CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

services to the same preferred partner. Consequently, the regional RCA index is given by the following equation 51 :

Wosiek et al 2021 suggest that values below 1 signify the absence of comparative advantage, while values between 1 and 2 indicate that there is weak comparative advantage. On the other hand, values between 2 and 4 represent moderate comparative advantage, while values above 4 are indicative of strong comparative advantage. As a result, for the Regional RCA (RRCA) a value above 1, in addition to indicating a positive level of comparative advantage, is also interpreted to mean that the share of that service in a country’s total services exports is greater than the share at the regional level. An RRCA value of 10 in relation to services exported by a CARIFORUM State would, thus, mean that that country’s share of the service in its total services exports is ten times that of the region’s overall share of that product in its total exports to the same preferred partner, which is more meaningful and possesses greater empirical value for inference.

iv.

Evaluation of the Regional RCA results

The results obtained from the regional RCA index largely emphasize the fact that the highest levels of comparative advantage in the supply of the majority of the services examined, rests with only a

51 Wosiek, Roman et al (2021)

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