Exports of primary goods and human capital accumulation

Many developing countries have experienced export‐led growth in the last half century. This paper asks whether the content of what economies export matters for human capital accumulation. We construct a small open economy model and find that expansion of primary exports can harm human capital accumulation if the economy is initially allocating significant resources to the production of primary goods. We then test this prediction empirically using Latin American data over the period 1965 to 2010 and find robust evidence in support of the hypothesis that a shift towards primary exports reduces human capital accumulation. Given the importance of the latter for long‐run growth, our results suggest a potential role for policy intervention.