Comparative Advantage of Selected Agriculture Products in Iran: A Revealed Comparative Advantage Assessment

This paper is an examination of Balassa‟s „revealed comparative advantage‟ (RCA). The paper show that, when using the RCA, it should always be attuned in such a way, that it becomes symmetric.This paper consists of three major parts i.e. theory, analytical tool and case studies of comparative advantage. Firstly, we evaluate the theory and various empirical measures. Finally, this analytical tool is applied to analyze exported product. The results indicate that Iran had not comparative advantage in walnut, almond hazelnut, apple, orange. To increase competitiveness, the paper suggests several policy recommendations such as, increasing agricultural productivity, promoting the development of indigenous technological capabilities, and reducing the cost of doing business. The conclusion is based on a theoretical discussion of the properties of the measure, and on convincing empirical evidence, according to the Balassa index

Keywords:

Revealed Comparative Advantage , Almond , Apple , Hazelnut , Walnut , Orange