R&I Dashboard > Value Added and Specialization > Share of Value Added / Comparative Advantages

Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) of Selected Countries in Foreign Trade in R&D-intensive Goods

The specialization pattern of a country in foreign trade can be measured with the help of the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indicator.1 It records the export/import ratio of a product group in relation to the export/import ratio of the processed industrial goods of a country as a whole.

As in previous years, Germany had a positive value for the RCA indicator in 2021 and thus a comparative advantage in trade with R&D-intensive goods. R&D-intensive goods consist of high-value technology goods and cutting-edge technology goods.

However, a more differentiated look at these two groups of goods shows that Germany's comparative advantage was only positive for trade in high-value technology goods, while it was negative for trade in cutting-edge technology goods. In an international comparison, Japan had the highest comparative advantages in high-value technology and Switzerland in cutting-edge technology.

While China was able to almost offset its comparative disadvantages in the field of high-value technology from 2011 (RCA value -30) to 2021 (RCA value -3), Switzerland recorded the largest increase of a comparative advantage in the field of cutting-edge technology during this period.

plotly

Timeseries calculated based on the new list of R&D-intensive goods (Table 4, p.16 ff.) in Neuhäusler et al. (2022).
R&D-intensive goods comprise high-value technology goods and cutting-edge technology goods.
Source: UN COMTRADE database, research September 2022. Calculations and estimates by CWS in Schiersch and Gulden (2023).
© EFI – Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation 2023.

Changes in RCA Values Until 2021

plotly

Timeseries calculated based on the new list of R&D-intensive goods (Table 4, p.16 ff.) in Neuhäusler et al. (2022).
R&D-intensive goods comprise high-value technology goods and cutting-edge technology goods.
Source: UN COMTRADE database, research September 2022. Calculations and estimates by CWS in Schiersch and Gulden (2023).
© EFI – Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation 2023.

1 For a methodological explanation of the RCA indicator, cf. Schiersch, A.; Gehrke, B. (2014): Die Wissenswirtschaft im internationalen Vergleich: Strukturen, Produktivität, Außenhandel. Studien zum deutschen Innovationssystem. No. 6-2014. Berlin: EFI.