Determinants of technology-intensive exports: The case of African countries, 1995–2017

Abstract

An extensive literature has investigated the driving forces behind high-technology exports, but most studies focus on developed countries and developing countries outside Africa. The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors determining export-oriented technological change, using the technological content of exports (high-tech, medium-tech and low-tech exports) as a proxy. For this purpose, instrumental variable regressions are applied to a panel dataset of 33 African countries. The findings revealed that the main determinants of high-technology exports are: imports of components, rule of law, human capital, FDI inflows, GDP per capita and manufacturing. For medium-technology exports, the determinants identified are similar to high-technology exports with population included. The main determinants of low-technology manufactured exports are imports of components, rule of law, population, FDI inflows, GDP per capita and manufacturing. These give policymakers in African countries a targeted approach in formulating policies related to exports by technological category. This paper contributes to the literature in that it assesses the main factors determining export-oriented technological change, using different levels of technological content of exports (high-tech, medium-tech and low-tech exports).

Keywords:

• exports
• technology
• manufacturing
• African countries

Acknowledgements

The author’s appreciation goes to the following: Professor Fiona Tregenna and Dr Milene Tessarin for their support and constructive feedback; DSI/NRF South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, for funding this research; Professor Bhaso Ndzendze, 4IR and Digital Policy Research Unit (4DPRU), Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, for all the support and guidance towards the submission of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 See details of the classification here: https://stat.unido.org/content/learning-center/classification-of-manufacturing-sectors-by-technological-intensity-%28isic-revision-4%29;jsessionid=B99E902A3918AB9F3DF9859923DFC4F4.