ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Abstract

This is a systematic review of the literature on economic complexity. We organize the most current and relevant research studies on the construction of the Economic Complexity Index and its empirical analysis. We searched “Economic Complexity” and its relative direct equivalent term “Economic Complexity Index”, “Economic Growth”, “Economic Development”. The initial selection of the studies found 29 articles in a universe of 472. A total of 44 papers were obtained from Science Direct, 185 from Web of Science and 243 from Scopus. An important fact found in the review is that, since the more traditional empirical literature on the subject is still nascent, its application to regional realities is still nascent. This can be identified by the fact that in a significant universe of studies, only 5 presented proposals for methodological adaptation to the regional scope. In the literature, it is usually concluded that the productive structure of a country or region directly influences the level of growth, and high-income level is related to high complexity.