OEC

OEC stands for the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online data visualization and analytics platform that provides accessible information on international trade and the structure of economies. It is designed to help users understand how countries produce and export goods, how products relate to one another, and how economic complexity relates to development outcomes.

The project originated from researchers at the MIT Center for International Development, led by César A. Hidalgo and Ricardo Hausmann, and has since been maintained and expanded by the OEC team. The platform aggregates and standardizes trade data from sources such as the United Nations Comtrade and other international agencies to present exports and imports by country, product, and trading partner.

A core feature set includes metrics such as the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and the Product Complexity Index (PCI). The ECI ranks countries by the diversity and sophistication of their exported products, while the PCI evaluates individual products. The site also presents a product space network that shows how different goods are related and how capabilities tend to co-occur across economies.

Key functionalities feature country profiles with export baskets, trend analyses, and interactive trade-flow visualizations (including Sankey diagrams), as well as product profiles and a public API for data access. The OEC supports historical data and exploratory analyses that help users examine changes in trade patterns, diversification, and development trajectories.

The platform is widely used by researchers, policymakers, educators, journalists, and businesses to illustrate economic complexity, monitor policy impacts, and teach international trade concepts. Limitations include data lag, gaps in coverage for some economies or products, and dependence on classifications such as HS/UN Comtrade, which can affect comparability.