Using a large dataset for 79 countries covering the period 1962–2000, this study analyses the main determinants of export diversification (concentration). We explore the role of several factors and we use three different indicators of export concentration. We find robust evidence across specifications and indicators that trade openness induces higher specialisation. In contrast, financial development does not seem to help countries to diversify their exports. Looking at the effects of exchange rates, in some of the results, a negative effect of real exchange rate volatility on export diversification is detected, but no significant effects of exchange rate overvaluation. There is also evidence that human capital accumulation contributes positively to diversify exports and that increasing remoteness tends to reduce export diversification. We also explore the role of terms of trade shocks. Most of the results suggest an interesting interaction between this variable and human capital: improvements in the terms of trade tend to concentrate exports, but this effect is lower for those countries with higher levels of human capital. This evidence suggests that countries with higher education can take advantage of positive terms of trade shocks to increase export diversification.

Are natural resources a blessing or a curse? In this paper we present a model in which natural resources have a positive effect on level of income and a negative effect on its growth rate. The positive and permanent effect on income implies a welfare gain. There is a growth effect stemming from a composition effect. However, we show that this effect can be offset by having a large level of human capital. We test our model using panel data for the period 1970-1990. We extend the usual specifications for economic growth regressions by incorporating an interaction term between human capital and natural resources, showing that high levels of human capital may outweigh the negative effects of the natural resource abundance on growth. We also review the historical experience of Scandinavian countries, which in contrast to Latin America, another region well endowed with natural resources, shows how it is possible to grow fast based on natural resources.

The discovery of new export opportunities has been an important trait of economic growth and development in Chile since the mid-1970s (Agosin, 1999Meller, 1994;and Meller and Sáez, 1995). An additional aspect that makes Chile an interesting case study is that these opportunities have arisen almost entirely in segments of the food and forestry sectors.1 This marks a clear distinction between Chile and the Asian countries, whose export growth has been driven by the creation of new comparative advantages in the manufacturing sector. In fact, manufacturing has been practically absent from the Chilean process.

Are natural resources a blessing or a curse? In this paper we present a model in which natural resources have a positive effect on level of income and a negative effect on its growth rate. The positive and permanent effect on income implies a welfare gain. There is a growth effect stemming from a composition effect. However, we show that this effect can be offset by having a large level of human capital. We test our model using panel data for the period 1970-1990. We extend the usual specifications for economic growth regressions by incorporating an interaction term between human capital and natural resources, showing that high levels of human capital may outweigh the negative effects of the natural resource abundance on growth. We also review the historical experience of Scandinavian countries, which in contrast to Latin America, another region well endowed with natural resources, shows how it is possible to grow fast based on natural resources.

Artículo de publicación ISISin acceso a texto completoWe analyze empirically the firm-level relationship between innovation and productivity in the Chilean service sector using the manufacturing sector as a benchmark. We find that manufacturing and service industries have similar determinants of the probability of introducing technological innovations. We also find a positive effect of technological and nontechnological innovation on labor productivity for both sectors. However, there are some differences in the quantitative importance of some determinants of innovation. Our findings help to characterize the different stages of the service industry's innovative process and its effect on an emerging economy, providing useful information for policy design.Millennium Science Initiative NS 10001