Fofack, Hippolyte2012-05-252012-05-252008-03https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6491Since the industrial revolution, advances in science and technology have continuously accounted for most of the growth and wealth accumulation in leading industrialized economies. In recent years, the contribution of technological progress to growth and welfare improvement has increased even further, especially with the globalization process which has been characterized by exponential growth in exports of manufactured goods. This paper establishes the existence of a technology trap in Sub-Saharan Africa. It shows that the widening income and welfare gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of world is largely accounted for by the technology trap responsible for the poverty trap. This result is supported by empirical evidence which suggests that if countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were using the same level of technology enjoyed by industrialized countries income levels in Sub-Saharan Africa would be significantly higher. The result is robust, even after controlling for institutional, macroeconomic instability and volatility factors. Consistent with standard one-sector neoclassical growth models, this suggests that uniform convergence to a worldwide technology frontier may lead to income convergence in the spherical space. Overcoming the technology trap in Sub-Saharan Africa may therefore be essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and evolving toward global convergence in the process of economic development.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE TERMSAGGREGATE LEVELAGGREGATE OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTUREATTRIBUTESAVERAGE GROWTHAVERAGE GROWTH RATEAVERAGE INCOMEBALANCE OF PAYMENTSBASICBEST PRACTICEBUSINESS CLIMATEBUSINESS CYCLESBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTCAPABILITIESCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCAPITAL DEVELOPMENTCAPITAL MARKETSCHOICE OF TECHNOLOGYCOMMERCECOMMODITIESCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGYCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPONENTSCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMPTION GROWTHCONVERGENCE HYPOTHESISCOVARIANCE MATRIXDATA AVAILABILITYDATA COMPRESSIONDATA REDUCTIONDATA SETSDEPENDENT VARIABLEDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPED WORLDDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT GOALSDEVELOPMENT INDICATORSDEVELOPMENT PROCESSESDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDIMINISHING RETURNSDIVERSIFICATIONDOMESTIC CREDITECONOMETRICSECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC HISTORYECONOMIC INEFFICIENCYECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC OVERHEATINGECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIES OF SCALEELASTICITYELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTIONEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL RESULTSEMPIRICAL STUDIESENGINEERINGENGINEERSEQUILIBRIUMEQUIPMENTEXCESS SUPPLYEXOGENOUS VARIABLESEXPLANATORY VARIABLESEXPORTSEXTERNALITIESFINANCIAL DEPTHFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFIXED COSTSFIXED EFFECTSGDPGDP PER CAPITAGEOGRAPHIC POVERTY TRAPSGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL LEVELGLOBALIZATIONGROWTH ELASTICITYGROWTH MODELGROWTH MODELSGROWTH POTENTIALSGROWTH PROSPECTSGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESGROWTH THEORYHIGH TECHNOLOGYHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RESOURCEHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTINCOMEINCOME ELASTICITYINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELSINCREASING RETURNSINCREASING RETURNS TO SCALEINDEPENDENT VARIABLESINDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTINDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONINDUSTRIALIZATIONINDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIESINFLATION RATEINNOVATIONINNOVATIONSINSTITUTIONINSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKINTERNATIONAL TRADEINVENTIONSINVESTMENT FUNCTIONSKNOWLEDGE ECONOMYKNOWLEDGE SOCIETIESLABOR FORCELEARNINGLIVING STANDARDSLONG RUNLONG-RUN GROWTHLOSS OF INFORMATIONLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESM2MACROECONOMIC INSTABILITYMANUFACTURINGMARGINAL EFFECTMARKET ECONOMIESMEAN VALUEMEDICINEMICRO DATAMICRO MODELMONETARY ECONOMICSNEOCLASSICAL MODELSNEW TECHNOLOGIES0 HYPOTHESISOIL EXPORTERSOUTPUT GAPOUTPUT GROWTHPARTIAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSISPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY LEVELPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOOR COUNTRIESPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY TRAPSPRIMARY PRODUCTSPRO-POORPRO-POOR GROWTHPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPRODUCTION PROCESSESPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SPENDINGPUBLISHINGPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYR&DREAL GDPREAL INTEREST RATESRESULTRICH COUNTRIESSATELLITESAVING RATESCALE EFFECTSCIENTISTSSEMICONDUCTORSSIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONSIMULATIONSKEWED DISTRIBUTIONSKILLED LABORSUB-SAHARAN AFRICATECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCESTECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURETECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONSTECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESSTECHNOLOGY FRONTIERTECHNOLOGY TRANSFERSTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYTRADE OPENNESSTRADE SHOCKSUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT RATESUSERSWEALTHWEALTH CREATIONWEBWORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTIONWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4582