
40 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Working Paper
Mining’s contribution to low- and middle-income economiesIn several low- and middle-income countries with important extractive sectors, gross national income has developed favourably. Africa has benefitted most, particularly West Africa. This survey provides an up-to-date statistical analysis of the...
Journal Article
Effects of Foreign Aid on Income through International TradePart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Working Paper
From manufacturing-led export growth to a twenty-first-century inclusive growth strategySuccess in development over the past half-century was based on manufacturing-led export growth. Because the share of global employment in manufacturing will decline, manufacturing won’t play the same role in the coming decades. An increase in...
Working Paper
Effects of foreign aid on income through international tradeThis paper presents a review of recent studies that estimate the trade effects of foreign aid. It also provides new results obtained using panel data techniques to estimate the direct effects of aid on international trade, accounting for countries’...
Working Paper
Trade liberalization and South African manufacturingThis paper provides a retrospective assessment of the effects of trade policies on South African manufacturing since the transition to democracy, examining the differences and commonalities in the views of economists in favour of and against an...
Journal Article
Key issues in regional growth and integration in Southern AfricaPart of Journal Special Issue Regional Growth Opportunities
Book Chapter
Implications for Ethiopia's industrializationPart of Book Industries without Smokestacks
Book Chapter
Dependence on extractive industries in lower-income countriesPart of Book Extractive Industries
Book Chapter
Mining's contribution to low- and middle-income economiesPart of Book Extractive Industries
Working Paper
Agro-processing, value chains, and regional integration in Southern AfricaRegional integration in Africa is underway but ongoing progress requires that the gains are widely spread. South Africa’s huge regional trade surplus in manufactured goods is already leading to protectionist pressures in neighbouring countries. Agro...
Working Paper
Firm-level employment growth in South AfricaThis paper investigates the effect of innovation on employment growth at the firm level in South Africa. Innovation is typically associated with better export performance at the firm level due to productivity enhancements and new products. However...
Working Paper
Constraints on the performance and competitiveness of Tanzania’s manufacturing exportsThis study sought to examine the main constraints to manufacturing export competitiveness in Tanzania. Using panel data for the period 1997–2018, the study established that supply-side factors dominate demand-side factors in explaining manufacturing...
Working Paper
Can domestic institutions affect exports and innovation?Studies show that when exports go up, innovation goes up as well. But what is the mediating effect of domestic institutions in the association between exports and innovation? If any, which institutions are more likely to improve exports and...
Working Paper
Firm and product survival analysisEnterprise development, especially expansion into export markets, is essential to create employment and unlock growth potential in many economies, including in sub-Saharan Africa. However, both firm and product survival (mainly in the export market)...
Working Paper
Employment effects of joining global production networksIs the emphasis placed in trade and industry policy-making in developing countries on the share of domestic value-added (‘value-added ratio’) in exports consistent with the objective of achieving economic development through an export-oriented...
Working Paper
Economic complexity and structural transformation: the case of MozambiqueMozambique is among the world’s least complex economies. By systematically accounting for both supply- and demand-side factors, we identify new products and sectors that can help to diversify and upgrade its economy. In a supply-side analysis, we use...
Working Paper
An assessment of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on Kenya’s tradeWe examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Kenya’s foreign trade using quarterly trade data for the period 2019 to the second quarter of 2021. The exploratory analysis shows that growth of Kenya’s merchandise exports remained resilient...
Book Chapter
From manufacturing-led export growth to a twenty-first century inclusive growth strategyPart of Book Inequality in the Developing World
Working Paper
Moving up the copper value chain in Southern AfricaSouthern African countries—mainly Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—account for around a seventh of global production of copper. In the 2010s, they imported over a third of the associated capital goods and components from South Africa...
Working Paper
Exchange rates and firm export performance in South AfricaThis paper uses detailed firm transaction data on manufactured exports to analyse the dilution of the real exchange rate-export relationship in South Africa over the period 2010 to 2014. Our empirical results show that firms that are larger, have...
Working Paper
Turnin’ it up a notch: how spillovers from foreign direct investment boost the complexity of South Africa’s exportsCountries’ economic complexity, and the associated diversification and sophistication of their exports, is a key determinant of economic growth. Understanding how South African firms learn to export more sophisticated products is, therefore, an...
Working Paper
Determinants of clove exports in ZanzibarThis paper analyses factors for the declining trend in clove exports in Zanzibar using time series data that were collected between 1980 and 2020 and analysed using the vector error correction model, complemented with qualitative analysis. Clove...
Working Paper
Dependence on extractive industries in lower-income countriesThis paper synthesizes statistical information evidencing the proposition that extractive industries are of great significance in many low- and middle-income developing economies. It examines the scale of the current dependence of low- and middle...
Working Paper
RwandaSince civil war and genocide left the country in ruins, Rwanda has undergone a remarkable transformation. Growth rates since 1995 have averaged 8 per cent annually, poverty rates have fallen, maternal and child health have improved, and...
Working Paper
Industries without smokestacksAlthough the manufacturing sector is known to have a unique role in structural transformation, the industries without smokestacks that include tradable services (e.g., IT, tourism, transport), horticulture, and agro-industry can provide new...
Journal Article
Learning to export and learning from exportingPart of Journal Special Issue Learning to Compete