Abstract
The tendency to focus on “high tech” and overemphasise its importance for economic growth, and therefore for policy, in small industrialised countries is criticised in this paper. The export patterns of small countries show that they are indeed relatively specialised in low and medium tech. However no simple relationship was found between export specialisation in high tech and growth. The potential of high tech markets is sometimes overestimated. Small countries have had above average export performance in medium and low tech sectors of the economy. Macro figures do not indicate that the economic performance of small countries is weaker, and our empirical tests did not find any significant relation between two indicators of high tech export specialisation and key indicators of macro economic activity. By successfully applying technology in sectors of the economy in which they have comparative advantage, regardless of sectorial labelling, and by emphasising diffusion-oriented policies, small countries should be able to sustain economic growth in the future.
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