Export Take-Offs and Acceleration: Unpacking Cross-Sector Linkages in the Evolution of Comparative Advantage

65 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2019

See all articles by Dany Bahar

Dany Bahar

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs; Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID)

Samuel Rosenow

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Ernesto Stein

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Rodrigo Wagner

University of Chile

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

The transition into non-traditional export activities attracts important policy and academic attention. Using international trade data, we explore how alternative linkages relate to the take-off and acceleration of export industries. Concretely, we run a horse-race among alternative Marshallian linkages across sectors: input-output relations, technology and labor. Technology has a predictive power depending on the specification used. We consistently find, however, that export take-offs are more likely to occur in sectors that are upstream to already competitive export industries. Our findings, which are mostly driven by developing economies, are consistent with Albert Hirschman’s 60-year-old view that the forces behind upstream linkages fueled the growth of new competitive industries in the developing world.

Keywords: relatedness, comparative advantage, patents, labor, upstream, downstream

JEL Classification: O140, O330, F140

Suggested Citation

Bahar, Dany and Rosenow, Samuel and Stein, Ernesto Hugo and Wagner, Rodrigo, Export Take-Offs and Acceleration: Unpacking Cross-Sector Linkages in the Evolution of Comparative Advantage (2018). CESifo Working Paper No. 7436, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3338790 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3338790

Dany Bahar (Contact Author)

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs ( email )

111 Thayer Street
Box 1970
Providence, RI 02912-1970
United States

Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID)

One Eliot Street Building
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Samuel Rosenow

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

1300 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

Ernesto Hugo Stein

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

1300 New York Avenue, NW
Research Department
Washington, DC 20577
United States

Rodrigo Wagner

University of Chile ( email )

Beauchef 851
Santiago, 8370456
Chile

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

Paper statistics

Downloads
31
Abstract Views
387
PlumX Metrics