Does volatility hinder economic complexity?

This paper investigates the effect of the output and terms of trade volatility on economic complexity. To this end, we apply ordinanry least square, fixed effect and System GMM approach for a panel of 119 countries over the period 1998-2017. The findings reveal that the output and terms of trade volatility negatively affects economic complexity. Our empirical results also indicate that financial development, foreign direct investment, internet and income per capita have a positive effect on economic complexity while natural ressources have a negative effect.