An Investigation of U.S. States High-Tech, Low-Tech, and Total Manufacturing Export Performance in the Asian Market

Asia is the most populous continent and has fast become one of the richest and fastest growing continents. It is thus a vital market that is likely to become even more important in the future. Using panel data of three different types of manufacturing exports including high-tech, low-tech, and total exports, this study estimates the export performance of the 48 contiguous U.S. states in the Asian export market, represented by 24 Asian countries. The study also seeks to investigate what determines whether a state under or over performs in each of the manufacturing export categories to the Asian market. Our results indicate that a state's business vitality, manufacturing union density, legal system, pollution abatement cost, employment density, and regional location significantly impact whether the state will under or over perform its potential for all the three types of exports in the Asian market. Our results also indicate that some of the variables noted above have different impacts on the state's high-tech and low-tech export performances. Further, our results show that there are regional differences in the impact of the growth of Chinese exports on U.S. state exports to the Asian region.