Ecological Transformation and Indigenous Demographic Collapse at Mission Santa Clara

Introduction. Export diversification is an essential tool for accelerating economic growth in developing countries. After all, these countries' exports are concentrated on raw materials and agricultural products, which are primarily sensitive to external shocks. By diversifying their exports, countries can reduce their vulnerability to fluctuations in foreign markets, including changes in demand, prices and terms of trade. This will stabilise the country's export earnings, ensure uninterrupted financing of imports and the development of various sectors of the national economy. In addition, diversifying export activities contributes to the structural transformation of the national economy and the country's innovative development. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the essence and functional purpose of export diversification in ensuring the country's economic development. The objective will be achieved by analysing the state of diversification of Ukraine's exports of goods and studying its relationship with the country's economic development. Results. Based on the analysis of changes in Ukraine's export commodity structure, the paper shows that in 2014-2023, there was a deepening of specialisation in Ukraine's exports of raw materials, food and agricultural products. At the same time, the share of medium and highly processed goods in Ukraine's export structure has decreased significantly. These trends are confirmed by the relatively high degree of specialisation of Ukrainian exports of goods over the period considered, as calculated by the normalised Herfindahl-Hirschman index. It is noted that the deepening concentration of Ukrainian exports of raw materials, food and agricultural products has been accompanied by slow growth or decline in GDP per capita. This confirms the hypothesis that there is a correlation between the diversification of export activities and a country's economic development level. Conclusions. According to the study's results, one strategy for Ukraine's economic growth under current conditions should be to diversify export activities and develop trade in goods with a medium and high degree of processing.

The paper uses a mixed method approach to conduct a literature review of existing econometric studies to determine the key drivers of export diversification and economic growth, and to examine whether export diversification propels or hinders economic growth. The paper differs fundamentally from previous studies, as it focuses on identifying the key variables used, the frequency with which they are used and their degree of significance based on econometric studies that focused on measuring export diversification, economic growth and the linkage between diversification and growth in developed and developing countries, while highlighting a key gap in this literature, namely a lack of empirical studies focused on small island states. The paper finds that eight variables were used across all studies at a frequency of 10% or greater – namely, real GDP per capita, education, population, domestic investment, market distance, openness to trade, export concentration and rule of law. Based on the literature review, the key factors which support export diversification are human capital accumulation inclusive of higher education, domestic investment, population, quality of institutions, quality of infrastructure and market access. Conversely the factors that retard export diversification or increase export concentration are economic distance (remoteness from major markets), openness to trade, and declining terms of trade, foreign direct investment, exchange rate volatility and exchange rate overvaluation. Similarly, with regards to economic growth, the literature review suggests that the key factors which promote economic growth are rule of law, investment ratio, favorable movements in the terms of trade, technology, higher education and increased international openness while the factors that inhibit economic growth are fertility rate, the ratio of government consumption to GDP, and the inflation rate. In terms of the key variables used to link export diversification to economic growth, based on the literature, the six main categories of trade integration variables include export composition, trade orientation, export structure, geographic structure and trade strategy. After having reviewed the extant literature on export diversification and its relationship to economic growth, one of the overlooked areas of research is a lack of studies examining export diversification in small island developing states, and how export diversification may or may not contribute to economic growth in those particular contexts.

The present research focuses on the endogenous development theory and investigates the relationships between economic growth (dependent variable) and renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and export diversification (independent variables) in seven emerging economies known as the E-7. Previous studies have examined these factors individually but have not explored their combined impact on the E-7 economies. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing literature on the effects of renewable energy consumption, technological advancement, and export diversification on economic development. This study analyses the dynamic connections among these variables in seven selected emerging countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. Panel data from 1990 to 2022 are utilised, and various methodologies, including panel cointegration, the pooled mean group–autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) estimator, and robustness tests, such as the fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least square tests, are employed. Empirical inferences are drawn using the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality (DHC) test, and the long-run relationships among the variables are validated using the Westerlund residual cointegration tests. The results from the PMG-ARDL estimator show that renewable energy consumption, technological advancement, and export diversification have a significant and positive impact on economic expansion, confirming the validity of the endogenous growth model in the E-7 countries. The control variable of the financial sector has a positive but insignificant effect on economic growth, while trade openness has a negative and significant effect. The DHC test results indicate a neutral feedback effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth. The findings also reveal a unidirectional causal relationship between technological innovation and economic growth. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for economic policymakers in the E-7 countries. By removing barriers to renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and export diversification, policymakers can promote sustainable economic development.

