IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ocp/rpaper/pp-1923.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-Lutz
  • 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-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 1923, Policy Center for the New South.
    • Handle: RePEc:ocp:rpaper:pp-1923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

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

    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. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "The Volume and Composition of Trade Between Rich and Poor Countries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(1), pages 63-80.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Amsden, Alice H, 1976. "Trade in Manufactures between Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 86(344), pages 778-790, December.
    15. Badibanga, Thaddee & Diao, Xinshen & Roe, Terry & Somwaru, Agapi, 2009. "Dynamics of structural transformation: An empirical characterization in the case of China, Malaysia, and Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 856, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. 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. 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 1923, Policy Center for the New South.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2013. "Complexity, Specialization, and Growth," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 344, Asian Development Bank.
    5. 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.
    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. Sudeshna Ghosh & Buhari Doğan & Muhlis Can & Muhammad Ibrahim Shah & Nicholas Apergis, 2023. "Does economic structure matter for income inequality?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2507-2527, June.
    9. Sami Atallah & Ilina Srour, 2014. "The Emergence of Highly Sophisticated Lebanese Exports in the Absence of an Industrial Policy," Working Papers 876, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Stefan Schiman & Andreas Reinstaller, 2015. "Analyse der Terms-of-Trade Österreichs," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60648, Juni.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Antonios Garas & Sophie Guthmuller & Athanasios Lapatinas, 2021. "The development of nations conditions the disease space," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-35, January.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Andreas Reinstaller, 2014. "Technologiegeber Österreich. Österreichs Wettbewerbsfähigkeit in Schlüsseltechnologien und Enwicklungspotentiale als Technologiegeber," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47444, Juni.
    19. Antonella Chiappelo & Alejandro Danón & Guillermina Marto & Nicolás Pinto, 2019. "Tell me what you export today and I will tell you what you will export tomorrow: The Product Space and the Evolution of Country pattern of specialization," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4171, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    20. 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).

    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:rpaper:pp-1923. 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.