Economic Complexity and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

During the last decade, economic development efforts have been marked by both a return of industrial policy [1–3] and the growing need to consider social and environmental sustainability [4–7]. At the intersection of both of these topics, we find important policy efforts, such as Europe’s Green Deal [8], and also a growing academic literature on economic complexity [9,10], green growth [11], green innovation [12,13], and sustainability. On the one hand, this literature is exploring how the product space [3] and the principle of relatedness [14] can facilitate an economy’s transition into green products [15–18]. On the other hand, this literature is exploring the connection between environmental sustainability and the complexity of an economy [19–22]. In fact, evidence thus far shows that economies tend to reduce emissions when they become sufficiently complex [21–23], and also, that higher complexity economies tend to experience lower levels of income inequality [7] and higher levels of human development [24].

The purpose of this Special Issue is to stimulate, promote, and gather research at the intersection between environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic complexity. We are looking for contributions exploring these and other topics:

1. Relatedness and the development of green products/jobs/industries;
2. Sustainability and global value chains;
3. Economic complexity, environmental sustainability, and the environmental Kuznets curve;
4. Economic complexity, inequality, and sustainable human development;
5. Green Growth;
6. Green Innovation.

Sustainability is an indexed peer-reviewed MDPI journal.

Papers should be submitted by 31 October 2020.

We look forward to your contributions.

References:

1. Rodrik, D. Where are we in the economics of industrial policies? Econ. China 2019, 14, 329–336.
2. Mazzucato, M. The entrepreneurial state. 2011, 49, 131–142.
3. Hidalgo, C.A.; Klinger, B.; Barabási, A.-L.; Hausmann, R. The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations. 2007, 317, 482–487.
4. Rodrik, D. Green industrial policy. Rev. Econ. Policy 2014, 30, 469–491.
5. Mazzucato, M. The green entrepreneurial state. In The Politics of Green Transformations. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 2015, 152–170.
6. Nyström, M.; Jouffray, J.-B.; Norström, A.V.; Crona, B.; Jørgensen, P.S.; Carpenter, S.R.; Bodin, Ö.; Galaz, V.; Folke, C. Anatomy and resilience of the global production ecosystem. 2019, 575, 98–108.
7. Hartmann, D.; Guevara, M.R.; Jara-Figueroa, C.; Aristarán, M.; Hidalgo, C.A. Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality. World Dev. 2017, 93, 75–93.
8. A European Green Deal. European Commission—European Commission. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en (accessed on 5 March 2020).
9. Hidalgo, C.A.; Hausmann, R. The building blocks of economic complexity. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2009, 106, 10570–10575.
10. Hausmann, R.; Hidalgo, C.A.; Bustos, S.; Coscia, M.; Simoes, A.; Yildirim, M. The Atlas of Economic Complexity. MIT Pres: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2014.
11. Dai, H.; Xie, X.; Xie, Y.; Liu, J.; Masui, T. Green growth: The economic impacts of large-scale renewable energy development in China. Energy 2016, 162, 435–449.
12. Davis, S.J.; Lewis, N.S.; Shaner, M.; Aggarwal, S.; Arent, D.; Azevedo, I.L.; Benson, S.M.; Bradley, T.H.; Brouwer, J.; Chiang, Y.-M.; et al. Net-zero emissions energy systems. 2018, 360, eaas9793.
13. Zhang, D.; Rong, Z.; Ji, Q. Green innovation and firm performance: Evidence from listed companies in China. Conserv. Recycl. 2019, 144, 48–55.
14. Hidalgo, C.A.; Balland, P.-A.; Boschma, R.; Delgado, M.; Feldman, M.; Frenken, K.; Glaeser, E.; He, C.; Kogler, D.F.; Morrison, A.; et al. The Principle of Relatedness. In 12th Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference; Springer Science and Business Media LLC: Berlin, Germany, 2018; pp. 451–457.
15. Hamwey, R.; Pacini, H.; Assunção, L. Mapping Green Product Spaces of Nations. Environ. Dev. 2013, 22, 155–168.
16. Fraccascia, L.; Giannoccaro, I.; Albino, V. Green product development: What does the country product space imply? Clean. Prod. 2018, 170, 1076–1088.
17. Huberty, M.; Zachmann, G. Green exports and the global product space: Prospects for EU industrial policy 2011. Available online: https://www.bruegel.org/2011/05/green-exports-and-the-global-product-space-prospects-for-eu-industrial-policy/ (accessed on 5 March 2020).
18. Dordmond, G.; De Oliveira, H.C.; Silva, I.R.; Swart, J. The complexity of green job creation: An analysis of green job development in Brazil. Dev. Sustain. 2020, 1–24. Available online: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-020-00605-4 (accessed on 5 March 2020).
19. Mealy, P.; Teytelboym, A.M. Economic Complexity and the Green Economy. 2017. Available online: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3111644 (accessed on 5 March 2020).
20. Neagu, O.; Teodoru, M.C. The Relationship between Economic Complexity, Energy Consumption Structure and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Heterogeneous Panel Evidence from the EU Countries. 2019, 11, 497.
21. Neagu, O. The Link between Economic Complexity and Carbon Emissions in the European Union Countries: A Model Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Approach. 2019, 11, 4753.
22. Can, M.; Gozgor, G. The impact of economic complexity on carbon emissions: evidence from France. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2017, 24, 16364–16370.
23. Swart, J.; Brinkmann, L. Economic Complexity and the Environment: Evidence from Brazil. In Proceedings of the International Business, Trade and Institutional Sustainability; Springer Science and Business Media LLC: Berlin, Germany, 2019; pp. 3–45.
24. Ferraz, D.; Moralles, H.F.; Campoli, J.S.; De Oliveira, F.C.R.; Rebelatto, D.A.D.N. Economic Complexity and Human Development: DEA performance measurement in Asia and Latin America. Gestão Produção 2018, 25, 839–853.

Prof. César A. Hidalgo
Prof. María Semitiel-García
Dr. Philipp Aerni
Mr. Markus Schaefer
Guest Editors

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• economic complexity
• sustainability
• inequality
• emissions
• human development
• ecology
• green growth
• green development
• green innovation