ABSTRACT
During the past couple of decades the value of manufactured exports from the developing countries has grown rapidly. Their value now substantially exceeds that of total non-oil primary product exports from these countries. Manufacturing for export has become a major element in recent industrial growth in the developing world. At first, the bulk of these manufactured exports originated from a very small number of developing countries, most famously Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Thereafter, however, many more developing economies entered into successful manufacturing for export and even more are seeking to emulate them. Experience in the successful East Asian countries has attracted a great deal of recent research attention (e.g. World Bank 1993b; Amsden et al. 1994; Bradford 1994; Fishlow et al. 1994; Wade 1995). Both official and private plans for continuing and expanding industrial production in the developing countries typically rely heavily upon the prospect of manufactured exports.
