Number 44 The Technological Structure and Performance of Developing Country Manufactured Exports , 1985 - 1998

This paper maps recent manufactured export patterns in developing countries, using a new and detailed classification by technology. It argues that export structures, being path-dependent and difficult to change, have implications for growth and development. Low technology products tend to grow the slowest and technology intensive products the fastest. East Asia dominates the scene with 70 percent of developing-world manufactured exports; there is high and rising concentration at the national level. The strategies used to achieve competitiveness differ greatly between countries. Received trade theory cannot explain these patterns without considering learning processes and the policies used to promote them.