Factor Intensities of Korea's Domestic Demand, Production and Trade: 1960–1985

Abstract

This paper investigates the shifts in factor intensities of Korea's domestic consumption, investment and export activities as well as those of competitive import replacement during the period 1960–1985. It finds significantly increasing capital intensities of these activities over the period 1966–1985. It further investigates the shifts in the pattern of Korea–s import dependency and observes an increasing trend in labor-intensive manufactures imports either for export activities or for domestic demand. The results are consistent with what we may expect from the comparative static version of Heckscher-Ohlin theory of factor proportions. [421]