Food exports elasticities in countries of the E.U.: a competitiveness approach in times of globalization
ENThe European agrifood sector can be seen as a strong but flexible sector to respond to problems like economic crises, with an interesting role in globalization movements. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the competitiveness of agrifood exports in the European Union, from the perspective of its Member States, by calculating their elasticities. This is an original approach in economic literature as it is not based on the traditional Shift-Share analysis. This study is proposed between 2004 and 2013, the last decade in which data are available for exports and deflators. The obtained results distinguish a different profile between Eastern countries, the latest admissions, against Western countries, the most veteran ones within the Union. Thus it can be concluded that Eastern countries, especially Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, are highly competitive in the food foreign sector, mainly compared with Western countries. These countries have a strong agrifood sector, but they have other sectors whose competitiveness is more remarkable. Then the entry of Eastern countries in the European Union has meant an improvement in their agrifood economies and a path to the benefits of globalization.
