Does What You Export Matter? In Search of Empirical Guidance for Industrial Policies

Lederman, Daniel ; Maloney, William F.

Washington, DC: World Bank

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY;    AGRICULTURE;    AUTOMOBILES;    BARRIER TO ENTRY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-8491-6
RP-ID  :  70325

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Does the content of what economiesexport matter for development? And, if it does, cangovernments improve on the export basket that the marketgenerates through the shaping of industrial policy? Thisbook considers these questions by reviewing relevantliterature and taking stock of what is known fromconceptual, empirical, and policy viewpoints. A largeliterature answers affirmatively to the first question andsuggests the characteristics that distinguish desirableexports. More prosaically, but no less controversially,goods which are intensive in unskilled labor are thought topromote 'pro-poor' or 'shared growth,'whereas those which are skilled-labor intensive are thoughtto generate positive externalities for society as a whole.Concerns about macroeconomic stability have led to a focuson the overall composition of the export basket. This bookrevisits many of these arguments conceptually and, whereverpossible, imports heuristic approaches into frameworkswhere, as more familiar arguments, they can be held up tothe light, rotated, and their facets examined for brillianceor flaws. Second, the book examines what emerges empiricallyas a basis for policy design. Specifically, given certainconceptual arguments in favor of public sector intervention,do available data and empirical methods allow for actuallydoing so with a high degree of confidence? In asking thisquestion, the book assumes that policy makers are competentand seek to raise the welfare of their citizens. Thisassumption permits sidestepping the debate about whethergovernment failures trump market failures generically: Inthis sense, the book attempts to 'give industrialpolicy a chance.'