Hochtechnologie und Außenhandel. Die Bedeutung forschungsintensiver Güter für den Außenhandel der OECD-Staaten

Nowadays, the external trade of industrialized countries is dominated by technology-intensive products. There is, however, a considerable discrepancy between empirical findings and their theoretical explanation. Therefore the study focusses on the teoretical work of economic theory which helps to explain these phenomena. A general distinction is made between neoclassical and evolutionary approaches, each of them discussed from the perspectives of growth teory and international trade. The review reveals the great progress economic theory has went through during the last decade but also points to the still existing indadequacies in theory. The last section tries to connect contemporary theory to well-developed empirical research-methods.