Product export diversification and sustainable economic growth in developing countries

Elodie Mania (1) , Arsène Rieber (1)

1 LASTA - Laboratoire d'Analyse des Sociétés, Transformations et Adaptations

A consensus on the virtues of an economic development strategy based on export diversification has emerged from the recent economic literature. The purpose of this paper is to revisit that relationship by questioning the sustainability of such a strategy. Drawing on a balance of payments constrained growth model, we compare the re-composition of productive capacities that follows export diversification with the evolution of countries’ external constraints. Based on econometric estimates of panel data, the lessons of the model allow us to analyze and compare, over the period 1995–2015, export diversification in three samples of developing countries, namely: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Developing Asia.

Keywords: Developing countries; Sustainable economic growth; Export diversification; BoP constrained growth model

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Quantitative Finance [q-fin]

Elodie Mania, Arsène Rieber. Product export diversification and sustainable economic growth in developing countries. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2019, 51, pp.138-151. ⟨10.1016/j.strueco.2019.08.006⟩. ⟨hal-02297128⟩