GAUGING THE SOURCES OF GROWTH OF HIGH-TECH AND LOW-TECH INDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF KOREAN MANUFACTURING *

Literature argues that the source of growth for high-tech industries emanates from technological progress, while that for low-tech industries comes from technical efficiency improvement. Also, some empirical studies have shown that technological progress is often accompanied by deterioration in technical efficiency. The focus in this study is to discuss a methodology and test the above two hypotheses with regard to Korean manufacturing data from 1970 to 1997. The study found that the 2.5 per cent average annual rate of technological progress during this period was the major contributor to total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Korean manufacturing whereas technical efficiency grew by a modest 1.1 per cent per annum. The analysis also showed that technological progress was responsible for TFP growth in both high-tech and low-tech industries and that both technological progress and technical efficiency improvement co-existed in the case of Korean manufacturing industries. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/ University of Adelaide and Flinders University 2005..

The relationship between U.S. and eurodollar interest rates: Evidence from the futures market

G15, C32,

Competitive industrial policy and macro performance: Has South Korea outperformed Taiwan?

Taiwan adopted a competitive industrial policy before South Korea but pursued it more cautiously. According to orthodox theory, Taiwan's less interventionist policy should have increased its initial per capita income lead over South Korea. In fact, the income gap narrowed, and income distribution improved relatively in South Korea, casting doubt on the orthodox criticism of South Korean industrial policy. But some qualification of the South Korean success is in order. The South Korean gains were achieved at the cost of greater consumption fore gone and greater concentration of economic power than in the case of Taiwan. Moreover, the crucial post-1985 Taiwanese economic slow down was partly due to economic maturation as well as to tardy financial reform and to the opportunities created by the Chinese diaspora for Taiwanese firms to invest abroad.