Performance Of Manufacturing Sector Research Articles

The determinants of West German exports of manufactures: An integrated demand and supply approach

must inevitably involve a greater degree of structural adjustment if significant differences between members of the European Community are not to lead to major imbalances between regions. Since the 1950s West Germany has been a major force in the world economy and its success in the world market for manufactures, along with Japan, has brought about major shifts in the global balance of economic power. In this paper, we investigate the performance of the West German manufacturing sector in world export markets. We use a formal model based on cost minimization in order to derive the supply factors at work. The majority of previous approaches have emphasized demand factors. Such models have generally been rather unsuccessful in explaining long-run trends in export performance.1 Part of the problem may be the omission or inappropriate choice of supply side factors. In this paper, we therefore take into account both supply side and demand side factors and apply the model to the West German manufacturing sector as well as to the mechanical engineering and motor vehicle industries within manufacturing. Our choice of these two industries reflects the observation that they have a considerable revealed comparative advantage in world export markets and are therefore most likely to disclose the underlying factors at work in the 1 See the debate between Landesmann and Snell [1989] and Holly and Wade [1991], for example.

The Making of an Industrial South Africa: Trade and Tariffs in the Interwar Period

The process of industrialization has long formed a central theme for historians of the modern world. The reasons are quite clear: the wealth and power of nations have long rested upon a well-established industrial sector. The historical study of industrialization in Africa, however, has generated a truncated literature, reflecting the poor performance of the continent's manufacturing sector. Far from seeking to explain the course of industrialization, most scholarly attention has revolved around discussions of the forces that have hindered the development of modern industry.3 By almost any measure South Africa stands apart from these conclusions. Over the course of this century the country has moved from being a peripheral, primary producing nation to the industrial powerhouse of the continent. Yet it is striking how few of the comparative themes that have preoccupied scholars of industrialization in Africa, Latin America, and even East Asia have been engaged by those analyzing the course of South African industrialization. In

A Revision of Canadian Economic Growth: 1870-1910 (a Challenge to the Gradualist Interpretation)

The author presents revised estimates of real gross manufacturing output and growth. Also, for the first time, estimates are presented for real value added: (1) in manufacturing; (2) per capita; and (3) per employee in manufacturing, and their corresponding growth rates. These estimates involve the use of existing price indices and new ones constructed for this study. Details on the construction of these indices and output estimates are also presented. The results of this paper refute the received view that Canada's manufacturing sector sustained steady and relatively vigorous growth over the period 1870- 1910. Findings suggest that the growth performance of Canada's manufacturing sector became substantive only at the turn of the twentieth century with the arrival of the wheat boom.

The Effects of European Competition Policy on Pricing and Profit Margins

SUMMARYThis paper analyzes the effects of EEC and West German policy towards horizontal agreements and restrictive practices on the performance of the West German manufacturing sector. Three empirical studies are reported: (1) a time‐series study of price indexes for 10 products from the mid‐1950's to the present; (2) a cross‐section study (for 1979 data) of 106 industries; and (3) an analysis of changes in company profit margins over time. The results suggest some short‐run response to antitrust cases, but no long‐lasting ‘deterrent’ effect. There is some evidence of a ‘regime effect’ occurring after 1957, i. e., a general price decline in West German industry due to changes in the competitive environment which started in that year.

Productive Performance in West German Manufacturing Industry 1970-80: A Farrell Frontier Characterisation

Some measure of the success with which economic resources are utilised lies at the heart of any meaningful indicator of economic performance. A traditional and obvious point of departure is to say that for a given state of technical knowledge and initial endowments of factor inputs, resource allocation depends on the degree of ability to transform inputs into outputs and the relative returns which these resources can earn. In this paper, the more recent productive performance of the West German manufacturing sector is appraised from one particular viewpoint whilst remaining firmly within what might be called the conventional framework of relating outputs to the factor inputs labour and capital'. Section II provides an initial brief overview of the West German manufacturing sector over the period I 970-80, in which some of the more interesting trends are noted for a more detailed analysis in later sections. Section III sets out the approach used. Again, this is not very extensive given the relatively well documented nature of the methodology. Section IV takes the form of some notes on the data used with a more substantial Section V containing the major analysis. Some more general observations and concluding comments are brought together in a final Section VI.

Continentalism and Economic Nationalism in the Manufacturing Sector: Seeking Middle Ground

What changes in government policy towards industry are needed to improve the performance of Canada's manufacturing sector? This question has received increasing attention over the past decade as productivity growth in Canadian manufacturing industries has slowed and the Canadian dollar plummeted. Is the problem the small size of the domestic market? Does it lie in the behavior of foreign-owned enterprises? Is government policy towards research and development responsible? Are we destined to be 'hewers of wood and drawers of water'? The call for an answer to these questions and for an 'industrial strategy' continues to be heard. Those who respond appear to fall into two distinct camps. On the one hand are the 'economic nationalists,' who argue that the high degree of foreign ownership is mainly responsible for the plight of our manufacturing industries. This group favors not only increased limitations on foreign investment, but also the maintenance of protective trade barriers and increased protection of Canadian manufacturing firms by means of government procurement policy (i.e., favoring domestic sources of supply, especially for 'high technology' goods). On the other hand are the 'continentalists'. They argue that free trade between Canada and the United States would, in the long run, promote a rationalization of Canadian industries that would result in a more productive and dynamic manufacturing sector. This group also typically holds that foreign ownership has not been a problem at all (or that it provides a net benefit, even at the margin) so that calls for limitations on foreign investment are misguided.1 This paper argues that both the 'nationalist' and 'continentalist' views are incorrect. There is need to seek out middle ground, namely, a policy plan that recognizes the dangers of foreign ownership, but accepts the need to move quickly towards freer trade provided there are appropriate safeguards regarding activity levels in Canada of the multinational firms. Section II examines the development of the economic nationalist view and provides a critical assessment of it. Section III does the same for the continentalist view. The 'middle ground' approach is presented in section IV, followed by some concluding remarks.

Foreign trade and industrial development: Greece and the EEC

The recent applications of three Southern European countries, Greece, Spain and Portugal, for membership of the European Economic Communityf appear to run counter to the protectionist trend which has become evident in the international economic recession. The fact that these three countries have all recently emerged from dictatorship and that they find themselves in an 'intermediate' stage of economic development invites a common approach to the study of this phenomenon. However, this paper is limited to a consideration of the implications of EEC membership for the future performance of the Greek manufacturing sector. The paper examines how external trade arrangements condition external demand, which has been, and will be, the most important determinant of the growth of manu facturing output, and hence the growth of the Greek economy as a whole. The approach rests on the notion that the manufacturing sector has a strategic importance in overall economic growth. In a comparative static sense, the growth of manufacturing output represents a net addition to the effective use of resources and not just a transfer of resources from one use to another : capital required for manu facturing production is largely self-generated; labour engaged in manufacturing has little or no opportunity cost outside the manufacturing sector, because of the prevalence of disguised unemployment in both agriculture and services. J In a dynamic sense, of the four main factors of productivity growth, namely (i) substitution of capital for labour, (ii) technical change, (iii) increasing returns to scale and (iv) improvements in the personal efficiency of labour, the first three at least are for the most part realised through investment in manufacturing. These factors seem to lie behind the remarkable correlation between the growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the growth rate of manufacturing output that has been established in a number of studies. § They suggest a view of economic growth which is alternative to the neoclassical view,