Analysing Sub-Saharan Africa trade patterns in the presence of regional trade agreements : a comparative analysis

This thesis employs a dynamic form of the gravity model and data from 1988-2005 to estimate the effects of RTAs in SSA on intra-African trade. The thesis proposes a better approach to examining member-nonmember trade relations of RTAs. This thesis is unique because it uses System GMM estimator to overcome econometric issues associated with estimating dynamic models. The results suggest that COMESA and SADC has led to a significant increase in intra and extra-RTA trade. ECOWAS has increased intra-ECOWAS trade but decreased extra-ECOWAS trade. ECCAS has had a negative impact on both intra-ECCAS and extra-ECCAS trade flows. The proposed approach of examining member-nonmember relationships provides better estimates. A comparative analysis is made to shed light on how high or low the trade creation effect of RTAs in SSA are. The results of this thesis support the view that the impact of RTAs in SSA is higher than perceived.

Authors

• Appau, Adriana Boakyewaa
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Trade blocs -- Africa
• Regionalism -- Africa
• Africa -- Commerce
• Africa -- Economic policy
• Africa -- Economic integration
• Dissertations, Academic

Identifier

hdl:10133/3424

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/3424