Classification and Roundabout Production in High‐value Agriculture: A Fresh Approach to Industrialization

Main author: Cramer, Christopher
Other authors: Di John, Jonathan
Sender, John
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-36913
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Developing countries are balance-of-payments constrained. In this context, high-value agricultural exports can make a greater contribution to structural change than development economists and developing country governments have typically acknowledged. This is thanks to dramatic recent changes in agricultural production, consumption and trade. These transformations are obscured by a simple classification system that has not adapted to changing patterns of global capitalist production. This article examines some recent efforts to rethink the basis of economic classification; it contributes to this emerging literature by proposing a way to think about the distinctions among economic activities that builds directly from the observation of production rather than a method of ex-post mapping of trade data. A more accurate classification of economic activities would, the authors suggest, help policy officials design more coherent and growth-enhancing industrial policies in support of accelerated structural change and productivity growth. The article draws on primary fieldwork in Ethiopia in particular, but also on fieldwork in South Africa and on secondary evidence.
format Journal Article
author Cramer, Christopher
author_facet Cramer, Christopher
Di John, Jonathan
Sender, John
authorStr Cramer, Christopher
author_letter Cramer, Christopher
author2 Di John, Jonathan
Sender, John
author2Str Di John, Jonathan
Sender, John
title Classification and Roundabout Production in High‐value Agriculture: A Fresh Approach to Industrialization
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2022
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/36913/