Extractive institutions in non-tradeable industries

We are interested in the hypothesis that in order to promote export competitiveness and create jobs, it is necessary to address major distortions to prices in the non-tradeable sector. Exports drive growth in developing countries, yet most employment growth is generated in non-tradeable sectors. We contribute to the previous literature by explaining how non-tradeable sectors are particularly vulnerable to distortions arising from extractive and poor quality institutions. We estimate an IV-GMM model on a sample of low-middle income countries, finding evidence of a strong relationship between the growth of non-tradeable prices and the quality of local institutions. Overlooking the distortions in non-tradeable sectors could limit the analysis of constraints to economic growth and transformation in developing countries.