The economic complexity observatory: an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics of economic development

Abstract

We introduce The Economic Complexity Observatory, a tool for helping users understand the evolution of countries' productive structures and trade partners. Here we bridge the gap of harnessing the raw computational power of cycling through thousands of entries of data with the analytical, decision making qualities of the human mind through the use of information visualization apps. These allow for a richer understanding of large volumes of data and improve the quality of information readily available to decision makers. We present the data, process and different visualizations then, discuss the interface of The Observatory as a website built on standards with accessibility in mind.