Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Ricardo Hausmann
Author-Email: ricardo_hausmann@harvard.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Harvard's Growth Lab
Author-Person: pha552
Author-Name: Miguel Angel Santos
Author-Email: miguel_santos@hks.harvard.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for International Development at Harvard University
Author-Person: psa1518
Author-Name: Douglas Barrios
Author-Email: douglas_barrios@hks.harvard.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for International Development at Harvard University
Author-Name: Nikita Taniparti
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for International Development at Harvard University
Author-Name: Jorge Tudela Pye
Author-Name: Jessie Lu
Title: The Economic Complexity of Namibia: A Roadmap for Productive Diversification
Abstract: After a large growth acceleration within the context of the commodity supercycle (2000-2015), Namibia has been grappling with three interrelated challenges: economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and inclusion. Accelerating technological progress and enhancing Namibia’s knowhow agglomeration is crucial to the process of fostering new engines of growth that will deliver progress across the three targets. Using net exports data at the four-digit level, we estimate the economic complexity of Namibia – a measure of knowhow agglomeration – vis-à-vis its peers. Our results suggest that Namibia’s economy is relatively less complex and attractive opportunities to diversify tend to be more distant. Based on economic complexity metrics, we define a place-specific path for productive diversification, identifying industries with high potential and providing inputs – related to their feasibility and attractiveness in Namibia – for further prioritization. Namibia’s path to structural transformation will likely be steeper than for most peers, calling for a more active policy stance geared towards progressive accumulation of productive capacities, well-targeted “long jumps”, and strengthening state capacity to sort out market failures associated with the process of self-discovery.
Creation-Date: 2022-03
Keywords: Economic Complexity, Namibia
Number: 184
Handle: RePEc:glh:wpfacu:184
File-Url: https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/files/growthlab/files/2022-03-cid-wp-410-namibia-economic-complexity-report.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf