The R binson Rojas Archive.-The Economist.
Industrialisation is the standard measure of economic development.
Today's advanced economies grew rich by shifting resources from agriculture into industry, so it is no wonder that emerging economies from India to Brazil have sought to emulate that trick by fostering manufacturing. This belief in the importance of industry has come into conflict with one of the fashions of the 1990s, freer trade. In principle, reductions in trade barriers could open new markets for manufactured exports from developing countries. But there is no assurance that this will happen. Under free trade, after all, each country will tend to specialize in those products in which it is relatively most efficient, compared with other countries.