IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jespps/v34y2007i5p376-388.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revealed comparative advantage and competitiveness in services

Author

Listed:
  • Belay Seyoum

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the competitiveness of selected services: business, financial, transport and travel services in developing countries in relation to that of the rest of the world based on three indices of revealed comparative advantage. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices to measure developing countries' comparative advantages in selected services for the period 1998‐2003. Findings - Strong comparative advantages exist for many developing countries in transport, and travel services. There is substantial room for improvement in financial and business services. Trade liberalization and lack of adequate preparation appears to have resulted in a weakening of their comparative advantages over the years. However, their revealed comparative advantages remain, by and large, stable and do not show a fundamental shift in the structure of their comparative advantages. Originality/value - There are no studies examining developing countries' comparative advantages in services. The findings and policy recommendations can be used by developing countries to improve the competitiveness of their service sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Belay Seyoum, 2007. "Revealed comparative advantage and competitiveness in services," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(5), pages 376-388, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:jespps:v:34:y:2007:i:5:p:376-388
    DOI: 10.1108/01443580710823194
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01443580710823194/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01443580710823194/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/01443580710823194?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Olivera Kostoska & Ilija Hristoski, 2018. "Trade Dynamics, Revealed Comparative Advantage, And International Competitiveness: Evidence From Macedonia," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 63(218), pages 23-60, July – Se.
    2. Vlatka Bilas & Mile Bosnjak, 2015. "Revealed Comparative Advantage And Merchandise Exports: The Case Of Merchandise Trade Between Croatia And The Rest Of The European Union Member Countries," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 24(1), pages 29-47, june.
    3. Nabin Babu Khanal & Uttam Deb, 2022. "Fish and Fishery Products Trade by India: Trends, Competitiveness and Comparative Advantage," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 19(2), pages 51-72, December.
    4. Cunha Nuno & Forte Rosa, 2017. "The Comparative Advantages in the Services Sector of Developing Economies," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Alleyne, Dillon & Gomes, Charmaine & Moore, Winston & Phillips, Willard, 2013. "An assessment of the economic and social impacts of climate change on the tourism sector in the Caribbean," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38282, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    6. Maureen Were & Maureen Odongo, 2023. "Competitiveness and diversification of services exports in sub‐Saharan Africa," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 363-381, February.
    7. Ahasanul Haque & Naila Anwar & Zariyah Ibrahim, 2013. "Export of Furniture Product from Malaysia: Market Prospects and Challenges," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 5(7), pages 406-419.
    8. Andrius Zuoza & Vaida Pilinkienė, 2021. "Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emission Impact on Competitiveness in the European Energy Intensive Industries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, August.
    9. Vasilii Erokhin & Li Diao & Peiran Du, 2020. "Sustainability-Related Implications of Competitive Advantages in Agricultural Value Chains: Evidence from Central Asia—China Trade and Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    10. López, Andrés & Niembro, Andrés & Ramos, Daniela, 2014. "Latin America’s competitive position in knowledge-intensive services trade," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    11. Johan Fourie & Dieter von Fintel, 2009. "World Rankings of Comparative Advantage in Service Exports," Working Papers 03/2009, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    12. Marjan Sternad & Matjaz Safran & Darja Topolsek, 2012. "International Comparative Advantage In Transport Services: The Case Of Slovenia," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 8(1), pages 179-186.
    13. Oelgemöller, Jens, 2012. "Analyzing the international competitiveness of the industry in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain using revealed comparative advantages (RCA) indicators," CAWM Discussion Papers 61, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    14. Jens Oelgemoeller, "undated". "Analyzing the international competitiveness of the industry in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain using revealed comparative advantages (RCA) indicators," Working Papers 201286, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.

    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:eme:jespps:v:34:y:2007:i:5:p:376-388. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.