Measuring comparative advantage through RCA: An empirical application with implications for South Asian Nations

Abstract

This paper deals with Merchandise Commodities traded among South Asian Nations namely Afghanistan, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka. RCA Index has been used to study the comparative advantage of South Asian Countries in different Merchandise commodities. Balassa's (1965) measure of relative export performance by country and industry/commodity, defined as a country's share of world exports of a commodity divided by its share of total world exports is used for analysis. RCA for all merchandise commodities has been calculated and tabulated.