Shenggen FanInternational Food Policy Research Institute and Institute of AgriculturalEconomics of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesLinxiu ZhangCenter for Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of SciencesXiaobo ZhangInternational Food Policy Research InstituteI. IntroductionChina is one of the few countries in the developing world that has madeprogress in reducing its total number of poor over the past 25 years.

Nonfarm Activities and Household Production Choices in Smallholder Agriculture in Vietnam

West Africa’s economic trajectory over the last decade has been shaped by persistent trade imbalances, heavy reliance on a narrow range of primary commodity exports, and heightened vulnerability to global shocks. This paper examines the nexus between trade balance, export diversification, and economic resilience in West Africa, from 2014 to 2024, a period marked by the oil price crash, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the rollout of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Drawing on secondary data from the World Bank, UNCTAD, ECOWAS Commission, and national statistical offices, the study employs descriptive trend analysis and empirical evidence from recent literature to assess how diversification patterns influence macroeconomic stability. The findings show that West Africa’s economies remain highly commodity-dependent, with over 70% of export earnings concentrated in hydrocarbons, minerals, and agricultural products. However, countries with broader export baskets-such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal-exhibited relatively greater resilience during external shocks, as reflected in smaller trade deficits and faster post-crisis recovery. The evidence further indicates that structural trade imbalances in Nigeria, the subregion’s largest economy, magnify regional vulnerabilities due to overdependence on crude oil exports and high import bills. The paper concludes that export diversification is a critical driver of resilience, as it reduces exposure to global commodity cycles, strengthens intra-African trade, and supports sustainable growth. Policy recommendations emphasize the need to deepen industrialization, leverage AfCFTA for regional value chains, invest in transport and digital infrastructure, and expand access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A salient theme in D. Gale Johnson’s work is the importance of agricultural development for general prosperity and for economic diversification (e.g., Johnson 2000). Johnson has also noted that most of the world’s poor are engaged in farming, so that a key focus of development policy is to raise the incomes of farmers. From a global perspective, increasing the productivity of agriculture, given the fixity of land, is necessary for both poverty reduction and the development of the nonagricultural sector. At the level of the world, agricultural productivity gains, poverty reduction, and the growth of the nonfarm sector are complements. However, the question remains whether these observations imply that every poor country should focus its public resources on agricultural development in order to raise the incomes of people now engaged in farming and whether such a policy is necessary for obtaining economic diversity. In this article, we use the experience of India over the past 30 years to address the issue of whether agricultural technical change actually leads to economic diversification and income growth within the rural sector in the context of an open-economy country in which there are cross-area trade and capital flows. We focus in particular on the rural sector because this is the sector in which linkages between agricultural and nonagricultural sectors are thought to be the strongest. We exploit the fact that India has maintained a policy of openness with respect to agricultural technology over this period, permitting and actively supporting agricultural development, and has moved to a reformed regime in which goods are traded and capital is more mobile in the 1990s. Evidence on the relationship between agricultural growth and nonfarm

The themes of the impact of foreign trade on economic growth has been repeatedly assumed by investigators and were most often related to various aspects: the openness of the economies, economic prosperity, competitiveness and diversification of export. The objective of the research was the evaluation of changes in economic development and the development of foreign trade in Poland comparing them with the EU and some EU countries. Particular attention was given to the issue of diversification and competitiveness of exports by putting the hypothesis that the greater product diversification of Polish export, the greater its competitiveness, which leads to economic growth. The work uses the following test methods: descriptive methods, statistical methods, the indexing methods of which Indicator of the Absolute Deviations and Revealed Comparative Advantages were calculated. Export diversification can lead to speeding up the pace of economic growth. By analyzing in detail the situations in Poland can conclude that it is advisable to diversify of the export structure.

Reviewed by: Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire: Europe and the Transformation of the Tropical World by Corey Ross Roger L. Albin Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire: Europe and the Transformation of the Tropical World. By corey ross. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 512 pp. $61.00 (hardcover). This excellent book is an ambitious effort to describe the ways that European imperialism in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries was the vehicle for the initial impact of industrialization in much of the tropical world. While including events in established colonies such as India, Egypt, and parts of the Caribbean, Ross focuses on colonies acquired or undergoing intensified exploitation in the second half of the nineteenth century. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia figure prominently in Ross' analyses. As different regions were colonized by different European metropoles, this book is also a valuable contribution to the comparative study of "high" imperialism and its aftermath. Ross describes an important chapter in the human transformation of the biosphere driven by exploitation of fossil fuels, the scientific-industrial revolution, and the emergence of standardized mass consumption. In the initial chapters, he presents a series of case studies of the exploitation of tropical primary products, including both agricultural (cotton, cocoa, rubber) and mineral (tin, copper, oil) products, initiated or expanded by colonial regimes. In many respects, these are depressingly familiar examples of off-shoring destructive exploitation from European metropoles with the burden of adverse consequences falling on the environment, indigenous peoples, and future generations. The velocity, durability, and scale of these adverse effects are often astonishing, particularly considering the relatively primitive technologies employed. [End Page 563] The coercive powers, funneling of capital, access to global markets, and transportation infrastructure provided by colonial administrations were critical to these ecological transformations. What distinguishes Ross' case studies are the careful analyses of the interactions of the biologic and physical features of products and regions, the specific social settings, and the policies of colonial powers—the "socio-ecological" processes resulting in wholesale ecological transformations. Some socio-ecological processes and ecological transformations, for example, the development and impact of Central African copper mining, were driven by European (British and Belgian) capitalists and colonial administrations. Others were not. Colonial states may have been the social engines of change, but the specific directions and ultimate destinations were often not those anticipated by colonial administrators. The spread of cocoa cultivation in West Africa, which became and remains the largest regional producer of cocoa, is an excellent example. Expanding cocoa cultivation resulted in major alterations of forest ecosystems. Despite the efforts of colonial officials to support plantation production and to persuade native cultivators to use European "scientific" methods, the enormous expansion of cocoa production was driven by successful adaptation of traditional labor intensive and land extensive methods by African farmers. Unanticipated primary actors also characterized the important Malayan tin industry. With world demand for tin soaring because of mass consumption of canned foods, many of the pioneering entrepreneurs were Chinese miners utilizing labor intensive methods imported from China. As these methods exhausted higher quality ores, they were superseded by capital intensive and even more destructive mechanized methods employed by European-based firms. In the second half of this book, Ross analyzes the efforts of colonial administrators to rationalize resource extraction as the initial production frontiers were exhausted, particularly after WWI as European imperial states pursued semi-autarkic economic policies. The often unsuccessful attempts to impose top-down technocratic solutions aimed at optimizing resource extraction over the longer term is a major theme. Wildlife conservation measures, improved forestry management, and efforts to enhance agricultural practices are analyzed carefully. Ross shows efforts at scientifically based policies to have mixed outcomes. Inappropriate transfer of European-based methods ignored regional-local realities and were often unsuccessful. Policies with some beneficial features, such as the institution of national parks and forest reserves, permanently disadvantaged indigenous peoples and were an intensification of colonial control. Efforts at scientific management [End Page 564] resulted in increasing knowledge of tropical ecologies, resulting in an appreciation (by some colonial experts) of the effectiveness and sustainability of traditional African agricultural practices. Ross concludes with a pair of concise and analytically...

