ECONOMIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A TEST OF MUSGRAVE HYPOTHESIS

Abstract

This paper titled Economic Sector Performance and Agricultural Development in Nigeria: A Test of Musgrave hypothesis; is set to analyze the role of the three (3) major sectors of the economy on economic growth and development, with special attention to the role of agricultural sub-sector in economic development. Lack of sufficient attention to the role of agricultural sectors in economic growth and development prompted the study. The essence of the study is to test the validity of Musgrave hypothesis using the Nigeria time series data. To guide the study, three (3) research objectives and three (3) null hypotheses were formulated. The paper highlighted that the structural characteristics of an economy is the most important indicator of a country's or regions economic development. It concluded that the shares of agriculture, manufacturing and services in total GDP, as well as the shares of employment in different occupational groups are closely cor­related to aggregate economic performance. And that although the growth of the three major sectors of Agriculture, Industry and the services correlate with economic performance; Musgrave hypothesis on the correlation between the lag values of each of these major economic sectors and the economic performance was not valid in Nigeria.