RELATIVE TRADE ADVANTAGE ANALYSIS: COMPARING INDONESIA AND THAILAND’S COMPETITIVENESS
Punjung Raras, Professor Yoshihiro Otsuji
2012 | Tesis | S2 Magister Ek.Pembangunan-
This paper analyses comparative advantage between Indonesia and Thailand in terms of Relative Trade Advantage (RTA) in several industrial classifications and manufactures products. The main purpose of this study is to improve Indonesia‟s competitiveness in industrial sector by preparing a comprehensive policy to get fully benefit of international trade. By measuring RTA index by Vollrath for three consecutive years, namely 1990, 2000, and 2010, this study demonstrates that Indonesia‟s competitiveness lags behind Thailand. However, in general, Indonesia has performed better effort than Thailand in the last 20 years and is on the right track of industrial development process. Indonesia has to place itself in a more advantageously position and learn from Thailand‟s experiences, especially in improving human capital and technology in the next rounds. From the magnitude and the movements of RTA index, the analysis tries to categorize products into priority order. The result indicates that Indonesian government has taken the right decision by putting these industries in their industrial development priority.
Kata Kunci : comparative advantage, relative trade advantage, industrial development.
