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Significant drivers of growth in Africa

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  • Oleg Badunenko
  • Daniel Henderson
  • Romain Houssa

Abstract

We employ bootstrap techniques in a production frontier framework to provide statistical inference for each component in the decomposition of labor productivity growth, which has essentially been ignored in this literature. We show that only two of the four components (efficiency changes and human capital accumulation) have significantly contributed to growth in Africa. Although physical capital accumulation is the largest force, it is not statistically significant on average. Thus, ignoring statistical significance would falsely identify physical capital accumulation as a major driver of growth in Africa when it is not. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Oleg Badunenko & Daniel Henderson & Romain Houssa, 2014. "Significant drivers of growth in Africa," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 339-354, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:42:y:2014:i:3:p:339-354
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-014-0400-4
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jens J. Krüger, 2020. "Long‐run productivity trends: A global update with a global index," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1393-1412, November.
    3. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2023. "Another look at productivity growth in industrialized countries," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 257-272, December.
    4. Glass, Anthony J. & Kenjegalieva, Karligash & Ajayi, Victor & Adetutu, Morakinyo & Sickles, Robin C., 2016. "Relative Winners and Losers from Efficiency Spillovers in Africa with Policy Implications for Regional Integration," Working Papers 16-003, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    5. EZZAHIDI, Elhadj & El Alaoui, Aicha, 2015. "Determinants of the recent growth surge in Africa: what changed since mid-1990s?," MPRA Paper 67792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Oleg Badunenko & Daniel J. Henderson & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2017. "The Productivity of Nations," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2017-05, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    7. Amini, Shahram & Battisti, Michele & Parmeter, Christopher F., 2017. "Decomposing changes in the conditional variance of GDP over time," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 376-387.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Bootstrap; Growth; Production frontier; C14; C15; O10; O40;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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