INDUSTRIALIZATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: EFFECTS OF MANUFACTURING AND FIXED INVESTMENT INTERACTIONS

ABSTRACT This research evaluates whether the effects of the manufacturing sector on economic growth are enhanced by investment spending. Previous studies have shown the importance of manufacturing to growth; however, they have disregarded spillover effects of gross fixed capital formation in conjunction with manufacturing. Thus, this study innovates the relevant literature by considering such interaction, and by providing possible alternative interpretations for the low economic activity of certain regions. It used the dynamic panel data model with GMM-DIF estimator in a sample with 119 countries (96% of world GDP), observed from 1996 to 2016. The results are consistent with structural change theory. For each 1% change in the manufacturing share of GDP, an average increase in the GDP per capita growth rate was estimated to range from 0.30% to 0.81%, while the gross fixed capital formation values ranged between the average and very close to the sample maximum. Thus, the spillover effect of capital accumulation was confirmed, increasing the impacts of manufacturing on the region’s economic growth. The importance of manufacturing for growth was confirmed.