Book
Industries without Smokestacks

Industrialization in Africa Reconsidered

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

By 2030 more than three quarters of the world's absolute poor are projected to live in Africa. Accelerating economic growth is key to rising incomes on the continent, and central to this challenge is establishing activities that are capable of employing large numbers of unskilled workers, that can raise productivity through innovation, and that can power growth through exports. Such structural transformation is a key driver of growth, and between 1950-1996 about half of the economic catch-up by developing countries (led by East Asia) was due to rising productivity in manufacturing combined with growing agricultural output. Africa, however, has lagged behind.

In 2014, the average share of manufacturing in GDP in sub-Saharan Africa hovered around 10 per cent, unchanged from the 1970s, leading some observers to be pessimistic about Africa's potential to catch the wave of sustained rapid growth and rising incomes. Industries Without Smokestacks: Industrialization in Africa Reconsidered challenges this view. It argues that other activities sharing the characteristics of manufacturing- including tourism, ICT, and other services as well as food processing and horticulture- are beginning to play a role analogous to that played by manufacturing in East Asia. This reflects not only changes in the global organization of industries since the early era of rapid East Asian growth, but also advantages unique to Africa. These 'industries without smokestacks' offer new opportunities for Africa to grow in coming decades.

Table of contents
  1. 1. Industries without smokestacks and structural transformation in Africa: Overview
    Richard Newfarmer, John Page, Finn Tarp
  2. 2. New technologies create opportunities
    Sally Murray
    More Working Paper | New technologies create opportunities
  3. 3. Telecommunication and ICT-based services trade
    Cláudio R. Frischtak
    More Working Paper | Industries without smokestacks
  4. 4. Tourism global value chains and Africa
    Jack Daly, Gary Gereffi
    More Working Paper | Tourism global value chains and Africa
  5. 5. Agro-processing and horticultural exports from Africa
    Emiko Fukase, Will Martin
    More Working Paper | Agro-processing and horticultural exports from Africa
  6. 6. Air transport in Africa: A portrait of capacity and competition in various market segments
    Heinrich C. Bofinger
    More Working Paper | Air transport in Africa
  7. 7. How trucking services have improved and may contribute to economic development: The case of East Africa
    Charles Kunaka, Gaël Raballand, Mike Fitzmaurice
    More Working Paper | How trucking services have improved and may contribute to economic development
  8. 8. Trade in services: Opening markets to create opportunities
    Bernard Hoekman
    More Working Paper | Trade in services
  9. 9. Implications for Ethiopia's industrialization
    Mulu Gebreeyesus
    More Working Paper | Industries without smokestacks
  10. 10. The agro-processing industry and its potential for structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy
    Nkechi Owoo, Monica P. Lambon-Quayefio
    More Working Paper | The agro-processing industry and its potential for structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy
  11. 11. Prospects for information and communications technology-enabled services in Kenya: The case of the mobile money transfer industry
    Dianah Ngui, Peter Kimuyu
    More Working Paper | Prospects for information and communications technology-enabled services in Kenya
  12. 12. Industries without smokestacks: Mozambique country case study
    António S. Cruz, Fausto J. Mafambissa
    More Working Paper | Industries without smokestacks
  13. 13. Senegal: A service economy in need of an export boost
    Philip English
    More Working Paper | Senegal
  14. 14. Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa: an overview
    Haroon Bhorat, Christopher Rooney, François Steenkamp
    More Working Paper | Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa
  15. 15. Employment and productivity growth in Tanzania's service sector
    Mia Ellis, Margaret McMillan, Jed Silver
    More Working Paper | Employment and productivity growth in Tanzania’s service sector
  16. 16. Rwanda: From devastation to services-first transformation
    Kasim Ggombe, Richard Newfarmer
    More Working Paper | Rwanda
  17. 17. Industries without smokestacks in Uganda and Rwanda
    John Spray, Sebastian Wolf
    More Working Paper | Industries without smokestacks in Uganda and Rwanda
  18. 18. Regional opportunities in East Africa
    Stephen Karingi, Ottavia Pesce, Lily Sommer
    More Working Paper | Regional opportunities in East Africa
  19. 19. Integration along the Abuja road map: A progress report
    Jaime de Melo, Mariem Nouar, Jean-Marc Solleder
    More Working Paper | Integration along the Abuja road map
  20. 20. Widening the options: Implications for public policy
    Richard Newfarmer, John Page, Finn Tarp
Show all