Working Paper: NBER ID: w16390
Authors: Zhi Wang; Shangjin Wei; Anna Wong
Abstract: While openness to trade is a well-recognized hallmark of many successful emerging market economies known as "growth miracles," another component of the growth model is a leapfrogging strategy - the use of policies to guide the industrial structural transformation ahead of a country's factor endowment. Does the leapfrogging strategy work? Opinions vary but the evidence is scarce in part because it is more difficult to measure the degree of leapfrogging than the extent of trade openness. We undertake a systematic look at the evidence across countries to assess the efficacy of such a strategy. So far, there is no strong and robust evidence that this strategy works reliably. Future research can explore a number of refinements.
Keywords: leapfrogging; economic growth; export sophistication
JEL Codes: F43
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| leapfrogging strategy (F12) | economic growth (O49) |
| export sophistication measures (F14) | economic growth (O49) |
| government interventions (H53) | technological sophistication (O33) |
| technological sophistication (O33) | economic growth (O49) |
| leapfrogging strategy (F12) | market failures (D52) |