HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

Many policy makers are concerned about dependence on resource exports. This paper examines four changes that can potentially reduce this dependence: (i) accumulation of capital and skills; (ii) changes in protection policy, particularly reductions in the burden of protection on exporters; (iii) differential rates of technical change; and (iv) declines in transport costs. Developing countries as a group have made enormous progress in diversifying their exports away from resources in recent decades, a development that appears to have been aided by accumulation of capital and skills and by dramatic reductions in the cost of protection to exporters, but slowed down by technological advances that favored agriculture.

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3482, January 2005

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org.

Source: Martin Will, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/102921468780334664/text/wps3482.txt
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