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How costly is rent-seeking to diversification: an empirical approach

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  • Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe

Abstract

The empirical U-shaped pattern between product diversification and economic development has been widely examined, but here we analyze the determinants of diversification. We find that a high level of rent-seeking activities has a large impact on the diversification of nations: in countries where rent-seeking is a widespread practice, the number of products being exported will be smaller and its value more concentrated in certain goods. Our analysis embraces a large sample of more than 130 countries between 1995 and 2007, using a highly disaggregated export database comprising 5000 products adopting both diversification indices or the number of new products as measures of diversification. To establish this relationship we use a Generalized Method of Moments estimation, controlling for endogeneity originated from reverse causality, and we also use a negative binomial regression to estimate the impact of rent-seeking on new export products. These empirical predictions contribute to the idea that resources allocated to harm diversification are an important binding constraint for developing countries.

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  • Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe, 2010. "How costly is rent-seeking to diversification: an empirical approach," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Hannover 2010 4, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:gdec10:4
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    2. Nouf Alsharif & Sambit Bhattacharyya & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2016. "Economic Diversification in Resource Rich Countries: Uncovering the State of Knowledge," Working Paper Series 09816, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Aleksandra Parteka & Massimo Tamberi, 2013. "What Determines Export Diversification in the Development Process? Empirical Assessment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 807-826, June.
    4. Asier Minondo, 2011. "Does comparative advantage explain countries’ diversification level?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(3), pages 507-526, September.
    5. Wenni Lei & Yuwei Luo, 2022. "Institutions Rule in Export Diversity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Sabna Ali & Syed Mansoob Murshed & Elissaios Papyrakis, 2023. "Oil, export diversification and economic growth in Sudan: evidence from a VAR model," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 36(1), pages 77-96, January.
    7. Olivier CADOT & Jaime de MELO & Patrick PLANE & Laurent WAGNER & Martha TESFAYE WOLDEMICHAEL, 2017. "L’Afrique subsaharienne peut-elle se développer sans usines ?," Working Paper 084c8bee-b301-4412-8ca4-c, Agence française de développement.
    8. Sami Fethi & Hatice Imamoglu, 2021. "The impact of rent‐seeking on economic growth in the six geographic regions: Evidence from static and dynamic panel data analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5349-5362, October.
    9. Romano, Livio & Traù, Fabrizio, 2017. "The nature of industrial development and the speed of structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 26-37.
    10. Nouf Alsharif & Sambit Bhattacharyya & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2016. "Economic Diversification in Resource Rich Countries: Uncovering the State of Knowledge," Working Paper Series 9816, Department of Economics, University of Sussex.
    11. Ivar Kolstad & Arne Wiig, 2014. "Diversification and democracy," CMI Working Papers 9, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.

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    Keywords

    Product diversification; international trade; economic development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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