Open AccessThe Competitiveness of Capital-Goods Industries in Developing Countries
Author(s) -
Barend A. de Vries
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v8i2pp.226-239
Subject(s) - industrialisation , capital good , developing country , business , earnings , capital (architecture) , product (mathematics) , secondary sector of the economy , international trade , economics , commerce , industrial organization , market economy , economy , economic growth , goods and services , finance , geometry , mathematics , archaeology , history
In the past two decades developing countries have invested anincreasing proportion of their resources in new industries and theinfrastructure needed to support them. Many of the new industries havebeen light, simple and con¬sumer-oriented. But a significant number ofLDC's, mostly the larger or richer ones, have established heavy, morecomplex capital-goods industries. Both sectors of industry have beenlargely domestic-oriented, although there are some LDC's which havesucceeded in sharply increasing their industrial exports, mostly oflight and simple products. The absence of export success may, in itself,cast a doubt on the effici¬ency and competitiveness of the newindustries. The question has been raised in several quarters whether, infact, the resources spent on industrialization have been well spent orwhether the LDC's could have achieved more growth—in domestic product orexport earnings—by a different design of industrialization or by moreemphasis on other sectors. These questions are of special relevance forthe newly-established capital-goods industries, because: