Industrialisation and Macroeconomic Performance in Developing Countries under Alternative Trade Strategies.

The role of international trade in industrialization and the impact of foreign trade regime on macroeconomic performance has been a source of lasting controversy over the postwar period. Th is paper analyzes the experience of forty-one less developed countrie s, some of which have followed outward-oriented strategies. Various c riterion are used to distinguish between alternative strategies, and a variety of indicators of industrialization and macro-economic perfo rmance are examined. The find-ings suggest that outward-oriented econ omies have generally performed better than inward-oriented economies. Copyright 1988 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG