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Turnin' it up a notch: how spillovers from foreign direct investment boost the complexity of South Africa's exports

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  • Bjørn Bo Sørensen

Abstract

Countries' economic complexity, and the associated diversification and sophistication of their exports, is a key determinant of economic growth. Understanding how South African firms learn to export more sophisticated products is, therefore, an important policy issue. Using administrative data covering the entire tax-paying population of firms in South Africa, we argue that foreign direct investment can stimulate export upgrading in manufacturing firms.

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  • Bjørn Bo Sørensen, 2020. "Turnin' it up a notch: how spillovers from foreign direct investment boost the complexity of South Africa's exports," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-3, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-3
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    Keywords

    Economic complexity; Foreign Direct Investment; FDI; Spillovers; Upgrading; Exports; Manufacturing; South Africa;
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