There is much evidence that export diversity has a positive effect on economic growth, but there is some evidence that the concentration of exports may be also related to economic growth. The paper is dedicated to the relationship between export diversification and economic growth in developed and developing countries for 25 years (1996-2020) and 10 years (2011-2020). Correlation between concentration index (Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index), diversification index (modified Finger-Kreinin measure of similarity in trade) and economic growth was studied to confirm or deny the statements concerning positive or negative influence of export diversification and concentration on economic growth. The results of the study show that concentration index is lower in developed countries and does not varies much over time. While developing countries show higher magnitudes of this index and higher volatility level of this index and its relationship to the world business cycles. Level of export diversification is higher in developed countries, which show more similar export structure to the world pattern comparing with other national economies. Diversification index dynamics in developed and developing countries was getting closer to each other in 2012-2020 and now they are almost the same, though export diversification level of developed countries is a bit closer to the world export pattern comparing to the developing countries index. The findings show that in developing countries export concentration index has sufficient correlation with their GDP growth rates in both periods. That means the more key goods they sell the higher GDP growth rate they get. There is no long-time influence on economic development of these states according to this lagged correlation study of 1996-2020 period. Study based on 10-year period show sufficient 1-year lagged correlation rate, but the hypothesis concerning lagged positive impact of export concentration of economic development of these countries during the last decade needs proof. Developed countries have weak or moderate correlation between export concentration and GDP growth. Hence, developing countries mostly concentrate their export on a few primary goods but there is a need of additional research to find out if they use this money to develop other industries. Eventually there are different economies in these groups and some of them have different exports patterns and development models. Correlation analysis of the relationship between diversification index and GDP growth in 25-year period has shown weak or rather moderate association that does not give us possibility to make an assumption concerning the sufficient impact of export diversification on economic growth. However, in 10-year study we observe high correlation between these data in developing countries, especially in 5-year lag study. If in case of developing countries we observe positive relationship, analysis of developed countries indices shows negative relationship that confirms the statement about role of export diversification in economic growth of developed counties and export concentration - in developing economies. The more their export pattern deviates from the global structure (which is rather diversified) the higher their growth level is. Therefore, their export consists mostly of a few products. Negative relationship between diversification index and GDP growth in developed countries confirms the well-known statement that export diversification should promote economic growth. Lag dynamics in these cases needs additional studies. The list of issues of the following research also includes the search for a model of the nonlinear relationship between export diversification indices and growth rates in economies of different levels of development. The study has been also focused on the transition economies group, which has shown results more similar to those of developing countries comparing with developed economies. Export concentration index of transition economies is higher than in developing countries and more volatile; export diversification index is much bigger comparing with developing and developed economies. We state that these results reflect existing primary product export strategy of transition economies. The highest concentration and diversification indices are observed in countries that export energy resources. As a result of the study, the statement that the diversity of exports has a positive effect on economic growth was confirmed. The study has revealed that in developed countries economic growth usually are associated with diversified export basket. The study also showed that over the past 25 years, a developing economy to provide growth did not necessarily need diversified export. Number of countries have shown consistent economic growth driven by export of primary products.

While several studies examine the relationship between export diversification and economic growth, little is known about the relationship between export diversification and TFP growth. This paper makes an attempt to fill this research gap by considering South Asian region. We examine this relationship by looking at the long-run as well as the short-run relationship between TFP growth and export diversification by using annual data from 1995 to 2014. The empirical results derived from the panel cointegration technique provide evidence of long-run relationship between TFP growth and export diversification. The results based on DOLS confirm that export diversification positively affects the TFP growth in South Asian region; however, this evidence is weak when we analyzed each country separately. Finally, our results indicate that export diversification Granger cause TFP growth in the long-run, whereas no causality found in short-run. Our findings suggest that export diversification is crucial to avoid the volatility of export growth and for enchantment of productivity growth in South Asian region.

Nexus between resource policy, renewable energy policy and export diversification: Asymmetric study of environment quality towards sustainable development

What Explains the Intensification and Diversification of Brazil's Agricultural Production and Exports from 1990 to 2012?

Throughout its history, Peru, as a small open economy, has undergone cycles of crisis and recovery, usually linked to fluctuations in the international market. The Peruvian economy has always been an exporter of primary products and an importer of manufactured goods. Chapter 16 has a two-fold aim: to identify the salient characteristics of the development models and policies affecting Peruvian agriculture since the mid-twentieth century, and to identify what effect they have had on agricultural production and productivity based on an estimation of total-factor productivity (TFP) for the 1950–2010 period. Development strategy models have ranged from the diversification of primary exports to import-substitution industrialisation and to the promotion of non-traditional exports, which is the current model.These strategies have determined the outcome for agriculture.

The paper focuses on the analysis of the current state and features of international trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs, conducting an assessment of Russian food export diversification possibilities. The authors conduct a comparative analysis of the dynamics and structure of world and Russian food exports for 2012–2016. The general and specific features of the world and Russian food exports development are identified. The diversification necessity of the country’s agri-food export food basket as a factor of agri-food complex sustainable economic growth in the context of global challenges and restrictions is substantiated. The authors argue that export diversification, high value-added products export growth will contribute to the sustainable development of the agricultural and food industries. Relying on the indicators of the export diversification index, the authors demonstrate a low level of Russian food exports diversification and weak exports structural changes in recent years. An export-oriented strategy for the Russian agri-food complex development is proposed, suggesting the strengthening of the domestic producers’ competitive positions in the world food market traditional segments and the formation of competitive advantages for conquering new markets. The research clearly shows that effective development of food exports and the improvement of its product structure is impossible without state support. The main directions for improving the structure of food exports in the Russian Federation are also proposed.