IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i17p10586-d897347.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying Subnational Economic Complexity: Evidence from Romania

Author

Listed:
  • Ibolya Török

    (Faculty of Geography, Department of Geography in Hungarian, Babes-Bolyai University, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

  • József Benedek

    (Faculty of Geography, Department of Geography in Hungarian, Babes-Bolyai University, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
    World and Regional Economics Department, University of Miskolc, 3515 Miskolc, Hungary)

  • Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar

    (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Guanajuato Mexico, Guanajuato 38096, Mexico)

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Romania has undergone strong economic growth, catching up to advanced economies and producing one of the best economic performances in the world. Along with these positive changes, industrial product diversification has increased through expanded foreign economic relations, with all of these supporting the complexity of economic activities. Even though there is a world ranking of countries showing the highest level of economic complexity, there is no information about regional contributions to the overall score in Romania. This paper fills this gap by measuring the economic complexity of Romania’s subnational areas (counties) in the last ten years. To calculate the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) at a regional level, 615 economic activities (four-digit classes according to the NACE classification) were taken into consideration, grouped into 68 cluster categories. The results show that significant changes in economic complexity have mainly occurred in less developed areas, the upper- and middle-ranked counties’ positions being relatively stable. Furthermore, we examined the impact of complexity on growth and convergence, finding that the ECI index is a good predictor both for future economic growth as well as for the evolution of income inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibolya Török & József Benedek & Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar, 2022. "Quantifying Subnational Economic Complexity: Evidence from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10586-:d:897347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10586/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10586/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iyke, Bernard Njindan & Ho, Sin-Yu, 2017. "Income Inequality and Growth: New Insights from Italy," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 70(4), pages 419-442.
    2. Sarah Voitchovsky, 2005. "Does the Profile of Income Inequality Matter for Economic Growth?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 273-296, September.
    3. Matías Braun & Francisco Parro & Patricio Valenzuela, 2019. "Does Finance Alter The Relation Between Inequality And Growth?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 410-428, January.
    4. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    5. Paulo Gala & Igor Rocha & Guilherme Magacho, 2018. "The structuralist revenge: economic complexity as an important dimension to evaluate growth and development," Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Center of Political Economy, vol. 38(2), pages 219-236.
    6. Chu, Lan Khanh & Hoang, Dung Phuong, 2020. "How does economic complexity influence income inequality? New evidence from international data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 44-57.
    7. Gloria Cicerone & Philip McCann & Viktor A Venhorst, 2020. "Promoting regional growth and innovation: relatedness, revealed comparative advantage and the product space," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 293-316.
    8. Domenica Panzera & Paolo Postiglione, 2022. "The impact of regional inequality on economic growth: a spatial econometric approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(5), pages 687-702, May.
    9. Diogo Ferraz & Fernanda P. S. Falguera & Enzo B. Mariano & Dominik Hartmann, 2021. "Linking Economic Complexity, Diversification, and Industrial Policy with Sustainable Development: A Structured Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-29, January.
    10. Beata S. Javorcik & Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni, 2018. "New and Improved: Does FDI Boost Production Complexity in Host Countries?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2507-2537, September.
    11. Olimpia Neagu & Mircea Constantin Teodoru, 2019. "The Relationship between Economic Complexity, Energy Consumption Structure and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Heterogeneous Panel Evidence from the EU Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-29, January.
    12. Nathalie Scholl & Stephan Klasen, 2019. "Re-estimating the relationship between inequality and growth," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 824-847.
    13. Fritz, Benedikt & Manduca, Robert, 2021. "The Economic Complexity of US Metropolitan Areas," SocArXiv 2gw9c, Center for Open Science.
    14. Hartmann, Dominik & Guevara, Miguel R. & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Aristarán, Manuel & Hidalgo, César A., 2017. "Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 75-93.
    15. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & David Rigby, 2017. "The Geography of Complex Knowledge," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23, January.
    16. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    17. Roxana Voicu-Dorobanțu & Clara Volintiru & Maria-Floriana Popescu & Vlad Nerău & George Ștefan, 2021. "Tackling Complexity of the Just Transition in the EU: Evidence from Romania," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, March.
    18. Kang-Kook Lee & Trung V. Vu, 2020. "Economic complexity, human capital and income inequality: a cross-country analysis," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 71(4), pages 695-718, October.
    19. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1979. "A Simple Test for Heteroscedasticity and Random Coefficient Variation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1287-1294, September.
    20. Romero, João P. & Gramkow, Camila, 2021. "Economic complexity and greenhouse gas emissions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    21. Emilie Le Caous & Fenghueih Huarng, 2020. "Economic Complexity and the Mediating Effects of Income Inequality: Reaching Sustainable Development in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, March.
    22. Ricardo Hausmann & César Hidalgo, 2011. "The network structure of economic output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 309-342, December.
    23. Vicente Royuela & Paolo Veneri & Raul Ramos, 2019. "The short-run relationship between inequality and growth: evidence from OECD regions during the Great Recession," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 574-586, April.
    24. Chien-Chiang Lee & En-Ze Wang, 2021. "Economic Complexity and Income Inequality: Does Country Risk Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 35-60, February.
    25. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    26. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2019. "Smart specialization policy in the European Union: relatedness, knowledge complexity and regional diversification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1252-1268, September.
    27. Sweet, Cassandra & Eterovic, Dalibor, 2019. "Do patent rights matter? 40 years of innovation, complexity and productivity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 78-93.
    28. Dominik Hartmann & Cristian Jara-Figueroa & Miguel Guevara & Alex Simoes & C'esar A. Hidalgo, 2017. "The structural constraints of income inequality in Latin America," Papers 1701.03770, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2017.
    29. Tuomas Malinen, 2012. "Estimating the long-run relationship between income inequality and economic development," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 209-233, February.
    30. Felipe, Jesus & Kumar, Utsav & Abdon, Arnelyn & Bacate, Marife, 2012. "Product complexity and economic development," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 36-68.
    31. Flavio L. Pinheiro & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Dominik Hartmann, 2022. "The Dark Side of the Geography of Innovation. Relatedness, Complexity, and Regional Inequality in Europe," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2202, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2022.
    32. Kristin J. Forbes, 2000. "A Reassessment of the Relationship between Inequality and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 869-887, September.
    33. Hameed Khan & Umair Khan & Muhammad Asif Khan, 2020. "Causal Nexus between Economic Complexity and FDI: Empirical Evidence from Time Series Analysis," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(5), pages 374-394, September.
    34. József Benedek & Kinga Ivan & Ibolya Török & Arnold Temerdek & Iulian‐Horia Holobâcă, 2021. "Indicator‐based assessment of local and regional progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): An integrated approach from Romania," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 860-875, September.
    35. József BENEDEK & Alexander C. LEMBCKE, 2017. "Characteristics of recovery and resilience in the Romanian regions," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 8, pages 95-126, December.
    36. Britto, Gustavo & Coelho, Clara & Freitas, Elton & Romero, João Prates, 2019. "The great divide: economic complexity and development paths in Brazil and the Republic of Korea," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    37. Thomas Andersen & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2011. "Flows of people, flows of ideas, and the inequality of nations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-32, March.
    38. Christian Reynolds & Manju Agrawal & Ivan Lee & Chen Zhan & Jiuyong Li & Phillip Taylor & Tim Mares & Julian Morison & Nicholas Angelakis & Göran Roos, 2018. "A sub-national economic complexity analysis of Australia’s states and territories," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 715-726, May.
    39. 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.
    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. Carlos A. Piccioni & Saulo B. Bastos & Daniel O. Cajueiro, 2024. "Measuring Inequality Using Electronic Payment Data," Working Papers Series 608, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    2. Saima Shadab & Firoz Alam, 2024. "High-Technology Exports, Foreign Direct Investment, Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(2), pages 394-401, March.

