The Role of Primary Commodities in Economic Development: Sub-Saharan Africa Versus the Rest of the World

Fabrizio Carmignani () and Abdur Chowdhury ()

No 2007_7, ECE Discussion Papers Series from UNECE

Abstract: The impact of the dependence on primary commodities for economic development is analysed within the framework of growth regressions. While there is no evidence of a generalized primary commodity curse, reliance on primary commodities does retard growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Which factors account for theis SSA specificity. Some suggest that SSA specializes in commodities that are not conductive to economic growth and that SSA depends on primary commodities more deeply than the rest of the world. These explanations are not strongly supported by the data. The key to SSA specific curse appears to lie in the interaction between institutions and primary commodities.

Keywords: economic diversification; commodity concentration; Africa; economic development; primary commodities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 O13 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2007-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in UNECE Discussion Paper Series, No. 2007_7

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http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/oes/disc_papers/ECE_DP_2007-7.pdf First version, 2007 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Role of Primary Commodities in Economic Development: Sub-Saharan Africa versus Rest of the World (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ece:dispap:2007_7

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