Publications

Manufacturing has functioned as the main engine of economic growth and development, since the middle of the eighteen century. However, in recent research, questions have been raised concerning the continued importance of the manufacturing sector for economic development. The paper presents the theoretical and empirical evidence for the proposition that the manufacture acts as engine of growth in developing countries. The paper re-examines the role of manufacturing as a driver of growth in developing countries in the period 1950-2010. The paper also makes use of a newly constructed panel dataset of annual value added shares for manufacturing and services for the period 1950-2010. Regression analysis is used to analyze the relationships between sect oral share and per capita GDP growth for different time periods. The paper also examines the contribution of manufacturing and services with respect to growth acceleration. The empirical analysis is generally consistent with the engine of growth hypothesis as the role of manufacturing seems to be of particular importance during growth acceleration.