Abstract
Does inter-industry specialisation promote growth, for instance through the exploitation of economies of scale and/or comparative advantage? Is a certain type of specialisation a positive factor for growth? This paper seeks to answer such questions on the relationship between foreign trade and growth. Three indicators of foreign trade are considered, inter-industry specialisation, an index of trade dissimilarity and a comparative advantage in electronics, and are introduced as explanatory variables in growth regressions for 39 countries over 1965–1990. The results show that inter-industry specialisation and comparative advantage in electronics are a positive influence on productivity growth. Furthermore, education seems to act in complementarity with trade specialisation, reinforcing the positive effects of electronics, and interacting with trade dissimilarity for a detrimental effect on growth.