An Analysis of Trade Specialization in Bangladesh, 1996-2011

Md. Mehedi Hasan Sikdar
Additional contact information
Md. Mehedi Hasan Sikdar: Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Dumki, Patuakhali-8602, BANGLADESH

American Journal of Trade and Policy, 2019, vol. 6, issue 3, 85-94

Abstract: Trade specialization has been studied extensively, and many researchers try to explain the patterns of specialization and the different factors that determine it. By using the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage Index and the Galtonian Regression Technique, this study tries to define the industries with trade specialization and analyze the transformation of the pattern of trade specialization in Bangladesh in the period 1996-2011 to show how the export and import specialization of industries changed and to what extent the design of trade specialization in Bangladesh has been transformed during the last sixteen years. Empirical analysis showed that the export of Bangladesh consists mainly of the garment industry, and Bangladesh's import products essentially belong to the category of commodities for further production and the support of the exporting sector. From the Galtonian regression analysis of export and import specialization, it has been found that the level of export diversification is deficient and relatively stable, which is confirmed by the low mobility effect. Bangladesh’s export specialization pattern is highly concentrated only in apparel products throughout the study period. All other sectors contribute significantly less in total export share, but the import is more diversified. For the country's development, it must diversify its export basket.

Keywords: Trade specialization; Galtonian regression; RSCA; Garment Industry; Exporting Sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://abc.us.org/ojs/index.php/ajtp/article/view/351/857 Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:ajotap:0047

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Trade and Policy is currently edited by Charles A. Rarick

More articles in American Journal of Trade and Policy from Asian Business Consortium Asian Business Consortium, 10-B-6, Darussalam Tower, Mirpur Road, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Alim Al Ayub Ahmed ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).