@inbook {504461,
	title = {Export Diversification in Algeria},
	booktitle = {Trade Competitiveness of the Middle East and North Africa},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {63-101},
	publisher = {The World Bank},
	organization = {The World Bank},
	address = {Washington, DC},
	abstract = {
	This chapter applies new methodologies to examine the history of and future opportunities for export diversification in Algeria. The first section examines Algeria{\textquoteright}s productive structure, which is highly concentrated in the hydrocarbons sector. It shows that this pattern of specialization is inconsistent with the country{\textquoteright}s endowment of hydrocarbon resources. The lack of export diversification is suggestive of an inefficient distortion, reversal of which should be a clear policy priority.



	The second section reviews some of the traditional explanations for a lack of export diversification in an oil-exporting country and shows that these explanations do not seem to hold for Algeria. It offers an alternative explanation, based not on macroeconomic volatility or real exchange rate appreciation but on the specificity of productive capabilities in the oil sector and their substitutability to other activities. This explanation underlies the notion of a {\textquotedblleft}product space,{\textquotedblright} in which structural transformation occurs.



	The third section introduces a new methodology to export diversification in Algeria, which is shown to be specialized in a highly peripheral part of the product space. Even activities that compose the non-oil export basket are highly peripheral in the product space, which helps explain the severe lack of export diversification.



	The fourth section applies product space data to Algeria{\textquoteright}s industrial strategy, using the methodology to identify high-potential export sectors. This data-driven approach has the benefit of systematically scanning the entire set of potential export goods using an empirically validated methodology. It complements other more qualitative and contextual approaches. This section uses the same methodology to review the sectors already identified by the Algerian government in the new industrial policy.



	The last section discusses the policy implications of this analysis. A wide variety of methodologies can be used to generate lists of high potential export sectors; more difficult is determining what to do with such lists. The section offers a few specific policy recommendations and discusses some best practices. But the fact that most required public goods and constraints to investment are sector specific means that recommendations\&nbsp;cannot be made at the macro level.

},
	author = {Hausmann, Ricardo and Klinger, Bailey and Jos{\'e} R. L{\'o}pez-C{\'a}lix}
}
