Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have very low labor productivitie

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have very low labor productivities in many sectors, for example in manufacturing and agriculture.

They often despair of even trying to attempt to build their industries unless it is done in an autarkic context, behind protectionist walls because they do not believe they can compete with more productive industries abroad. Discuss this issue in the context of the Ricardian model of comparative advantage.

ANSWER

The Ricardian model of comparative advantage argues that every country must have a comparative advantage in some product (assuming there are more products than countries). However, the Ricardian model is not a growth model, and cannot be used to identify growth modes or linkages.