In 2007, Hausmann, Hwang and Rodrik (HHR) demonstrated that export specialization patterns have important implications for economic growth. The authors developed an indicator of income level linked to the country’s exports they called EXPY and showed that higher values of the indicator lead to...

This paper argues that the single most important factor that explains East Asia's development success was its fast structural transformation toward industrialization, manufacturing in particular. Workers moved out of agriculture into manufacturing, and the sector diversified and upgraded its...