Export Diversity and Regional Growth: Empirical Evidence from South Africa

Marianne Matthee and Wim Naudé

No RP2007-11, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between exports, and in particular export diversity, and regional growth in a developing country context. Using export data for 19 sectors from 354 subnational (magisterial) districts of South Africa, we construct various measures of subnational export diversity. We find that it is not only how much that is exported, but also important is what is exported. Regions with less specialization and more diversified exports generally experienced higher economic growth rates and contributed much more to overall exports from South Africa.

Keywords: Economic development; Foreign investments; Regional economics; Transportation cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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