Structural Change and Inclusive Development

How can production structures be made more productive and competitive, yet socially inclusive and conducive to poverty reduction? In most developing countries, the majority of companies are very small and technologically underdeveloped, while labour and goods markets are organised informally and public institutions are weak. Consequently, foreign investments and global value chains play a key role in developing modern sectors. In order to increase income and learning effects and minimise crowding-out effects, these investments and value chains need to be shaped with development policy in mind. At the same time, it is necessary to promote highly unproductive and informal sectors of the economy and interlink them with modern companies. International trade and investment agreements provide the framework here in which national policy can shape these processes. The research group is exploring options for developing economic policy for countries on the periphery of the global economy. The interdependence between national and global policies is a core element of this research. Another focus is on the opportunities and risks for developing countries and emerging economies presented by global megatrends such as digitalisation, urbanisation and greening of the global economy, and by the exodus of low-wage industries from China.

Team

Altenburg, Tilman
Berger, Axel
Brüntrup, Michael
El-Haddad, Amirah
Fiselier, Evelien
Jauregui, Franco
Loewe, Markus
Ndubuisi, Gideon
Olekseyuk, Zoryana
Sakketa, Tekalign Gutu
Sommer, Christoph
Stamm, Andreas
Stender, Frederik
Vrolijk, Kasper
Zintl, Tina

Publications

Does COVID-19 change the long-term prospects of latecomer industrialisation?
Altenburg, Tilman / Clara Brandi / Anna Pegels / Andreas Stamm / Kasper Vrolijk / Tina Zintl (2021)
Discussion Paper 32/2021

Vertieft die Pandemie die digitale Kluft?
Zintl, Tina / Elvis Melia (2020)
Die aktuelle Kolumne vom 22.04.2020

Jobs für Afrika: Chancen in einer Weltwirtschaft im Umbruch
Altenburg, Tilman / Brahima Coulibaly (2018)
Analysen und Stellungnahmen 11/2018

Meeting Africa’s employment challenge in a changing world
Altenburg, Tilman / Brahima Coulibaly (2018)
Briefing Paper 18/2018

Prudent industrial policies should guide markets
Altenburg, Tilman / Wilfried Lütkenhorst (2018)
D+C: Development and Cooperation (Monthly e-paper)), December 2017, 16-17

The retail revolution
Altenburg, Tilman (2017)
D+C: Development and Cooperation (Monthly e-paper), October 2017, 38-39

Identifying future growth potentials: a consolidated approach
Altenburg, Tilman / Wilfried Lütkenhorst (2017)
Briefing Paper 15/2017

Smart industrial policy is key to today’s development agenda
Altenburg, Tilman / Lütkenhorst, Wilfried (2017)
The Current Column of 8 May 2017

Female labor outcomes and large-scale agricultural land investments: macro-micro evidence from Tanzania
Osabuohien, Evans S. / Uchenna R.Efobi / Raoul T.Herrmann / Ciliaka M.W.Gitaud(2019)
in: Land Use Policy 82 (March), 716-728

Food value chain linkages and household food security in Tanzania
Herrmann, Raoul / Ephraim Nkonya / Anja Faße(2018)
in: Food Security 10 (4), 827-839

Exporting for growth: identifying leading sectors for Egypt and Tunisia using the Product Space Methodology
El-Haddad, Amirah(2018)
(Discussion Paper 25/2018)

Nucleus-outgrower schemes as an alternative to traditional smallholder agriculture in Tanzania – strengths, weaknesses and policy requirements
Brüntrup, Michael / Fabian Schwarz / Thomas Absmayr / Jonas Dylla / Franziska Eckhard / Kerstin Remke / Konrad Sternisko(2018)
in: Food Security 10 (4), 807-826

Linking small-scale farmers to the durum wheat value chain in Ethiopia: assessing the effects on production and wellbeing
Biggeri, Mario / Francesco Burchi / Federico Ciani / Raoul Herrmann(2018)
in: Food Policy 79 (August), 77-91

