Economic Growth Strategies: Has the Effect of Development Strategy upon Growth Changed over time?

Structural strategies have been adopted by many developing countries to reduce the income/technology gap between them and advanced countries. Results have been mixed, however; most countries have failed, but a few have succeeded, newly industrialized economies (NIEs) in particular. Lin (2003) divides the structural strategies into two types: the Comparative-Advantage-Defying (CAD) strategy followed by many developing countries and the Comparative-Advantage-Following (CAF) strategy followed by NIEs. He argues that following the CAD strategy has a fixed negative effect on an economy's growth over time. This paper however, which allows for the decadal changes in economic conditions and uses the OLS method on a sample of 105 countries and permanent observations of 49 countries, finds that structural strategies' effects vary over time. Such a finding tempers conclusions from Lin (2003) as less evidence is found that CAD strategies lower growth. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper is a result of great effort, and not only on my part. Many people gave me their support and encouragement, which made my efforts rewarding. First I would like to express my deep appreciation for the invaluable guidance and support offered me by my advisor, Professor Kevin Sylwester, which helped me to complete this paper successfully. Professor Sylwester's inspirations will have a great influence on my future and I will always be grateful to him. I would also like to thank all my professors in the economics department for their encouragement during my study. Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife Huda and son Saud for their love and support.