Dynamics and Divergence of Export Specialization in Korea

Yoon Heo; Nguyen K. Doanh

doi:10.18107/japs.2012.19.1.011

This paper examines the dynamics and divergence of Korea's export specialization. Using various analytical tools, our empirical findings are summarized as follows: First, Korea follows the Heckscher-Ohlin model in that the patterns of Korea's comparative advantage have become more in conformity with its factor endowment. Second, the pattern of Korea's revealed comparative advantage has been diverged moving towards specialization. Third, while RCA indices in class a(products comparatively disadvantaged) is persistent, the corresponding figure for other classes exhibit moderate variation in their pattern. Fourth, while unskilled labor intensive products show relatively high degree of export specialization, other product categories demonstrate relatively high degree of export diversification. We find that there exists an upward trend in the degree of specialization for all commodity groups. Finally, Korea's exports are heavily dominated by technology and human capital intensive products.

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