World-wide cross-country regressions are used to examine South Asia?s export structure through the lens of Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory. By comparison with other regions, South Asia?s exports are unusually concentrated on labour-intensive manufactures. This distinctive export structure is shown...

This paper reviews the literature on the fallacy of composition with an emphasis on labour-intensive manufactures. It briefly addresses the protectionist and the partial-equilibrium versions of the argument before focusing on general-equilibrium considerations and the debate on the manufactures...

Cross-country econometric analysis informed by Heckscher-Ohlin theory suggests that the concentration of Africa's exports on unprocessed primary products is caused largely by the region's combination of low levels of education and abundant natural resources. One-third of the countries in Africa...