TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Naudé, Wim
AU  - Tregenna, Fiona
        TI  - Africa's Industrialization Prospects: A Fresh Look
        PY  - 2023/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16043
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16043
        AB  - This paper identifies the determinants of industrialization in 18 African countries, 1965 to 2018, using various estimators and applying a battery of robustness checks. Industrialization in Africa is driven by historical legacies such as colonialism; geographical factors such as rainfall and distance from international markets; economic factors such competition from China, market size and urbanization; and technological factors such as digital technology adoption. An inverse U-shape relationship between industrialization and GDP per capita is consistent with (premature) de-industrialization. Technological change and adoption of digital technologies are found to have an ambiguous relationship with industrialisation in Africa. The establishment of the AfCFTA is timely, but its benefits will only be realised if countries also improve infrastructure to overcome the negative consequences of adverse geography, improve trade facilitation to exploit learning-by-exporting from intra-African trade, and facilitate urbanization.
        KW  - industrialization
KW  - development
KW  - employment
KW  - technology
KW  - trade
KW  - Africa
        ER  -