Argentina’s exports over the whole period are dominated by relatively low-
tech products. The other two countries are examples of economies that have
seen a change in their patterns of trade. For Korea we observe a steady in-
crease in the proportion of high-tech products exports as a percentage of
total exports that highlights the transformation of the economy during its
high-growth period. Lastly, for Poland we observe the reverse pattern. Be-
fore the collapse of the Soviet Union and consequently COMECON (the
East-European Common market) Poland’s exports were dominated by rel-
atively high-tech products with main destination the former Soviet Union.
These sectors proved to be non-competitive after the collapse and Poland’s
patterns of trade were reversed.
■US
Poland
Korea
Year
Figure 1: Patterns of Trade
Figure 2 shows the educational attainment levels for the same four coun-