The existing literature on development and economic diversification finds an inverted-U function between these two variables, whereby economies diversify as they grow up to a point, after which they start specializing. This paper contributes to this literature by investigating the stages of diversification over the course of development during the past 57 years. The paper emphasizes the trajectories of resource-rich and resource-poor countries, an issue that has not been covered by the extant literature. In addition, the paper studies the stages of diversification across three dimensions, namely employment, value-added, and exports. Additionally, it examines the relationship for services. Non-parametric estimations suggest a U-shaped curve between measures of economic concentration and per capita income levels, which is in line with existing evidence. However, these patterns are mainly driven by between-country rather than within-country variation, a finding that had been ignored in the existing literature. Diversification patterns also differ across resource-rich and resource-poor countries: Employment and value added in resource-rich countries are on average more concentrated at low levels of development while in resource poor countries, they are more concentrated at high levels of development. In contrast, at all levels of development, exports are more concentrated in resource-rich countries.
Repository name | URI |
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Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
The code was reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
– OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
– Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1145G7 CPU @ 2.60GHz
– Memory available: 11.7 GB
– Software version: Stata version 17
~20-minutes runtime
To run the script, new users only need to change the directory of the Main do file and run the code.
All data sources utilized in this paper are publicly available and have been detailed in the sections above. It's important to note that while the dataset from the UN Comtrade database is publicly accessible, it does not permit republication. Therefore, this specific dataset is not included in the downloadable package. However, details regarding its download and the variables used for analysis are included in the README file accompanying this package.
Author | Affiliation | |
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Hoda Assem | World Bank | hassem10@worldbank.org |
Roberta Gatti | World Bank | rgatti@worldbank.org |
Daniel Lederman | World Bank | dlederman@worldbank.org |
2024-02
Location | Code |
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World | WLD |
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
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Modified BSD3 | https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/ |
Name | Affiliation | |
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Hoda Assem | World Bank | hassem10@worldbank.org |
Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
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Reyes Retana | MRR | World Bank | Junior Data Scientist |
2024-02-08
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