    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. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    2. 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).
    3. Ben Saad, Myriam & Brahim, Mariem & Schaffar, Alexandra & Guesmi, Khaled & Ben Saad, Rym, 2023. "Economic complexity, diversification and economic development: The strategic factors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Eslam A. Hassanein & Nagwa Samak & Salwa Abdelaziz, 2024. "The synergetic effect of economic complexity and governance on quality of life: policy thresholds," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. 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).
    6. Dominik Hartmann & Flavio L. Pinheiro, 2022. "Economic complexity and inequality at the national and regional level," Papers 2206.00818, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    7. 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.
    8. Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Ofori, Isaac K. & Ojong, Nathanael, 2024. "Does Economic Complexity Promote Inclusive Green Growth," EconStor Preprints 298785, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Trung V. Vu, 2022. "Does institutional quality foster economic complexity? The fundamental drivers of productive capabilities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1571-1604, September.
    10. Wang, Feng & Wu, Min & Wang, Jingcao, 2023. "Can increasing economic complexity improve China's green development efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    11. Kholeka Mdingi & Sin-Yu Ho, 2023. "Income inequality and economic growth: An empirical investigation in South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 2230027-223, June.
    12. Antonietti, Roberto & Franco, Chiara, 2021. "From FDI to economic complexity: a panel Granger causality analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 225-239.
    13. Roberto Antonietti & Chiara Burlina, 2019. "From variety to economic complexity: empirical evidence from Italian regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1930, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2019.
    14. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the utilization of non-reciprocal trade preferences offered by the QUAD countries on beneficiary countries' economic complexity," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    15. Belmartino, Andrea, 2022. "Green & non-green relatedness: challenges and diversification opportunities for regional economies in Argentina," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3697, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    16. C'esar A. Hidalgo, 2022. "The Policy Implications of Economic Complexity," Papers 2205.02164, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    17. Payne, James E. & Truong, Huong Hoang Diep & Chu, Lan Khanh & Doğan, Buhari & Ghosh, Sudeshna, 2023. "The effect of economic complexity and energy security on measures of energy efficiency: Evidence from panel quantile analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    18. Diogo Ferraz & Fernanda P. S. Falguera & Enzo B. Mariano & Dominik Hartmann, 2021. "Linking Economic Complexity, Diversification, and Industrial Policy with Sustainable Development: A Structured Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-29, January.
    19. S'andor Juh'asz & Johannes Wachs & Jermain Kaminski & C'esar A. Hidalgo, 2024. "The Software Complexity of Nations," Papers 2407.13880, arXiv.org.
    20. Ashraf, Junaid, 2022. "Do political instability, financial instability and environmental degradation undermine growth? Evidence from belt and road initiative countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1113-1127.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10586-:d:897347. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.