Comparative Advantage Structure of U.S. International Services

Abstract

This paper is an investigation of the comparative advantage structure of United States (U.S.) international trade in services. It appears conclusively that the U.S. has a strong comparative advantage in knowledge-based services. For this study, the author adopts the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index to analyze the structure, and demonstrates that the variances in the RCA deviations indicate a similarity in the export structure between the U.S. and the world. The focus of this study is also on the role of the multinational companies. This view links microeconomic entities and the macroeconomic surroundings.