COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN MANUFACTURING AS A DETERMINANT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION - THE KOREAN CASE

This paper provides appropriate empirical evidence to test competing hypotheses regarding Korean industrialization - has Korea followed the neoclassical path of comparative advantage or did Korea anticipate comparative advantage? By calculating ''revealed comparative advantage'' (RCA) indexes of Korean manufacturing sectors for 1965-92, my empirical results support the hypotheses of Blumenthal and Amsden that Korea gained dynamic comparative advantage by forcing capital-intensive industry within a labor-surplus economy. The results also show, however, that comparative advantage of labor-intensive industries should not be underestimated. My results show that Korea rapidly gained competitiveness in some heavy or medium industries through antineoclassical political behavior, while it maintained competitiveness for a relatively long time in some light industries through neoclassical marker behavior.