IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v38y2010i5p771-782.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Has Mercantilism Reduced Urban Poverty in SSA? Perception of Boom, Bust, and the China-Africa Trade in Lomé and Bamako

Author

Listed:
  • Lyons, Michal
  • Brown, Alison

Abstract

Summary This paper addresses the immediate impacts of the China-Africa trade on Africa's informal traders and its longer term impact on urban poverty, based on a comparison of the major cities of two West African countries and drawing on semi-structured interviews with traders and on schedule-based interviews with key informants in government, business and the informal trade sector. The findings are that the increase in imports from China initially broadened access to trading for the poor, creating short-term improvements in livelihoods, but competition is driving down profit margins, and restricting the trade to a survival mechanism for many today. Thus it has provided limited long-term potential as an economic platform for national development and poverty reduction. The findings are discussed in terms of structuration theory and in terms of alternative conceptualizations of informal trade in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Lyons, Michal & Brown, Alison, 2010. "Has Mercantilism Reduced Urban Poverty in SSA? Perception of Boom, Bust, and the China-Africa Trade in Lomé and Bamako," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 771-782, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:5:p:771-782
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(09)00200-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Goldstein & Nicolas Pinaud & Helmut Reisen, 2006. "The Rise of China and India: What's in it for Africa?," OECD Development Centre Policy Insights 19, OECD Publishing.
    2. Fafchamps, Marcel & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni & Minten, Bart, 2005. "Increasing returns and market efficiency in agricultural trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 406-442, December.
    3. Kaplinsky, Raphael & Morris, Mike & Readman, Jeff, 2002. "The Globalization of Product Markets and Immiserizing Growth: Lessons From the South African Furniture Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1159-1177, July.
    4. Moser, Caroline O. N., 1978. "Informal sector or petty commodity production: Dualism or dependence in urban development?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 6(9-10), pages 1041-1064.
    5. Cohen, Barney, 2004. "Urban Growth in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Trends and a Caution Regarding Existing Forecasts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 23-51, January.
    6. Carr, Marilyn. & Chen, Martha Alter., 2004. "Globalization, social exclusion and work : with special reference to informal employment and gender," ILO Working Papers 993698513402676, International Labour Organization.
    7. Carr, Marilyn. & Chen, Martha Alter., 2002. "Globalization and the informal economy : how global trade and investment impact on the working poor," ILO Working Papers 993541723402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. repec:ilo:ilowps:354172 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:ilo:ilowps:369851 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Krishna B. Kumar & John G. Matsusaka, 2004. "Village versus Market Social Capital: An Approach to Development," Development and Comp Systems 0408003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kate Meagher, 2022. "Crisis Narratives and the African Paradox: African Informal Economies, COVID‐19 and the Decolonization of Social Policy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(6), pages 1200-1229, November.
    2. Forson, Joseph Ato & Braimah, Awaisu Imurana & Awoonor, Akorkor Kehinde, 2016. "African Perceptions of Donor Agencies: Emerging developments in Sino-African relations," MPRA Paper 102171, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 18 Jan 2019.
    3. Brown, Alison, 2015. "Claiming the Streets: Property Rights and Legal Empowerment in the Urban Informal Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 238-248.
    4. Akorkor Kehinde Awoonor & Joseph Ato Forson, 2020. "African Perceptions of Trade Partners: A Ghanaian and Togolese Perspective of Sino-African Relations," Insight on Africa, , vol. 12(2), pages 104-128, July.
    5. Meagher, Kate, 2022. "Crisis narratives and the African paradox: African informal economies, COVID-19 and the decolonization of social policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117263, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Deborah Potts, 2013. "Urban economies, urban livelihoods and natural resource-based economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: The constraints of a liberalized world economy," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(2), pages 170-187, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michal Lyons & Simon Snoxell, 2005. "Creating Urban Social Capital: Some Evidence from Informal Traders in Nairobi," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(7), pages 1077-1097, June.
    2. Alison Brown & Michal Lyons & Ibrahima Dankoco, 2010. "Street Traders and the Emerging Spaces for Urban Voice and Citizenship in African Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(3), pages 666-683, March.
    3. Saniye Dedeoğlu, 2010. "Visible Hands - Invisible Women: Garment Production in Turkey," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 1-32.
    4. Ndoya, Hermann & Okere, Donald & Belomo, Marie laure & Atangana, Melissa, 2023. "Does ICTs decrease the spread of informal economy in Africa?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    5. Elgin, Ceyhun & Oyvat, Cem, 2013. "Lurking in the cities: Urbanization and the informal economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 36-47.
    6. Sakshi Khurana, 2017. "Resisting labour control and optimizing social ties: experiences of women construction workers in Delhi," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(6), pages 921-936, December.
    7. Karin Astrid Siegmann & Freek Schiphorst, 2016. "Understanding the globalizing precariat: From informal sector to precarious work," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 16(2), pages 111-123, April.
    8. Shaianne T. Osterreich, 2019. "Gender and Comparative Advantage: Feminist–Heterodox Theorizing about Globalization," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Shilpi, Forhad & Umali-Deininger, Dina, 2007. "Where to sell ? market facilities and agricultural marketing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4455, The World Bank.
    10. Dejardin, Amelita King., 2009. "Gender (in)equality, globalization and governance," ILO Working Papers 994327273402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Wang, Bo & Li, Fan & Feng, Shuyi & Shen, Tong, 2020. "Transfer of development rights, farmland preservation, and economic growth: a case study of Chongqing’s land quotas trading program," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Carmody, Pádraig, 2009. "An Asian-Driven Economic Recovery in Africa? The Zambian Case," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1197-1207, July.
    13. Thomas Brenner & Matthias Duschl, 2018. "Modeling Firm and Market Dynamics: A Flexible Model Reproducing Existing Stylized Facts on Firm Growth," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 745-772, October.
    14. Plank, Leonhard & Rossi, Arianna & Staritz, Cornelia, 2012. "Workers and social upgrading in "fast fashion": The case of the apparel industry in Morocco and Romania," Working Papers 33, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    15. Asongu, Simplice A, 2014. "Sino-African relations: a review and reconciliation of dominant schools of thought," MPRA Paper 66597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ulep, Valerie Gilbert T. & Ortiz, Danica Aisa P. & Go, John Juliard & Duante, Charmaine & Gonzales, Rosa C. & Mendoza, Laurita R. & Reyes, Clarissa & Elgo, Frances Rose & Aldeon, Melanie P., 2012. "Inequities in Noncommunicable Diseases," Discussion Papers DP 2012-04, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    17. McDonald, Scott & Robinson, Sherman & Thierfelder, Karen, 2008. "Asian Growth and Trade Poles: India, China, and East and Southeast Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 210-234, February.
    18. Wouter Zant, 2012. "How does Market Access affect Smallholder Behavior? The Case of Tobacco Marketing in Malawi," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-088/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 25 Aug 2014.
    19. Maureen Were, 2011. "Is There a Link Between Casual Employment and Export-Orientation of Firms? The Case of Kenya’s Manufacturing Sector," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 227-242, September.
    20. Wouter Zant, 2018. "Trains, Trade, and Transaction Costs: How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 334-356.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:5:p:771-782. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.