EXPORT-ORIENTED INDUSTRIALIZATION THROUGH PRIMARY PROCESSING

Recent research suggests that East Asia's manufactured export success is not replicable in other developing countries, with lower skill/land ratios. This conclusion, however, is based on a narrow definition of manufactured exports. The present paper asks whether the chances of ex port-oriented industrialization in countries with low skill/land ratio s seem better when the definition of manufactures is broadened to incl ude processed primary products. The answer from its crosscountry econo metric analysis is ''yes'' for countries with moderately skilled labor forces (as in Latin America), but ''no'' for countries where levels o f skill are low (as in Africa). (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.