North‐South comparison of the sources of change in manufacturing value added, 1975–80: A decomposition analysis

Abstract

The author applies a decomposition method to analyse the growth performance of manufacturing value‐added (MVA) of selected industries in various regions of both the North and the South and, further, attempts to isolate and quantify regional growth or decline in the MVA of an industry which is region‐specific. The results show that during the post‐oil embargo period of 1975–80, not only has the MVA of most industries in all regions of the South except for Tropical Africa been steadily increasing, but also its growth patterns have revealed considerable regionalised viability. At the same time the patterns of MVA changes in the North have exhibited remarkable sensitivity to general fluctuations of the world economy.