The Informalization of the Egyptian economy (1998-2012): a factor in growing wage inequality?
El-Haddad, Amirah / May Gadallah(2018)
Kairo: Economic Research Forum (Working Paper Series 1210)

Competition between biofuel feedstock and food production: empirical evidence from sugarcane outgrower settings in Malawi
Herrmann, Raoul / Charles Jumbe / Michael Brüntrup / Evans Osabuohien(2018)
in: Biomass and Bioenergy 114 (July), 100-111

Large-scale agricultural investments and smallholder welfare: a comparison of wage labor and outgrower channels in Tanzania
Herrmann, Raoul(2017)
in: World Development 90 (February), 294-310

Welfare gains from utility reforms in Egyptian telecommunications
El-Haddad, Amirah(2017)
published on Utilities Policy 17 February 2017

Spatial development initiatives – potentials, challenges and policy lessons: with a specific outlook for inclusive agrocorridors in Sub-Sahara Africa
Reeg, Caroline(2017)
(Studies 97)

Female wages in the Egyptian textiles and clothing industry: low pay and discrimination
El-Haddad, Amirah(2016)
in: Review of Economics and Political Science 1 (1), 1-35

A decade on: how relevant is the regulatory environment for micro and small enterprise upgrading after all?
Altenburg, Tilman / Aimée Hampel-Milagrosa / Markus Loewe(2016)
in: The European Journal of Development Research 29 (2), 457-475

The entrepreneur makes a difference: Evidence on MSE upgrading factors from Egypt, India, and the Philippines.
Hampel-Milagrosa, Aimée, Loewe, Markus & Caroline Reeg(2015)
World Development 66(2), 118-130.

Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work
Reeg, Caroline(2015)
(Discussion Paper 10/2015)

Impacts of a micro-enterprise clustering programme on firm performance in Ghana
Strupat, Christoph / Jörg Peters / Maximiliane Sievert(2015)
in: European Journal of Development Research 27 (1), 99-121

Landwirtschaft als Motor des Wachstums in Subsahara-Afrika
Brüntrup, Michael / Christoph Kessler (2015)
in: Salua Nour / Ekkehard Münzing (Hrsg.), Wirtschaftsmacht Afrika: Wachstumspole, Potenziale und Perspektiven, Frankfurt a.M.: Lang, 81-120

The causal chain of market based reform in Egyptian voice Telecommunication
El-Haddad, Amirah(2015)
in: Journal of Development Effectiveness 7 (4), 499-518

Large-scale agro-industrial investments and rural poverty: evidence from sugarcane in Malawi
Herrmann, Raoul / Ulrike Grote(2015)
in: Journal of African Economies 24 (5), 645-676

Large scale land acquisitions - challenges, conflicts and partial solutions in an agro-investment lifecycle perspective
Bruentrup, Michael(2014)
in: Ian Christoplos / Adam Pain (eds), New challenges to food security: from climate change to fragile states, Abingdon: Routledge, 85-108

Projects

Stability and Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Green Industrial Policy

Promoting food security in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of private sector investments and results-oriented approaches

Fair Globalisation

Municipalities Promoting and Shaping Sustainable Value Creation (MUPASS) – Public Procurement as a Tool for Fair and Sustainable Production

Social Cohesion in Africa

Investment Facilitation for Sustainable Development

The transition towards a Green Economy and its implications for quality infrastructure

Video and Podcast: Industrial policy

This video lecture and the podcast are part of a course on "Green Industrial Policy: Promoting Competitiveness and Structural Transformation", which has been developed by the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE). The course can be taken online at unccelearn.org.
These materials may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. No use of these materials may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the PAGE Secretariat.

Highlight

[Translate to English:] Cover: Industrial Policy

Industrial policy in developing countries: failing markets, weak states
Altenburg, Tilman / Wilfried Lütkenhorst (2015)
Cheltenham: Elgar

Highlight

[Translate to English:] Cover: Food Policy

Linking small-scale farmers to the durum wheat value chain in Ethiopia: assessing the effects on production and wellbeing
Biggeri, Mario / Francesco Burchi / Federico Ciani / Raoul Herrmann (2018)
in: Food Policy 79 (August), 77-91