Summary
This article contains a survey of empirical evidence as regards the revealed comparative advantage of Dutch manufacturing industry. Besides, a comparison of the factors influencing comparative advantage is made for the Netherlands, Belgium and West Germany. From this review it seems rather clear the the Netherlands' industry has a revealed comparative advantage in skill-intensive products and in natural-resource intensive products. Economies of scale also seem to contribute to Dutch industry's revealed comparative advantage. The role of R&D is less clear, while physical-capital intensity apparently does not contribute to Dutch indutry's revealed comparative advantage. Also it looks like the Netherlands and West Germany have adjusted their industrial structure by moving away from simple products towards respectively skill-intensive products and fundamental products, while Belgium is rather behind in this process.
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The authors want to thank J. Kol for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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Koekkoek, K.A., Mennes, L.B.M. Revealed comparative advantage in manufacturing industry: The case of the Netherlands. De Economist 132, 30–48 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02384068
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02384068