Tourism Specialization and Economic Development: Evidence from the UNESCO World Heritage List

Author/Editor:

John M. Piotrowski ; Rabah Arezki ; Reda Cherif

Publication Date:

August 1, 2009

Electronic Access:

Free Download. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

The present paper investigates whether tourism specialization is a viable strategy for development. We estimate standard growth equations augmented with a variable measuring tourism specialization using instrumental variables techniques for a large cross-section of countries for the period 1980-2002. We introduce an instrument for tourism based on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We find that there is a positive relationship between the extent of tourism specialization and economic growth. An increase of one standard deviation in the share of tourism in exports leads to about 0.5 percentage point in additional annual growth, everything else being constant. Our result holds against a large array of robustness checks.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2009/176

Subject:

Education Personal income Public expenditure review Purchasing power parity Tourism

English

Publication Date:

August 1, 2009

ISBN/ISSN:

9781451873238/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2009176

Pages:

24

Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org