IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v55y2026i3s0048733326000132.html

The software complexity of nations

Author

Listed:
  • Juhász, Sándor
  • Wachs, Johannes
  • Kaminski, Jermain
  • Hidalgo, César A.

Abstract

Despite the growing importance of the digital sector, research on economic complexity and its implications continues to rely mostly on administrative records—e.g. data on exports, patents, and employment—that have blind spots when it comes to the digital economy. In this paper we use data on the geography of programming languages used in open-source software to extend economic complexity ideas to the digital economy. We estimate a country's software economic complexity index (ECIsoftware) and show that it complements the ability of measures of complexity based on trade, patents, and research to account for international differences in GDP per capita, income inequality, and emissions. We also show that open-source software follows the principle of relatedness, meaning that a country's entries and exits in programming languages are partly explained by its current pattern of specialization. Together, these findings help extend economic complexity ideas and their policy implications to the digital economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Juhász, Sándor & Wachs, Johannes & Kaminski, Jermain & Hidalgo, César A., 2026. "The software complexity of nations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:55:y:2026:i:3:s0048733326000132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105422

    Download full text from publisher

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ; ; ; ; ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:55:y:2026:i:3:s0048733326000132. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.