C. Share of products in which Germany is also specialised
500 1000
1500 2000
Number of goods
500 1000
1500 2000
Number of goods
ISL IRL
CHL NZL
ISR FIN
LVA NOR
EST MEX
KOR SVK
GRC HUN
AUS PRT
SWE CAN
SVN JPN
TUR POL
DNK CHE
AUT NLD
GBR DAE
CZE BEL
ESP FRA
USA DEU
CHN ITA
D. Number of goods with a positive RSCA out of about 5000
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OECD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK, VOLUME 2017 ISSUE 1 © OECD 2017 – PRELIMINARY VERSION
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than competition with other advanced economies Annex 2.1; Araujo et al., 2017. In particular, the competitive pressure on a typical OECD countrys exports from an increase
in the United States’ specialisation in a product is more than three times that from China and twice that from the Dynamic Asian Economies.
Figure 2.7. Advanced OECD countries specialise in more complex products than emerging markets
1. Complexity is defined by the implied productivity of the product PRODY using the methodology of Hausmann, R., J. Hwang and D. Rodrik 2007, “What you export matters”, Journal of Economic Growth, Vol. 12. PRODY is calculated by taking a weighted average of per
capita GDPs of the countries that export the product. The weights are the revealed comparative advantage of each country in that product. The products are then ranked according to their PRODY level. An example of a product in the 4th highest quartile is
magnetic imaging resonance MRI machines used in scans in hospitals, which ranked 18th in 2015 out of 4989 products listed in the Harmonized System 6 classification. A product in the 1st lowest quartile is crayons ranked 4218th in 2015. The analysis is carried out
using a high level of product disaggregation to capture specialisation at different stages of the production chain. Nevertheless, the data are measured in terms of gross value and not value added as would be used in measures of global value chains GVCs. DAE refers
to Dynamic Asian Economies.
2. Sectoral RD intensity is calculated in line with the OECD methodology described in Galindo-Rueda, F. and F. Verger 2016, “OECD Taxonomy of Economic Activities Based on RD Intensity”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, 201604, OECD
Publishing, Paris. Source: UN Comtrade database; OECD TiVA database; and OECD calculations.
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20 40
60 80
100
20 40
60 80
100
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
2000 2015
WLD JPN
DEU IRL
HUN USA
FRA CZE
DAE MEX
CAN GBR
ITA POL
CHN PRT
LTU LVA
1st quartile 2nd quartile
3rd quartile 4th quartile
A. Share of exports by complexity quartile¹, value
