The impact of traditional and non-traditional agricultural exports on the economic growth of Peru: A short- and long-run analysis

Abstract

This study aims to analyze and quantify the short- and long-run impact of agricultural exports-both traditional and non-traditional products-on economic growth of Peru using an annual time series data from 2000 to 2016 obtained from the Central Bank of Peru and the World Bank. Traditional agricultural exports value, non-traditional agricultural exports value, labor force and fixed capital formation value for each year of the stipulated period were used as determinant factors of the economic growth. A Vector Autoregression (VAR) Model, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, Johansen Co-integration test and Granger Causality test were employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that in the short run, traditional agricultural exports have had a positive but non-significant effect on economic growth while non-traditional agricultural exports have had a positive and significant effect on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Meanwhile, both fixed capital formation and the labor force have had a significant effect on the GDP, albeit in different directions. The ADF test showed that, with the exception of traditional agricultural exports and fixed capital formation, all determinants became stationary at a level I (0). Moreover, the Co-integration result showed that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables and a unidirectional causality in the relation between the determinant variables and economic growth.