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The objective of this paper is to examine changes in Asia's export share for man-made fibers in the 1979–90 time period and the factors contributing to such changes. The paper has two parts. In the first part, Constant Market Share (CMS) analysis is used to compare Asia's competitive position in world export markets for non-cellulosic and cellulosic fibers. In the second part, multiple regression analysis is used to determine the impact of static and dynamic economics of scale on trade in man-made fibers in 1977, 1982, and 1987.

The objective of this study was to analyze the aggregate demand for textile fibers and factors affecting the market shares of individual fibers in four major end-use markets in the United States of America — apparel, home furnishings, carpets, and industrial uses. The analysis was based on annual data from 1956 to 1986.

The objective of the research reported in this paper was to investigate the determinants of textile-export performance by using data for major textile-exporting countries. Gross exports and net exports were the two measures of export performance. Multiple-regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between export performance and a country's resource endowments (physical capital, technological capital, human capital) and industry characteristics (unit labor costs, domestic-apparel production). Cross-section data for 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985 were used in the analysis. Major findings indicated that countries with more physical capital were more likely to be gross or net textile exporters, whereas countries with higher levels of human capital and more domestic-apparel production were less likely to be gross or net textile exporters. The impact of technological capital varied according to whether a country was a gross or net textile exporter.

An investigation is reported in which a CES production function was employed to assess differences in labor productivity in the textile industry between countries. Data for 30 countries from 1973 through 1982 were used for the analysis. The differences in labor productivity between countries were decomposed into two factors: effciency and factor proportions. The results indicated that efficiency was more important than factor proportions. The average efficiency of the developed countries as a group ranged from 63 to 76% of U.S. efficiency compared with values of 98 and 100% for factor proportions. The average efficiency of the developing countries as a group ranged from 21 to 25% of U.S. efficiency compared with values of 88 and 90% for factor proportions. These findings indicate that efficiency levels were considerably higher in the developed countries than in the developing countries and that human capital and management were more important than physical capital in explaining labor-productivity differen...

An investigation is reported of competition in the OECD textile– and apparel–import markets. Constant–market–share (CMS) analysis was used to examine factors influencing the growth of textile and apparel exports from five major exporting regions to the OECD in three different time periods: 1975–77, 1978–81, and 1982–84. In addition, Markov analysis was used to examine competition between the major exporting regions from 1975 to 1984 and to project their market shares from 1985 to 1994. The results of the CMS analysis indicated that the developing regions were more competitive than the developed regions for both textiles and apparel, particularly in the 1975–77 period. The results of the Markov analysis indicated that most of the major changes in market shares had occurred by 1984 for textiles, whereas changes were still projected to occur for apparel. The developed regions will account for 74% of all OECD textile imports in 1994 as compared with 81% in 1975. In the case of apparel, the market shares of th...