Evolution of Production Specialization and Factor Accumulation in Sub‐Saharan and North Africa

Rimvie Enoc Kabore ()
Additional contact information
Rimvie Enoc Kabore: UDDG - Université de Dédougou, CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Despite trade liberalization and regional economic integration policies, the level of trade and specialization in Africa is stagnating. This long‐term observation contrasts with recent developments in Africa since the 2000s. This study aims to assess how changes in factor endowments affect the specialization pattern of production, exploring the underlying neoclassical determinants. We used a global panel dataset of six industries belonging to 25 sub‐Saharan and North African countries from 1980 to 2019 to empirically investigate the impact of factor endowments on specialization in production. To achieve this, we opt for a feasible generalized least squares method and impulse response functions by using labor abundance, agricultural land abundance, and physical capital abundance as exogenous variables and the share of value added in GDP as a proxy for specialization in production. Our results show (i) a differentiated role for factors of production in specialization, (ii) that factors such as public capital and skilled human capital are still underexploited in several economic regions, (iii) a persistent specialization in primary sectors, (iv) service sectors are gradually gaining in importance, and (v) a neglect of manufacturing due to the underexploitation of public and private capital. These findings highlight the need to adopt appropriate strategies to strengthen sectoral competitiveness.

Keywords: Economics; Production (economics); Factors of production; Economic geography; Macroeconomics; factor endowments; feasible generalized least squares method; impulse response functions; production specialization; sub-Saharan and North Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Review of Development Economics, 2025, ⟨10.1111/rode.13273⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:journl:hal-05165537

DOI: 10.1111/rode.13273

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().