Transformations  in
Business & Economics

DEEPENING OF SPECIALIZATION IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE AS A DETERMINANT OF THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Elzbieta Janton-Drozdowska, Maria Majewska

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to present one of the economic development paths of the country in which one observes, first, an increasing diversification of the production and export structure, and then its subsequent and gradual decline. That means the deepening of specialization and a higher concentration level of industry reflected in a larger scale intra-industry trade. This phenomenon is related to new endogenous comparative advantages in international trade, which must be maintained on the ever-expanding global market. A comparative analysis of sixty countries divided in three groups according to their income level performed in the years 1995-2010, as well as results of cluster analysis conducted to identify the changes, which may occur in the groups of surveyed countries between 1995 and 2010, have confirmed certain regularities that are characteristic of subsequent stages of an economic development path of the country based on the deepening of specialization.

KEYWORDS: international trade, international specialization, economic development.

JEL classification: O11, O14, P45, P46.