Export specialization in services of the Visegrad countries

Abstract

The importance of services and the international trade in services is growing systematically. There are some reasons for that, especially the rapid development of IT technologies. This increase in the international trade in services is a global phenomenon, however there are some other specific issues, other than economic or technological, which might influence the trade in services in particular countries. As for the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe such a factor could be the accession to the European Union (EU). The objective of the paper is to analyse the export specialization of the Visegrad countries in the international trade in services and how it changed over seven years after the EU accession. The service sector comprises of a variety of highly heterogeneous economic activities and the diversity of services is also reflected in the international trade of particular countries. Generally, the trade theories deal with trade of goods, but there are some attempts already to apply these theories for services. To find out the export specialization based on the comparative advantage in particular services, the main categories of services are analysed based on the adjusted RCA index assumptions. The analysis prepared in the paper is based on the balance of payment statistics provided by the WTO. The article is concluded by discussing the questions about the export specialization of particular countries and how it changed after the accession to the EU.