Identifying a Country As ¨Developed¨ Based On Their Structural Similarities

This research begins with the following questions: Is there consistency between the identification of development and the economic structure it possesses?; Are there similarities between the economies identified with differences in their levels of development?; and, are there non- developed economies with the same structure of developed economies? To answer these questions, similarities of input-output tables obtained from the OECD (Mid90, Early00 and Mid00) are reviewed, and after, a case study is performed on the Chilean economy. The similarities and changes are investigated by using a structural similarity index, and then by comparing correlations. The results show that: traditional indicators can only be used as references and are non-categorical in their identifications of development; the economies show significant similarities according to their level of development, and there exists significant structural similarities between developed economies and the economy of Chile.