Product Space,Potential Comparative Advantages and Export Technological Complexity

To investigate the evolution process of comparative advantage and the factors affect this process is an important topic, and for developing exporting countries, it is even more important to see what factors will promote them to export more technological complex products. In this paper, we utilise the theory of product space raised by Hausmann and others and modify the indicators of product proximity, product path and product density in this theory. We also utilise the method raised by Rodrick to calculate the product and country‐level export technological complexity. Based on a multinational panel data set, we show that if a country's exported products with higher product density or higher product path also have higher technological complexity, then in the short term, the country's overall export technological complexity tend to be increased, and in the long term, the effect of distribution of the path of technological complexity of exports is more significant.