Manufacturing development and the importance in economic development in a long-term perspective


Nobuya Haraguchi, UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization

First, the presentation addresses the historical patterns of manufacturing development in the economy and within manufacturing sector. While an inverted-U shape of manufacturing contribution to GDP along income levels has been documented well in the past, the intra-sectoral pattern of structural change with potentially greater policy implications has been studied less. Thus, I will particularly focus on the patterns of manufacturing development at sub-sector level by different country characteristics and illustrate how they have changed over time. These patterns of manufacturing as whole and sub-sectors show some indications of the diminishing importance of manufacturing in economic development. In relation to recent debates on premature deindustrialization and declining role of manufacturing in economic development, my second point in the presentation will touch on whether the importance of manufacturing in economic development has changed in recent years in terms of value added and employment.

About the speaker
Nobuya Haraguchi is Industrial Research Officer at the Department of Policy Research and Statistics of UNIDO in Vienna. He led a research team for the production of UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2013, Sustaining Employment Growth: The Role of Manufacturing and Structural Change. He has published widely on structural change, patterns of manufacturing and industrial policy and practice. Recently, jointly with Wim Naudé and Adam Szirmai he was editor of the book Structural Change and Industrial Development in the BRICS, published by Oxford University Press in 2015. Before joining UNIDO, he taught macroeconomics at St. John’s University in the United States. He holds a PhD from the University of London.

Venue: Conference room (room 0.16 & 0.17)

Date: 24 March 2016

Time: 12:30 - 13:30  CEST


UNU-MERIT