Determinants of revealed comparative advantages: The case of cheese trade in the European Union

Revealed comparative advantages are widely used by the global literature to analyse international trade flows, though agricultural trade is usually neglected in empirical works. Moreover, the determinants of revealed comparative advantages are scarcely investigated. This article analyses revealed comparative advantages in European Union’s cheese trade from 1990 to 2013 and identifies its determinants by using panel data econometrics. Results suggest that GDP/capita, geographical indication, and EU membership are positively, while foreign direct investment (FDI) is negatively related to revealed comparative advantages