Trade and revealed comparative advantage: Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the European Union

This study analyses the trade of Hungary and the Czech Republic with the European Union in 1997.After a general introduction, the focus turns to the extent of intra-industry trade (IIT) and its horizontal and vertical components.The extent of IIT is also analysed in light of the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the European Union to Hungary and the Czech Republic.This is followed by an analysis of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in trade between the EU and the two Central European countries.The CN4-digit trade data is divided into two groups according to whether a country enjoys a revealed comparative advantage in a given market area or not.Statistical tests are performed to determine the extent to which the RCA structures of each pair of countries are dependent.The analysis also takes into account the volumes of trade flows.