Product export diversification and sustainable economic growth in developing countries

A consensus on the virtues of an economic development strategy based on export diversification has emerged from the recent economic literature. The purpose of this paper is to revisit that relationship by questioning the sustainability of such a strategy. Drawing on a balance of payments constrained growth model, we compare the re-composition of productive capacities that follows export diversification with the evolution of countries' external constraints. Based on econometric estimates of panel data, the lessons of the model allow us to analyze and compare, over the period 1995-2015, export diversification in three samples of developing countries, namely: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Developing Asia. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.