Structural Transformation and Economic Development ─ Cross Regional Analysis of Industrialization and Urbanization

This book examines long-term structural changes and the broad impact on economic development in regional comparative perspectives. The book analyzes data across Africa, Asia and Latin America. It looks at key variables of productivity growth, industrialization, poverty, urbanization, and employment. This book is concerned with understanding structural change dynamics and how it affects job creation, living standards and the efficiency of productive cities through manufacturing productivity growth that benefit majority of citizens.

With empirical evidence from a selected number of developing countries including China, India, Peru, Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa, the book attempts to present the considerable structural changes of these countries over the last few decades. It highlights that growth without the expected job creation is one of the distinct features of growth in emerging and developing countries. It suggests that countries may well record economic growth, whether through within sector productivity increase or through structural change, but this may not necessarily lead to employment, an important concern for long-term development.

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is currently Director of Regional Office for Africa and previously, Chief Scientific Advisor, UN-HABITAT. He is a professor in the field ofEconomic Development, Industrial Policy and Technology Management. He has provided leadership in the field of political economy of technology development and continues to break new grounds uniting ideas in social sciences, engineering and technology policy.

Kaushalesh Lal earned his PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Dr. Lal has held faculty positions in various national and international institutions such as University of Delhi, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, United Nations University-MERIT, Netherlands. He has widely published in renowned international journals and all of his books are published by prominent international publishers.

Shampa Paul earned her PhD from University of Delhi. Dr. Paul has published several research papers in international refereed journals. She was a first place winner in the international paper competition organized by American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) 2007, USA.

Oluyomi Ola-David is a Development Economist with broad interests in the empirics of development policy, international investment and industrial policy in Africa. She currently holds a teaching position in the Department of Economics and Development Studies, Covenant University – Nigeria. Her research has examined the empirics and social welfare implications of structural transformation, foreign direct investment, development assistance and industrial policy.