Regional Integration: Do intra-African trade and migration improve income in Africa?

Working Papers of BETA from Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg

Abstract: Regional integration in Africa is a subject of great interest, but its impact on income has not been studied sufficiently. Using cross-sectional and panel estimations, this paper examines the impact of African integration on real per capita income in Africa. To do this, we consider intra-African trade and migration flows as quantitative measures reflecting the intensity of regional integration. In order to address the endogeneity concerns, we use a gravity-based IV strategy. Our results show that, from a long-term perspective, African integration has not been strong enough to generate a positive, significant and robust impact on real per capita income in Africa. However it appears to be significantly income-enhancing in the short term but only through inter-country migration. These results are robust to a wide range of specifications. Further analysis shows that economic diversification, financial development and the quality of transport and telecommunication infrastructure significantly affect the impact of intra-African trade on per capita income. Their improvement would make intra-African trade income-improving. Our policy recommendations have been formulated in this direction.

Keywords: Income per capita; Trade; International Migration; Economic Integration; Africa. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E64 F14 F15 F22 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-int and nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Regional Integration: Do Intra-African Trade and Migration Improve Income in Africa? (2020)
Working Paper: Regional Integration: Do Intra-African Trade and Migration Improve Income in Africa? (2020)
Working Paper: Regional Integration: Do intra-African trade and migration improve income in Africa? (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2018-09

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