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The Geographical Location of Manufacturing Exporters in South Africa

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Author Info
Naude, Wim
Matthee, Marianne

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Abstract

This paper provides empirical evidence on the location of export-oriented manufacturing firms in Africa (South Africa), and on how the patterns of location has changed over the past decade after the country embarked on trade liberalization. It is found that (a) the proximity to a port is an important consideration in most export-oriented manufacturing firms' location, with more than 70 per cent of manufacturing exports in South Africa originating from a band of 100 km from a port; and (b) there is a second band of location of these firms at a distance of between 200 and 400 km from the port. Between 1996 and 2004, manufactured exports in the band between 200 and 400 km from the nearest port increased. Various possible explanations for this dispersion of export location are discussed. These include (a) changes in international and domestic transport costs; (b) an increase in manufactured exports that depend on natural resources due to demand factors; and/or (c) inflation in land-rents or wage rates in the vicinity of hubs; and/or (d) the increasing productivity of export plants due to scale effects.

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Paper provided by World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER) in its series Working Papers with number UNU-WIDER Research Paper RP2007/09.

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Length: 26 pages
Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2007-09

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Keywords: geographical economics; manufacturing exports; domestic transport costs; South Africa;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Matthee, Marianne & Naude, Wim, 2007. "Export Diversity and Regional Growth: Empirical Evidence from South Africa," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  2. Naude, Wim, 2007. "Peace, Prosperity, and Pro-Growth Entrepreneurship," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  3. Matthee, Marianne & Naude, Wim, 2007. "The Determinants of Regional Manufactured Exports from a Developing Country," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
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