This book analyses the relationships between technological advancement and innovation, and trade performance. It concentrates, in particular, on the contribution of research and development expenditures, and skilled labour, to exports. It examines what determines expenditure on R & D, and whether there is a chain of causation from exports to R & D. The book reviews and develops the existing literature both on the relationship between technology, skill and trade flows, and on the determinants of research and development. It also looks at relative technological competitiveness and export performance in the USA, Japan, West Germany, the UK and France. It examines empirical evidence for the theories analysed on the basis of cross-section studies of UK manufactured exports, imports, and net trade; of changes in the trade variables, and of R & D spending. A comparative study of the UK and West Germany is also provided.