IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ocp/rpaeco/rp-20-09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What Can Trade Tell Us About Economic Transformation? Composition of Trade and Structural Transformation in African Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Mina Baliamoune
  • Abdoul‘ Ganiou Mijiyawa

Abstract

We explore the effects of exporting manufactures, primary commodities, and food and agricultural products, and we examine the impact of importing capital and semi-capital goods, on structural transformation in a group of 21 sub-Saharan African countries that were covered by the inaugural African Transformation Report (ACET, 2014). The empirical results suggest that the import of capital and semi-capital goods can be a good predictor of structural transformation, while concentration of exports in primary commodities, and food and agricultural products, seems to predict weak structural transformation. In addition, we obtain evidence suggesting that higher shares of capital goods in total imports seem to have a greater positive influence in resource (primary-commodity) rich economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Mina Baliamoune & Abdoul‘ Ganiou Mijiyawa, 2020. "What Can Trade Tell Us About Economic Transformation? Composition of Trade and Structural Transformation in African Countries," Research papers & Policy papers on Economic Trends and Policies 2065, Policy Center for the New South.
    • Handle: RePEc:ocp:rpaeco:rp-20-09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/2021-01/RP-20-09-Mina%20baliamoune.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnelyn Abdon & Jesus Felipe, 2011. "The Product Space: What Does It Say About the Opportunities for Growth and Structural Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_670, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Bailey Klinger, 2009. "Is South–South Trade A Testing Ground For Structural Transformation?," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 40, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    3. Ricardo Hausmann & Bailey Klinger, 2007. "The Structure of the Product Space and the Evolution of Comparative Advantage," CID Working Papers 146, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    4. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    5. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2011. "Growth by Destination (Where You Export Matters): Trade with China and Growth in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 23(2), pages 202-218.
    6. C. A. Hidalgo & B. Klinger & A. -L. Barabasi & R. Hausmann, 2007. "The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations," Papers 0708.2090, arXiv.org.
    7. Hausmann, Ricardo & Klinger, Bailey, 2006. "Structural Transformation and Patterns of Comparative Advantage in the Product Space," Working Paper Series rwp06-041, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    8. Cesar A. Hidalgo, 2009. "The Dynamics of Economic Complexity and the Product Space over a 42 year period," CID Working Papers 189, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    9. Havrylyshyn, Oli, 1985. "The direction of developing country trade : Empirical evidence of differences between South-South and South-North trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 255-281, December.
    10. John Page, 2012. "Can Africa Industrialise?-super- †," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(suppl_2), pages -124, January.
    11. M. A. Mcpherson & M. R. Redfearn & M. A. Tieslau, 2000. "A Re-Examination of the Linder Hypothesis: A Random-Effects Tobit Approach," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 123-136.
    12. Juan Carlos Hallak, 2010. "A Product-Quality View of the Linder Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 453-466, August.
    13. Amsden, Alice H, 1976. "Trade in Manufactures between Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 86(344), pages 778-790, December.
    14. Michael McPherson & Michael Redfearn & Margie Tieslau, 2001. "International trade and developing countries: an empirical investigation of the Linder hypothesis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(5), pages 649-657.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ocp:rpaper:rp-1923 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:ocp:rpaper:pp-1923 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz & Abdoul‘ Ganiou Mijiyawa, 2020. "What Can Trade Tell Us About Economic Transformation? Composition of Trade and Structural Transformation in African Countries," Research papers & Policy papers 1909, Policy Center for the New South.
    4. Bailey Klinger, 2009. "Is South–South Trade A Testing Ground For Structural Transformation?," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 40, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    5. Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2013. "Complexity, Specialization, and Growth," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 344, Asian Development Bank.
    6. Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2016. "Production complexity, adaptability and economic growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-61.
    7. Benno Ferrarini & Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2015. "The Product Space Revisited: China's Trade Profile," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1368-1386, September.
    8. Idsardi, E.F. & Schalkwyk, H.D. & Viviers, W., 2015. "The Agricultural Product Space: Prospects for South Africa," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211752, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Miguel Lebre de Freitas & Luis Nunes & Rui Neves & Susana Salvado, 2015. "Productive experience and specialization opportunities for Portugal: an empirical assessment," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 14(1), pages 5-30, December.
    10. Rachidi Kotchoni & Franck M. Adoho, 2021. "Working Paper 359- Comparative Advantage and Growth Potential of the Democratic Republic of Congo," Working Paper Series 2485, African Development Bank.
    11. Ricardo Hausmann & Bailey Klinger, 2008. "South Africa's export predicament," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 16(4), pages 609-637, October.
    12. Lyubimov, I. & Gvozdeva, M. & Kazakova, M. & Nesterova, K., 2017. "Economic Complexity of Russian Regions and their Potential to Diversify," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 94-122.
    13. Wonsub Eum & Jeong‐Dong Lee, 2022. "Alternative paths of diversification for developing countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2336-2355, November.
    14. Güzin Bayar, 2022. "Turkey's sectoral exports: A competitiveness approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2268-2289, April.
    15. El-Haddad, Amirah, 2018. "Exporting for growth: identifying leading sectors for Egypt and Tunisia using the Product Space Methodology," IDOS Discussion Papers 25/2018, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    16. Hausmann, Ricardo & Stock, Daniel P. & Yıldırım, Muhammed A., 2022. "Implied comparative advantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    17. Dany Bahar & Rodrigo Wagner & Ernesto Stein & Samuel Rosenow, 2017. "The Birth and Growth of New Export Clusters: Which Mechanisms Drive Diversification?," CID Working Papers 86a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    18. Wai Kit Si Tou, 2021. "Enhancing export competitiveness by deeper integration: The case of the East African Community," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(3), pages 493-507, May.
    19. Sergey Kadochnikov & Anna Fedyunina, 2013. "Export diversification in the product space and regional growth: Evidence from Russia," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1327, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2013.
    20. González, Arturo & Ortigoza, Eduardo & Llamosas, Cecilia & Blanco, Gerardo & Amarilla, Raúl, 2019. "Multi-criteria analysis of economic complexity transition in emerging economies: The case of Paraguay," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ocp:rpaeco:rp-20-09. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Policy Center for the New South's Customer service (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ocppcma.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.