Purpose : This study measures the level of international competitiveness of South Korea financial service industry exports and then explores its stylized fact and examined its determinants.
Research design, data, methodology : To capture the level...
Purpose : This study measures the level of international competitiveness of South Korea financial service industry exports and then explores its stylized fact and examined its determinants.
Research design, data, methodology : To capture the level of the international competitiveness, the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) was used as the proxy for it. In addition, this study used the 24 countries panel data ranging from 2005 to 2021 to investigate how the social and economic variables such as ICT infrastructure, regulations and legal systems, economic environment, and uncertainty affect the RCA of financial service industry.
Results : From the results of the fixed-effect panel analysis, the RCA of financial service industry is closely associated with FX volatility, financial sophistication, the number of mobile phone and Internet users, and political uncertainty. To be specific, an increase in financial sophistication level or the number of mobile phone and Internet users leads to enhance the RCA in financial service industry. On the other hand, when FX volatility or political uncertainty expands, the RCA in financial service industry is harmed.
Conclusions : In the case of South Korea, the international competitiveness level of the financial service industry shows upward trend, but still low internationally. To upgrade it, continuous interest and support are needed. To be detailed, it is necessary to design the policy that considers socioeconomic factors drawn from empirical analysis.