Technology and Trade Specialisation Dynamics: A comparative analysis

This paper studies the relationship between technology and trade specialisation and their dynamics. We use an index of revealed comparative advantage based on trade data to measure international trade specialisation and one based on patent data to measure international technological specialisation. The empirical analysis shows that the relationship between the two is not strong, thus con...rming that technology is only one determinant of trade specialisation patterns. It also shows that countries display higher mobility in technology specialisation than in trade specialisation over a short time horizon, while mobility is similar over a longer horizon. This is because shifts in trade specialisation become much more frequent and wide, compared to mobility in technology specialisation, which does not change as much. This ...nding con...rms the absence of path dependence and of reinforcing e¤ects going from technology to trade.