General, high-tech, and mid-tech regional trade introversion indexes as measures of trade integration within RTAs

Abstract In this paper, we analyze the regional trade introversion indexes (RTIIs) for regional trading arrangements (RTAs)with various numbers of differently developed participants and different depths of economic integration. The analyszed RTAs stem from all inhabited continents. We compare three types of indexes: (1) the general RTII calculated for trade in all goods (“general RTII”), (2) its modification called “high-tech RTII,” including exclusively high technology manufactures, and (3) “med-tech RTII,” including goods classified as medium technology manufactures. The aim of the article is to answer the research question whether “high-tech RTIIs” and “med-tech RTIIs” are higher than “general RTIIs.” Our study does not provide a simple and unequivocal answer to the research question, but we do confirm that in general the regional trade introversion measured by RTIIs is stronger for medium technology manufactures than for all goods, while for high technology manufactures the picture is more complicated.