Kenya’s Development Path and Factor Prices 1964-2000

Abstract

This study analyses how changes in factor abundance and trade policy have affected factor prices in Kenya since 1964. First there was a period of capital deepening, but this was reversed from 1982. As a result, there has been a shift of production towards the labour-intensive informal sector. The econometric analysis shows that in the long run factor proportions determined relative factor returns; for instance, an increase in the capital-labour ratio raised the wage-capital rental ratio. We did not find any significant impact of changes in goods prices, due to among other things changes in trade policy, on factor returns.