The Nexus between Technological Infrastructure and Export Competitiveness of High-tech Products in East Asian Economies

The main objective of this study is to develop an econometric model and estimate the effects of the two most important indicators of a nation's state of scientific infrastructure (R&D investment and the number of R&D researchers) on high-tech product export competitiveness for a panel of 11 countries/economies from East Asia from 1994 to 2010. A GMM panel estimation method was employed to account for the dynamic effect of trade and to control for un-observed country specific effects that may arise due to an inter-country differences and intra-country dynamics. Accordingly, the empirical results reveal that other factors constant, a 1% increase in a country’s expenditure on the ratio of R&D to GDP may increase high-tech product export performance by approximately $397 million per year. Likewise, a 1% increase in the number of R&D researchers is expected to increase the ability to export high-tech products by approximately $67 million. On the other hand, the study reveals a significant variation among countries in terms of performance. This study recommends a number of policy instruments to foster R&D as an engine to enhance