IMF Working Papers

Sharp Instrument: A Stab at Identifying the Causes of Economic Growth

By Reda Cherif, Fuad Hasanov, Lichen Wang

May 21, 2018

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Reda Cherif, Fuad Hasanov, and Lichen Wang. Sharp Instrument: A Stab at Identifying the Causes of Economic Growth, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2018) accessed November 23, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

We shed new light on the determinants of growth by tackling the blunt and weak instrument problems in the empirical growth literature. As an instrument for each endogenous variable, we propose average values of the same variable in neighboring countries. This method has the advantage of producing variable-specific and time-varying—namely, “sharp”—and strong instruments. We find that export sophistication is the only robust determinant of growth among standard growth determinants such as human capital, trade, financial development, and institutions. Our results suggest that other growth determinants may be important to the extent they help improve export sophistication.

Subject: Econometric analysis, Economic sectors, Education, Estimation techniques, Exports, International trade, Manufacturing, National accounts, Real exports

Keywords: Blunt instrument, Coefficient estimate, Economic growth, Estimation techniques, Export orientation, Export sophistication, Exports, Growth rate, IV estimation, Manufactures export, Manufacturing, Productivity, Real exports, Sub-Saharan Africa, Test p-value, T-test size, Weak instrument, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    24

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2018/117

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2018117

  • ISBN:

    9781484357170

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941

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