Africa's Export Structure in a Comparative Perspective

78 Pages Posted: 26 Dec 1998

See all articles by Adrian Wood

Adrian Wood

University of Oxford

Jörg Mayer

United Nations - Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Date Written: October 1998

Abstract

Cross-country econometric analysis informed by Heckscher-Ohlin theory suggests that the concentration of Africa's exports on unprocessed primary products is caused largely by the region's combination of low levels of education and abundant natural resources. One-third of the countries in Africa have considerable potential to export manufactures, much of it unrealised at present, but even in the future, with more education, improved infrastructure and better policies, the share of manufactures in exports will remain far lower in Africa than in Asia, which has fewer natural resources. The way forward for Africa in the medium term lies mainly in raising the level of its primary exports, processed and unprocessed, following a long-term development path more like that of natural-resource-abundant America than that of natural-resource-scarce Asia.

JEL Classification: F11, F14, O13, O15, O55

Suggested Citation

Wood, Adrian and Mayer, Jörg, Africa's Export Structure in a Comparative Perspective (October 1998). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=141202 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.141202

Adrian Wood

University of Oxford ( email )

Queen Elizabeth House
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

Jörg Mayer (Contact Author)

United Nations - Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ( email )

Palais des Nations
Globalisation and Development Strategy Division
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
41 22 907 5722 (Phone)
41 22 907 0274 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
608
Abstract Views
3,740
Rank
81,087
PlumX Metrics