THE DYNAMICS OF INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

This paper focuses on the determinants of international competitiveness over the seventies and eighties. The theoretical framework adopted hem is based on a ''technology-gap'' account of trade flows. The econometric analysis relies on a dynamic model estimated by pooling time-series across countries. The short- and long-term impacts of both technical change and labour costs on trade performance are investigated. It is found that technological variables (patents and investments) play a major role in shaping dynamics of export-shares, while labour costs asymmetries among countries appear to affect trade performance only in the short term.