Measuring the export capability of South African regions

Waldo Krugell and Marianne Matthee

Development Southern Africa, 2009, vol. 26, issue 3, 459-476

Abstract: Recent research has identified what determines local exports and what policies might make them grow. Regions with higher Gross Domestic Product per capita, faster population growth, higher levels of skills, greater export diversification and shorter distances to ports have experienced faster export growth. However, the results of regression models apply to a theoretical representative region and do not allow one to establish where policy interventions will be most effective. This article constructs an index to identify the regions in South Africa that can export manufactured goods. It draws on the literature of the determinants of exports for indicators of the capability (or potential) to export across 354 magisterial districts in 1996 and 2001. The results show a positive relationship between export capability and export performance. The article identifies a number of front-runner magisterial districts along with those of high capability but low performance that stand to benefit most from industrial policy interventions.

Keywords: Export capability; export performance; subnational regions; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1080/03768350903086838

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