Manufacturing Export Performance, Public Capital and Proximity to the Technological Frontier of Countries*

Abstract The paper seeks to understand the pattern of manufacturing exports in 35 developed and developing countries and 99 industrial sectors over the period 1999-2013 using a methodological approach that relies on propositions of the neoclassical trade theory. Next to the impact of traditional factors such as the endowment of public capital, we look at the importance of accounting for public capital heterogeneity, by distinguishing countries based on their proximity to the technology frontier. We consider public capital as a non-rival factor, which has a property of “creation of atmosphere” in a model that treats factor intensity as a mechanism of industrial development. We use the system GMM technique to estimate the elasticities of public capital. Our results show that public capital plays a differentiated role in the capacity to export industrial goods depending on whether countries are far or close to the technological frontier.