Trade patterns of less developed countries, 1978 to 1986

Abstract

The present study examines the trade patterns of Less - Developed Countries from 1978 to 1986. Trade data for twenty-five developing countries is examined to test the hypothesis that there are universal factors effecting the development of every country. The hypothesis predicts that as economic development progresses, the proportion of total trade in primary goods will decrease while the proportion of total trade in manufactured goods will increase.

In order to test what is a long run phenomena for countries with relatively short time periods of data available, a pooled cross-sectional model is utilized.