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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Avantages comparatifs et dynamiques de spécialisation : le cas des pays africains.

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In this thesis we analyze the mechanisms linking trade openness and industrialization patterns. We are particularly interested in developing countries, especially those belonging to the African continent, because of their particular form of production specialization— essentially based on agricultural and mining products. Our goal is to better understand the evolution of these forms of specialization in order to identify possible paths of industrial development. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on the theoretical determinants of international specialization and pays particular attention to theories emphasizing a dynamic view of comparative advantage. This chapter provides the basis for the thesis and for the following chapters. It highlights two particular forms of capital, namely public capital and human capital, factors that can be at the root of the development of comparative advantage in the manufacturing sector. Using sectoral data for Sub-Saharan and North African countries (SSNA) and a methodology of estimation integrating classical and neoclassical determinants of comparative advantage, Chapter 2 seeks to identify the determinants of production specialization and its evolution over time. Chapter 3 continues the analysis using more disaggregated data at the industry level. We deepen the estimates by analyzing export performance (as opposed to production specialization) and pay particular attention to the role played by public capital accumulation, depending on whether countries are located far or near the world technological frontier. Although the first two chapters show a certain positive effect of the public capital stock on the development of comparative advantages in industrial sectors, this effect is not systematic. Chapter 4 attempts to explain these ambiguities by considering the complementarity between human and public capital, the latter being considered here as public infrastructure made available to the economy. We propose a simple theoretical model to develop this idea and test these predictions on a sample similar to the one mobilized in the previous chapter, this time considering indicators of revealed comparative advantage. The chapter shows that the capacity of public infrastructure to generate industrialization is all the more important that the country’s human capital stock is higher.