Technology and Labour Productivity Patterns in the Manufacturing Industries of Less Industrialised Countries

Abstract

The objectives of this paper can be briefly presented as follows: (i) to summarise the various empirical results that are established by a systematic pattern of production-factor utilisation — capital and skills — and of size distribution for the manufacturing industries in both industrialised and less industrialised countries; (ii) to summarise the results of an empirical test of the Hirschman hypothesis on the possible determinants of differences in relative industrial productivity as between the industrialised and less industrialised countries, with special reference to Latin America; and (iii) to explore the possible theoretical determinants of the empirically established patterns. For this purpose, three possible effects are suggested: (a) reduction in scale; (b) inflexibility in the central operations of the industrial production processes; and (c) allocation of scarce factors — capital and skills — according to the pattern of relative utilisation observed in the less industrialised countries.¹

The author thanks G. K. Boon, R. Magliore, P. A. Reyes, H. Schwartz, D. Schydlowsky, F. Stewart, M. C. Tavares, F. Thoumi and other conference participants for their comments. This paper expresses the author’s viewpoints and does not constitute the official position of the IDB. Translated from Spanish.