RDP 9110: Resource Convergence and Intra-Industry Trade Data Appendix

1. TRADE STATISTICS

Intra-industry trade indices are calculated using the 238 SITC 3 digit classifications (Revision 2). These data were obtained from the OECD's international trade database for the years 1965 to 1987.

2. RESOURCES

(a) Capital Stocks

The primary measure of the capital stock used is calculated by cumulating gross investment over the previous fifteen years with a depreciation rate of 5 per cent per year. The investment data are from Summers and Heston (1988) and are constant price estimates.

The measures of sectoral capital stocks are from the OECD International Sectoral Databank.

(b) Labour Force

The labour force is measured as the number of economically active people and is taken from the OECD Labour Force Statistics. The sectoral labour force statistics are from the OECD International Sectoral Databank.

(c) Skilled Labour

The share of skilled labour in the labour force was estimated using data from the ILO Year Book of Labour Statistics. Skilled labour is defined as International Standard Classification of Occupations categories 0, 1 and 2 which consist of “professional, technical and related workers” (categories 0 and 1) and “administrative and managerial workers” (category 2). These data are not available for all countries for all years. Where observations were missing the share of skilled labour in total labour was estimated by regressing the available data for that country on a constant and a time trend and then using the predicted value for the missing year.

(d) Agricultural Land

The endowment of land is measured by the number of hectares of arable land and land under permanent crops. The data are from the FAO Production Yearbook for 1989.

(e) Natural Resources

The mineral resource index is created by summing the value of production of the following five resources: crude oil, hard coal, copper, iron ore and zinc.

The following are the descriptions and sources for the price and production data. Each price is deflated using the USA GDP deflator.

Crude Oil

Production: OECD – Energy Statistics and Main Series from 1960
Prices: World Bank – Commodity Trade and Price Trends 1987–88: Average US$/barrel OPEC official selling price.

Hard Coal

Production: OECD – Energy Statistics and Main Series from 1960
Prices: World Bank – Commodity Trade and Price Trends 1987–88: The f.o.b US$/metric ton export unit value of bituminous coal at US ports.

Copper

Production: United Nations – Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, Volume II, (various years).
Prices: IMF – Primary Commodities Market Developments and Outlook (1986): US cents per pound on London metal exchange (c.i.f at UK ports).

Iron Ore

Production: United Nations – Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, Volume II, (various years).
Prices: IMF – Primary Commodities Market Developments and Outlook (1986): The c.i.f. US$/metric ton price of Brazilian ore at German ports.

Zinc

Production: United Nations – Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, Volume II, (various years).
Prices: World Bank – Commodity Trade and Price Trends 1987–88: The US$/metric ton.