Abstract: The paper aims for an empirical validation of the impact of industrial structure on aggregate income and growth. Various mechanisms for the linkage between meso-structure and macro-performance are identified: the income elasticity of demand, the structural bonus versus burden hypotheses, differential propensities towards entrepreneurial discovery, and producer or user related spillovers. After discussing detailed results from conventional shift-share analysis, dynamic panel estimations are applied to a standard growth model augmented by structural variables. Based on data for 28 OECD countries, the results confirm that industrial structure has been a significant determinant of macroeconomic development and growth in the 1990s.