Does a Unilateral Policy Change Promote Trade? The Case of African Growth and Opportunity Act

In recent years, development co-operations that seek to promote trade flows between countries have continued to emerge from the notion that trade has a positive impact on economic growth. We evaluate the impact of one such initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), on the eligible Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries’ exports to the U.S. We find that the implementation of the AGOA has contributed to the initiation of new and the intensification of existing SSA countries’ exports to the U.S. across several sectors. Our results imply that the contribution of such development and cooperation efforts to enhance the long-term economic growth of the parties involved through increased trade flows depends on the ability of policy makers in building upon the trade-initiation impetus generated by the policy change.