ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the sectors that lie at the heart of China's export miracle, which are also key sectors in the industrial development of emerging Southeast Asian economies. East Asia is widely heralded for its achievements in export manufacturing. China's spectacular economic growth has rekindled the debate about export development in Asia. In commodity-exporting countries, China's manufacturing growth has meant booming demand for minerals and raw materials. The chapter explains the variation in offshoring across sectors and examines the characteristics that distinguish offshoring sectors from other sectors. The market-driven explanation of Asia's export success would imply that specialisation in offshoring sectors is primarily the result of comparative advantage. The literature identifies a role for relative factor costs, production task intensity, and communication and trade costs in determining the extent of industry offshoring. The chapter examines the temporal relationship between sectoral comparative advantage and aggregate capital accumulation for East and Southeast Asian countries.
