The Determinants of High-Technology Exports: A Panel Data Analysis

This paper uses a panel dataset from 1980 to 2008 to examine the determinants of high-technology exports. This research finds evidence that human capital, inflows of foreign direct investments, and openness to international trade are the major factors impacting the performance of a country's high-tech industry in the global market. It also shows that institutions do not have a direct impact on high-tech exports. However, institutions might impact high-tech exports indirectly via their effect on proximate factors such as human capital and inflows of foreign direct investments. This paper also demonstrates that gross capital formation, savings, and macroeconomic volatility have no significant effect on high-tech exports. © 2011 International Atlantic Economic Society.