New Views Of Structural Transformation: Insights From Recent Literature

This paper benefited from the comments of Cheryl Doss and two anonymous referees. Our views on these topics have been shaped by many colleagues and co-authors over the years. We particularly acknowledge, without implicating, Paco Buera, David Lagakos, Martí Mestieri, Rachel Ngai, Stephen Parente, Richard Rogerson, Yongs Shin, and Akos Valentinyi. With sadness, we also note our intellectual debts to our late friend and colleague, Berthold Herrendorf. Berthold brought tremendous clarity and insight to every discussion, as well as humour and curiosity. His untimely death in 2022 was a loss to all of us working in the field. We gratefully acknowledge support for this work – and for the broader research programme on Structural Transformation and Economic Growth (STEG) – from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), as part of the UK aid effort. Colleagues at FCDO, and particularly Andy Hinsley and John Piper, have encouraged us to articulate our thinking about structural transformation and its relationship with economic growth. Finally, we would not have completed this paper without the constant encouragement of Tessa Ogden, Ed Sellers, and Sarah Pogrund at CEPR. We are truly appreciative. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.