Sebastián Fleitas (Institute of Economics, University of the Republic, Uruguay (UDELAR); Department of Economics, University of Arizona)
The composition of the production of goods and services in the economy has important implications in terms of growth and inequality, and ECLAC has always been a privileged voice in this debate. The implications for growth rise mainly because of three factors: a) technological changes occur at different pace for different goods, b) there are different patterns of demand for different goods, and c) relative prices in the world economy do not fully reflect relative marginal productivities and marginal utilities among goods. Although structural change has clear and important macro implications, the change in the composition of what a country produces is a process that happens at the firm level in particular markets. Therefore, it is necessary to complement the macro approach with a micro approach of firms and markets in order to fully understand this process and, especially, to design policies to boost structural change.
S. Fleitas - The microeconomics of structural change |