ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the comparision of four south European countries in terms of their current specialisation patterns as well as their upscale opportunities, defined as the products which these countries already export but in which they did not develop comparative advantage, which are simultaneously "related" to their current core of capabilities and have a higher value content (PRODY) than the country average (EXPY). A PRODY index is estimated as a weighted average of the per capita incomes of the countries with Revealed Comparative Advantage (Balassa 1965) in that product, with the weights being proportional to the RCA index. Germany can only improve its EXPY by specialising in products with at least a High PRODY level. In terms of the average value content of the current export basket, Italy and Spain reveal higher EXPY levels than Greece and Portugal, but not as high as Germany. Germany has only upscale opportunities in products with High and Very High income content.
