Learning Curve

Learning Curve and International Trade Economy

In relation to international trade economy, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of Learning Curve: A technological regularity observed in many leading-edge industries, in which the marginal cost of production tends to fall as output increases, due to firms' growing experience with innovative processes (sometimes called “learning by doing”). Because of the learning curve, substantial economies of scale are characteristics of high- technology industries –in which competitive advantages accrue to firms that are among the first to enter a promising new area –constituting a major premise for various countries' technology policy.