Exports of High Technology Products from Developing Countries: Is it Real or a Statistical Artifact?

This paper first develops a consistent time-series data on the exports of high technology products from essentially the developing countries. An analysis of the data shows that developing countries are increasingly becoming exporters of manufactured products as against primary products in the past. Second the world trade is increasingly becoming a trade in high tech products. What is more striking is the significant increase of the technology content of exports by developing countries: very nearly a quarter of the exports from developing countries is now in high tech products. Third, the share of developing countries in high tech exports have shown dramatic increases: it has increased from about 8 per cent in 1988 to about 23 per cent by 1997. But there is considerable concentration of it in a few countries. The paper then seeks to explain whether these developing countries are real exporters of high tech products or not. This is accomplished by a careful examination of the degree of product specialisation by both developed and developing countries, by examining their record with respect to patenting and finally by analysing certain indicators of high tech competitiveness. The paper concludes by presenting a case study of a leading high tech exporter from the developing world.