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

Sanjaya Lall

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.

June 2000

Based on the research paper above, a table of trade classification grouped by technology-intensiveness is attached.