Development strategy, infrastructure, and premature deindustrialization: Comparing Asian, African, and Latin American economies

Valeria Lauria, Justin Yifu Lin, Xin Wang and Yawen Zheng

Economics and Politics, 2025, vol. 37, issue 1, 304-340

Abstract: This paper investigates the phenomenon of premature deindustrialization in developing countries, with a focus on Latin America and sub‐Saharan Africa, and examines why this trend primarily occurs in these regions rather than in East Asia. Through a comparative analysis of industrialization experiences across different economies since the 1960s, the paper argues that premature deindustrialization results from a combination of liberalization shocks, development strategies that defy comparative advantage, and inadequate infrastructure supply due to the lack of active state involvement in its provision driven by prevailing neoliberal ideas. This study empirically validates this hypothesis using country‐sector‐level data from 40 economies.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecpo.12319

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ecopol:v:37:y:2025:i:1:p:304-340

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0954-1985

Access Statistics for this article

Economics and Politics is currently edited by Peter Rosendorff

More articles in Economics and Politics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().