The complex dynamics of products and its asymptotic properties

PLoS One. 2017 May 17;12(5):e0177360. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177360. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

We analyse global export data within the Economic Complexity framework. We couple the new economic dimension Complexity, which captures how sophisticated products are, with an index called logPRODY, a measure of the income of the respective exporters. Products' aggregate motion is treated as a 2-dimensional dynamical system in the Complexity-logPRODY plane. We find that this motion can be explained by a quantitative model involving the competition on the markets, that can be mapped as a scalar field on the Complexity-logPRODY plane and acts in a way akin to a potential. This explains the movement of products towards areas of the plane in which the competition is higher. We analyse market composition in more detail, finding that for most products it tends, over time, to a characteristic configuration, which depends on the Complexity of the products. This market configuration, which we called asymptotic, is characterized by higher levels of competition.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Economics*
  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by CNR Progetto di Interesse CRISIS LAB http://www.crisislab.it) and EU Project nr. 611272 GROWTHCOM (http://www.growthcom.eu). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.