Digital

Klinger, B., et al., 2023. Growth Diagnostics and Competitiveness Study of the Manufacturing Sector in Tanzania.Abstract

Tanzania’s manufacturing puzzles (and frustrations) seem to be a natural outcome of their policy choice. The Tanzanian economy experienced a significant acceleration over two decades, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 6% between 1998 and 2018: Largest rates were recorded and sustained by the super commodity cycle (2005-2014). Within that growth trajectory, manufacturing’s share of gross domestic product (GDP) has lingered for 30 years below 10% – well below the 23% target established for 2025 in Tanzania’s Industrial Development Strategy (2011). As stressed by Diao et al (2021), the bulk of manufacturing value added is created by a few capital-intensive firms, whereas informal manufacturing has increased employment but without significant improvements in productivity/wages. Manufacturing exports surged in 2011 and remained steady since driven by subsector basic metals (gold & unrefined copper). If these are excluded, the curve mirrors the commodity price boom (likely a price boom rather than a volume boom). Looking only at exports conceals the fact that the bulk of the manufacturing output in Tanzania is sold in the domestic market rather than exported: exports are equivalent to less than 2% of GDP; domestic sales are seven times higher. While Food and Beverages make up for the largest share of manufacturing value employment and value-added, basic metals are the ones accounting for the vast majority of Tanzania’s exports.

The most binding constraint to investments in manufacturing in Tanzania is the availability and quality of electricity supply: Access to electricity is the lowest among peers, with large disparities between rural (22%) and urban (70%). Electrical outages are frequent and expensive for the manufacturing sector; firms even plan their production schedules and decide on plant locations based on power reliability. And yet, when we analyze the share of value-added against energy intensity at the sub-sector level, the negative relationship to be expected if electricity is indeed the constraint is there, but too fragile and noisy. Why? The strongest evidence points to the role of trade protection in compensating firms for other constraints, allowing existing manufacturers to capture large shares of domestic value-added while remaining uncompetitive in export markets. Large manufacturing subsectors of moderate to high energy intensity and more capital intensive enjoy higher tariff protection, creating a wedge that allows these industries to thrive in the domestic market. Despite joining numerous free trade agreements, Tanzania remains one of the most restrictive countries from a trade standpoint, eased by filing exceptions that shield individual products and entire domestic industries from competition. We have also found that effective taxation in Tanzania is relatively higher on labor (lower on capital, materialized through massive tax holidays granted within SEZ), skewing returns away from the country’s relative labor abundance. Failure to address the binding constraints creates a rationale for upholding protection, which reinforces biases towards capital and energy-intensive sectors. These policies go a long way in explaining the Tanzanian manufacturing puzzle.

From Chips to Beyond: Taiwan’s Need for Economic Diversification

By Rachel Chang

The fate of Taiwan's economy hangs in the balance as the semiconductor industry encounters mounting geopolitical pressures from the United States and China. Although Taiwan's dominance in the chip market provides a short-term advantage, it also exposes the economy to vulnerabilities. Taiwan must diversify into other industries in order to achieve a more stable path of growth and development and...

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2023 Apr 10

Research Seminar: Robot Adoption, Organizational Capital and the Productivity Paradox

10:15am to 11:30pm

Location: 

Weil Town Hall, Belfer, HKS/Zoom

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

Speaker...

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2023 Mar 27

Research Seminar: Opportunities and Challenges in the Use of Alternative Data Sources to Study Migratory Phenomena

10:15am to 11:30am

Location: 

Belfer L1 Weil Town Hall, HKS / Zoom (registration information below)

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Stefano M. Iacus is the Director of Data Science and Product Research at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University. He is working closely with the Dataverse (Managing Director of the Dataverse Project) and OpenDP (executive committee member) projects and well as with the Data Science Services at IQSS.

Abstract: With the...

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Tuzcu, N., et al., 2022. Unraveling the Complexity: A User-centered Design Process for Narrative Visualization. The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.Abstract

In this case study, we introduce a user-centered design process for developing Metroverse, a narrative visualization platform that communicates urban economic composition and growth opportunities for cities. The primary challenge in making Metroverse stems from the complexity of the underlying research and data, both of which need to be effectively communicated to a wide range of end-users with different backgrounds. To unravel the complexity of the research, and to design the platform, we followed a user-centered design process. Our design process brought together researchers, designers, and various end-users, who collectively guided the design of the narrative visualization. Engaging end-users in the early phases of the project allowed us to identify the valuable insights in the data and subsequently design effective visualizations that convey those insights. We believe findings from our process can provide a template for similar projects that require translating complex research data and methodologies into user-friendly story structures.

Watch Paper Presentation at CHI 2023: The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

2022 Dec 13

Programming + Pizza // Visualizing Economic Data with Metroverse & Viz Hub

5:00pm to 7:00pm

Location: 

HKS Library Commons

**This event was originally scheduled for Oct. 25th**

Speakers: Annie White (Senior Product Manager), Steven Geofrey (Front-End Software Developer), Brendan Leonard (Back-End Developer and Data Specialist), and Nil Tuzcu (UX/UI & Data Visualization Designer) make up the Development & Design Team at the Growth Lab.

At this session of Programming + Pizza, Annie and her team will present on the design, development, data and product management that goes into Metroverse, ...

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Grisanti, A., et al., 2021. Colombian Diaspora Survey Results Dashboard. Explore DashboardAbstract
As part of the "Role of the Diaspora in the Internationalization of the Colombian Economy" project, Growth Lab researchers surveyed 11,500 members of the Colombian diaspora, located in well over 100 countries. They studied the migration journeys, the diaspora’s attachment to Colombia, the level of diaspora engagement and interest in engaging, the intentions to return back home, the interest in diaspora government policy, and the overall sentiment of the diaspora towards Colombia.

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