Measuring Subnational Trade Competitiveness

Much research has tried to measure the competitiveness of territorial units such as countries and subnational regions. We propose new measures of subnational trade competitiveness that reflect the economic focus of regions on their country’s comparative advantage. Our approach starts with data on the revealed comparative advantage of countries at the industry level. We then combine these measures with data on the employment structure of subnational regions to arrive at measures of subnational trade competitiveness. In total, we offer data for 6,475 regions across 63 countries and over a time period of 21 years. In this article, we introduce our measures and provide descriptive evidence, include two case studies for Bolivia and South Korea, that shows the plausibility of these measures. These data are relevant for many areas of research, including on the competitiveness of territorial units, the economic and political impact of trade on importing countries, and the economic and political consequences of globalization.