SECTORAL STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

The main goal of the present work is to reveal the advantages of introducing the so-called structural coefficient (SC) into economic analysis. SC is defined as an indicator of the similarity between a given sectoral structure and another, which is admitted as a referential. Consequently, the paper is organized as follows. The first chapter is consecrated to computational formulas applicable to the estimation of such a measure. Ten possible algorithms are examined and five are retained as adequate for empirical investigations. The second chapter discusses, by using WB Statistics for the World Economy, two important questions concerning the structural coefficient (SC): "Is SC an authentic "numeraire"? and "Can SC be rather considered as an "attractor?". The paper inclines towards the second supposition. In the third chapter, on the famous binomial "sectoral structure-economic growth", comments based on analytical valences of the structural coefficient (SC) are provided. With this aim, the Toda-Yamamoto version of Granger causality test is applied. Several conclusions and further research lines end the paper. The necessary statistical appendices and references are included.