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Market Access and Economic Development

Project description

A closer look at the economic causes and consequences of market access

Most research to date regarding the right conditions for economic progress in poor countries (e.g. job growth) has focused on "supply-side" drivers of productivity. However, another aspect to be considered is that the growth of businesses in these countries may be constrained by forces external to the firms, which ultimately hinder market access. Examples appear to be poor infrastructure and countries' trade barriers. The ERC-funded ACCESS project will explore a broader set of economic, political and social barriers to market access – including legal restrictions on individuals' ability to own and operate firms – and how these affect local economies. ACCESS will draw on microeconomic data from developing countries like Colombia, Liberia, the Philippines and Uganda.

Objective

A huge challenge for research and policy efforts to accelerate economic development is that firms in poor countries grow surprisingly slowly, making job creation in the Global South difficult to achieve. We dont know why: the existing literature has focused on internal (or supply-side) determinants of productivity that firms in poor countries are hypothesized to lack, but these appear to have modest explanatory power.

A notable alternative explanation is that many latently productive firms are constrained by forces external to the firm. Recent studies indeed establish that access to input and output markets appear to be important for growth. However, the existing evidence focuses on access constraints arising from poor infrastructure and countries trade barriers: firms and individuals de facto ability to acquire production inputs and sell output is likely influenced by a much broader set of economic, political, and social factors. Similarly, the consequences of market access may extend to subsequent economic development outcomes like job creation and changes in inequality.

ACCESS puts the causes and consequences of market access in poor countries at the center of inquiry for the first time. The research program is organized around the various stages of the production process: firms access to labor markets; firms access to suppliers and buyers in intermediate markets; and firms access to final product demand. In its last part, ACCESS returns to the origin of the production process to investigate how barriers to the most fundamental form of market accessindividuals ability to own and operate firmsaffects local economies.

Novel forms of detailed microeconomic data from a wide range of developing countriesespecially Colombia, Liberia, the Philippines, and Uganda; new economic theory; and varied empirical methods are used to begin to uncover the many overlooked barriers to and consequences of market access.

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Keywords

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2021-COG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 896 821,00
Address
PROBLEMVEIEN 5-7
0313 Oslo
Norway

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Region
Norge Oslo og Viken Oslo
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 896 821,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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