Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may CompetitivenessThe economic turmoil in 2008, followed by the sovereign debt crisis, hit European countries to varying degrees. Among the countries struggling most were Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Each had diverse economic structures, and their initial economic situations were very different at the beginning of the crisis. A problem common to all of these countries at the time of writing is the collapse of national demand. Both private and public consumption have been weakened chronically due to high unemployment rates and mandatory spending gaps required for budgetary consolidation. This applies especially to Greece and Portugal, whose economies are dominated by the service and public sectors. Spain benefi ted until the onset of the crisis from the construction sector and from private consumption. The situation in Ireland is slightly different, as it had attracted substantial foreign direct investment (chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry) in recent years, but the bursting real estate bubble hit the Irish economy hard. Foreign trade might seem a logical way to restore economic strength, but little is known about the international competitiveness of these countries' industries. In this context, this paper provides some information on which of these four countries might benefi t from exports in the short term.It is evident that foreign trade is important to Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, albeit it to varying degrees. The following analysis sheds some light on their export structures. To do so, the so-called revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indicator is used. RCA analysis is widespread in the economic literature 1 and has at times been discussed critically.2 Nonetheless, it offers helpful information on these countries' economic situations and addresses some problems which might constrain economic upswings. To begin, the degree of openness of the four countries, i.e. the trade volume (exports plus imports) as a share of total gross domestic product, is presented in Figure 1. As can be seen, the level of openness increased in all four countries beginning in 1995.3 Greece, Portugal and Spain have rather similar values and faced similar developments, whereas Ireland is outstanding in this sample. The country's openness increased dramatically through 2001, with foreign trade becoming a signifi cant part of the Irish economy.The elements of trade openness are presented separately in Figure 2. Wi...
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.
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