COMPOSIÇÃO DAS EXPORTAÇÕES E CRESCIMENTO ECONÔMICO: UMA ANÁLISE ESPACIAL.

This paper examines the relation between composition of exports and economic growth for a large set of countries, between 2000 and 2010 - a period characterized by a steep rise in commodity prices in international markets. The paper builds an index of exports quality, based on the classification by technological intensity proposed by Lall (2000). Taking into account the existence of spatial correlation among the variables, we estimate the relation between quality of exports and economic growth by using spatial panel data models. The results suggest that - despite the boom in commodities demand and prices during most of the decade - countries with export structures with higher technological content showed higher growth rates during the period of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]