Technological Leapfrogging and Manufacturing Value-added in sub-Saharan African (1990-2018)

TL;DR

This paper investigates how technological leapfrogging positively influences manufacturing value-added in sub-Saharan Africa from 1990 to 2018, highlighting the importance of technology adaptation and absorptive capacity.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that technological leapfrogging boosts manufacturing value-added in SSA, emphasizing policy focus on technology adoption and capacity building.

Findings

Technological leapfrogging significantly increases manufacturing value-added.

Adapting foreign technologies benefits domestic manufacturing growth.

Strengthening absorptive capacity enhances technology utilization.

Abstract

This study examines the impact of technological leapfrogging on manufacturing value-added in SSA. The study utilizes secondary data spanning 1990 to 2018. The data is analyzed using cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) and cross-sectional distributed lags (CS-DL) techniques. The study found that technological leapfrogging is a positive driver of manufacturing value-added in SSA. This implies that SSA can copy the foreign technologies and adapt them for domestic uses, rather than going through the evolutionary process of the old technologies that are relatively less efficient. If the governments of SSA could reinforce their absorptive capacity and beef up productivity through proper utilization of the existing technology. The productive activities of the domestic firms will stir new innovations and discoveries that will eventually translate into indigenous technology