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Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity

Author

Listed:
  • Hinh T. Dinh
  • Thomas G. Rawski
  • Ali Zafar
  • Lihong Wang
  • Eleonora Mavroeidi

Abstract

Despite widespread agreement among economists that labor-intensive manufacturing has contributed mightily to rapid development in China and other fast-growing economies, most developing countries have had little success in raising the share of manufacturing in production, employment, or exports. Tales from the Development Frontier recounts efforts to establish light manufacturing clusters in several Asian and African countries, looking in particular at China. A companion volume to Light Manufacturing in Africa—which laid out a strategy for injecting new industrial growth nodes into African economies—Tales from the Development Frontier focuses on the six main binding constraints to competitiveness that nascent light manufacturing industries must overcome in developing countries: the availability, cost, and quality of inputs; access to industrial land; access to finance; trade logistics; entrepreneurial capabilities, both technical and managerial; and worker skills. The volume systematically explores potential growth opportunities in light manufacturing in a carefully selected subset of industries: agribusiness, apparel, leather goods, wood-working, and metal products. It specifies the constraints that need to be addressed before local and international entrepreneurs can take advantage of the latent comparative advantage available to many low-income economies in the target industries. It also proposes policies to ease the constraints—policies that can open the door to rapid increases in industrial output, employment, productivity, and exports. The outcomes described in this volume include both inspiring successes and miserable failures in addressing the binding constraints in the identified sectors. These examples reveal how and why industrial development efforts in poor countries—where, by definition, underlying conditions are far from ideal—can accelerate growth. Most of the firms described in a series of case studies started from a very simple and modest base in an environment full of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With its rich array of new material, this book will support the ongoing research of policy analysts focused on China and other developing countries. Above all, the volume aims to embolden business entrepreneurs and government officials in low-income countries to pursue newly emerging opportunities to expand and accelerate the growth of light manufacturing in their home economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Hinh T. Dinh & Thomas G. Rawski & Ali Zafar & Lihong Wang & Eleonora Mavroeidi, 2013. "Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15763, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbpubs:15763
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    7. Hinh T. Dinh, 2013. "Light Manufacturing in Zambia : Job Creation and Prosperity in a Resource-Based Economy," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15766, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Long Wang & Yang Yang, 2021. "Political connections in the land market: Evidence from China's state‐owned enterprises," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 7-35, March.
    2. Hinh T. Dinh, 2013. "Light Manufacturing in Zambia : Job Creation and Prosperity in a Resource-Based Economy," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15766, December.
    3. Hinh T. Dinh, 2014. "The Practice of Industrial Policy - Lessons for Africa: Case Studies of Decentralized Co-ordination in China," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-153, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Andrea Otero Cortés & Oriana Alvarez & Karina Acosta, 2023. "Mercado Laboral y Pobreza en Barranquilla," Documentos de trabajo sobre Economía Regional y Urbana 323, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    5. Gelb, Alan & Meyer, Christian J. & Ramachandran, Vijaya, 2014. "Development as diffusion: Manufacturing productivity and sub-Saharan Africa's missing middle," WIDER Working Paper Series 042, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Daniel Poon, 2014. "China’s Development Trajectory: A Strategic Opening for Industrial Policy in the South," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 218, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    7. Paus, Eva, 2014. "Latin America and the middle-income trap," Financiamiento para el Desarrollo 36816, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    8. Dinh, Hinh T., 2014. "The practice of industrial policy—Lessons for Africa: Case studies of decentralized co-ordination in China," WIDER Working Paper Series 153, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Richard Kozul-Wright & Daniel Poon, 2018. "Asian development after the Asian Drama," WIDER Working Paper Series 135, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Alan Gelb & Christian J. Meyer & Vijaya Ramachandran, 2014. "Development as Diffusion: Manufacturing Productivity and Sub-Saharan Africa's Missing Middle," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-042, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Richard Kozul-Wright & Daniel Poon, 2018. "Asian development after the Asian Drama," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-135, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He, 2016. "Global and local governance, industrial and geographical dynamics: A tale of two clusters," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1453-1473, December.
    13. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Dinh, Hinh T., 2015. "Social capital, product imitation and growth with learning externalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 41-54.
    14. World Bank Group, 2014. "Third Ethiopia Economic Update : Strengthening Export Performance through Improved Competitiveness," World Bank Publications - Reports 20026, The World Bank Group.
    15. Hinh T. Dinh, 2017. "Jobs, Industrialization, and Globalization," Books & Reports, Policy Center for the New South, number 16, April.
    16. Alan Gelb, Christian Meyer, and Vijaya Ramachandran, 2014. "Development as Diffusion: Manufacturing Productivity and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Missing Middle - Working Paper 357," Working Papers 357, Center for Global Development.

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