Export Performance in Africa and Asia's Manufacturing: Evidence from Firm-Level Data

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Periodical article

Title:	Export Performance in Africa and Asia's Manufacturing: Evidence from Firm-Level Data
Author:	Zeufack, Albert
Year:	2001
Periodical:	Journal of African Economies
Volume:	10
Issue:	3
Period:	September
Pages:	258-281
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Ghana Kenya
Subjects:	exports textiles textile industry clothing industry Development and Technology Economics and Trade
External link:	https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/3/258.full.pdf
Abstract:	Asia's share of manufacturing export to gross domestic product in the 1990s was more than 5 times that of sub-Saharan Africa. While explanations abound in the literature as to why Africa has failed, recent empirical work suggests that the reason for Africa's dismal export performance lies in a low skill-to-land ratio, which causes its comparative advantage to lie in primary exports. However, aggregation and measurement error cast doubts on the validity of these results. This paper uses combined firm-level and macrolevel data for investigating export performance differentials between the African and Asian textile and garment industries. The paper finds that, in a sample of 1,708 observations from Ghana, Kenya and India, neither the endowment ratio nor observable and unobservable skills are significant determinants of export performance in the used sample. The gap in export performance between textile and garment firms in Ghana, Kenya and India is rather explained by poor institutions in Africa. App., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.