The degree of economic development pattern of economy

Abstract

In this article, we explore the concept and measurement of the degree of economic development pattern (DEDP) of economy, which refers to the extent to which the development of an economy can serve as a reference for other economies. Utilizing 76 macroeconomic indicators across 217 economies, the economic development paths in a standardized space of economy is compared to identify variations in DEDP through the regression analysis on the relationship between the similarity of development paths and the growth rate on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. To measure DEDP of economy from different perspective, two types of metrics are constructed. One is the determination coefficient of regression analysis, which exhibits significant positive correlations with population size of economy, uncovering differences of development paths among economies of varying population sizes. The other type of metrics is based on the consistency on regression coefficients and effectively explains disparities among economies in the growth rate on GDP per capita, economic complexity index and economic fitness. These findings reveal the differences in development paths among different countries from the perspective of referentiality for development patterns, suggesting the potential existence of the paths with more universal meaning to economic development.