| Abstract: | A senior Japanese specialist on Russia's economy and its oil- and gas-producing sectors calculates that country's Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Revealed Comparative Disadvantage (RCD), and Trade Specialization Index (TSI) on the basis of foreign trade data compiled by Russia's Federal Customs Service. The focus is on changes in comparative advantage of Russia's major export and import commodities over the 1994-2005 period. The results of the analyses make it possible to test the assertion that the increasing competitiveness of oil and gas exports (and secondarily those of armaments, selected base metals, roundwood, and fertilizers) must compensate for declining competitiveness in (and increasing imports of) meat, plastics, and automobile production and stagnation in the machinery sectors. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F14, 011. 4 figures, 8 tables, 11 references. |
