The Atlas of Economic Complexity - 9780262525428

Why do some countries grow and others do not? The authors of The Atlas ofEconomic Complexity offer readers an explanation based on "Economic Complexity,"a measure of a society's productive knowledge. Prosperous societies are those that have theknowledge to make a larger variety of more complex products. The Atlas of EconomicComplexity attempts to measure the amount of productive knowledge countries hold and howthey can move to accumulate more of it by making more complex products.

Throughthe graphical representation of the "Product Space," the authors are able to identify eachcountry's "adjacent possible," or potential new products, making it easier to find pathsto economic diversification and growth. In addition, they argue that a country's economic complexityand its position in the product space are better predictors of economic growth than many otherwell-known development indicators, including measures of competitiveness, governance, finance, andschooling.

Using innovative visualizations, the book locates each country in theproduct space, provides complexity and growth potential rankings for 128 countries, and offersindividual country pages with detailed information about a country's current capabilities and itsdiversification options. The maps and visualizations included in the Atlas can be used to find moreviable paths to greater productive knowledge and prosperity.