Patterns and Determinants of Export Specialisation in Australian Manufacturing

This paper examines the patterns and determinants of Australia's revealed comparative advantage in manufactured exports. The results show that Australia's greatest comparative advantage is in technology-intensive and skill-intensive products. Export competitiveness appears to be positively influenced by the intensity of intra-industry trade, overseas investment, research-and-development expenditure intensity and human-capital intensity. On the other hand, high protection has been a major deterrent to international competitiveness.