Universidade de Santiago de Compostela: Asociación de Estudios Euro-Americanos de Desarrollo Económico
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyse how the ease of manufacturing a product may
influence the evolution of exports of specific products in the Spanish economy. This
research focuses on the analysis of the international trade of ophthalmic-optical
products to ascertain how the so-called complexity index may determine the strength of
international competition. More specifically, the foreign sector, in terms of products
and countries, is studied for the period 1978 to 2014. Results demonstrate that
specialization in products of low complexity is a determining factor for the lack of
success of this type of product in international competition
