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Economic Development as Self-Discovery

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Author Info
Ricardo Hausmann
Dani Rodrik

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Abstract

In the presence of uncertainty about what a country can be good at producing, there can be great social value to discovering costs of domestic activities because such discoveries can be easily imitated. We develop a general-equilibrium framework for a small open economy to clarify the analytical and normative issues. We highlight two failures of the laissez-faire outcome: there is too little investment and entrepreneurship ex ante, and too much production diversification ex post. Optimal policy consists of counteracting these distortions: to encourage investments in the modern sector ex ante, but to rationalize production ex post. We provide some informal evidence on the building blocks of our model.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8952.

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Date of creation: May 2002
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8952

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O0 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - General
L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Sharun Mukand & Dani Rodrik, 2002. "In Search of the Holy Grail: Policy Convergence, Experimentation, and Economic Performance," NBER Working Papers 9134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Caselli, Francesco & Coleman II, Wilbur John, 2000. "The World Technology Frontier," CEPR Discussion Papers 2584, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Eduardo Lora, 2001. "Structural Reforms in Latin America: What Has Been Reformed and How to Measure It," RES Working Papers 4293, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Wood, Adrian & Mayer, Jorg, 2001. "Africa's Export Structure in a Comparative Perspective," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 369-94, May.
  5. David N. Weil, 1996. "Appropriate Technology and Growth," Working Papers 96-24, Brown University, Department of Economics.
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  6. Evenson, Robert E. & Westphal, Larry E., 1995. "Technological change and technology strategy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 2209-2299 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. J Rauch & Joel Watson, 2001. "Entrepreneurship in International Trade," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2001-20, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Eduardo Fernández-Arias & Peter Montiel, 1997. "Reform and Growth in Latin America: All Pain, No Gain?," RES Working Papers 4078, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  9. Easterly, William & Loayza, Norman & Montiel, Peter, 1997. "Has Latin America's post-reform growth been disappointing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 287-311, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Eduardo Lora & Ugo Panizza, 2002. "Structural Reforms in Latin America under Scrutiny," RES Working Papers 4303, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Jorg Mayer & Adrian Wood, 2001. "South Asia's Export Structure in a Comparative Perspective," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 5-29. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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