The evolution of world trade and the Italian â€˜anomaly': a new look

Abstract:

This work provides an empirical assessment of the 'sophistication' of the Italian international

specialization pattern and of its evolution during the period 1980¡2000. In particular we analyse

the well-known Italian trade 'anomaly' combining the information coming from the PRODY index

(Hausmann et al. (2005)) with the RCA index. Our results show that in the last two decades, the

world trade has been rapidly changing with Italy becoming increasingly more competitive and

specialized in products that are characterized by decreasing income/productivity levels. Thus,

while the Italian 'anomaly' was not a problem in the past, it may have become an obstacle to

future growth.

Keywords: PRODY index; RCA; Specialization pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int
Date: 2006-10, Revised 2008-10
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Forthcoming in Rivista di Politica Economica

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