Export Competition Between Centrally Planned Economies and Korea

Export Competition Between Centrally Planned Economies and Korea

A key issue for the economies of Eastern European now undertaking the transition to capitalism is their ability to redirect their industrial exports toward the developed market economies. Previous studies of their competitiveness on these markets against goods from the Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs) tended to suggest that East European goods were not competitive. This paper compares the competitiveness of East Europe and Korea on major developed country markets. We find that competitiveness has a strong regional component which, when factored into export performance, suggests that East European manufacturers may be more competitive than previously believed.