Economic Development as a Learning Process Variation Across Sectoral Systems

Until recently, economists studying economic development have tended to consider it as a universal process, or focused their attention on common aspects. This book originates from the growing recognition of significant sectoral differences in economic development and examines the catching-up process in five different economic sectors: pharmaceuticals, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, software, and agro-food industries. Each of these sector studies explore the learning and catch-up processes in various developing countries, in order to identify both the common features, and those which differ significantly across sectors and nations. The authors pay particular attention to China, India, Brazil, Korea and Taiwan.

Edited by two of the leading scholars in the field, this book will prove to be invaluable for academics and postgraduate students interested in economic and technological development, and evolutionary economics.

Contributors include: J.O. Adeoti, S. Athreye, A.C. Castro, R. Diaz, S. Gu, S. Guennif, X.-X. Kong, K. Lee, Y. Lin, F. Malerba, S. Mani, Q. Mu, R.R. Nelson, J. Niosi, J. Orozco, S.V. Ramani, R. Rasiah, J. Song, T. Tschang