IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/iaecre/v15y2009i3p278-29510.1007-s11294-009-9212-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Economic Integration the Solution to African Development?

Author

Listed:
  • Attiat Ott
  • Oswaldo Patino

Abstract

In the African continent, several regional initiatives have been launched or executed. These gave rise to several groupings including COMESA consisting of 19 countries, ECOWAS (15 countries), ECCAS (10 countries), and SADC with 15 countries. These groupings are not exclusive in that several countries belong to more than one regional group. The road to full integration clearly begins with a regional arrangement. The many groupings in Africa had the long term goal of creating an all inclusive African Economic Union. The objective is to promote the African continent’s economic growth, political stability, and good governance. The paper examines the effectiveness of some of these regional grouping in the context of an all-inclusive African club with the aid of the club model. Using data for the period 1986–2005, costs and benefits of membership are evaluated using the gravity Model. The Helpman’s size dispersion index is used to identify a potential anchor for a regional grouping. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2009

Suggested Citation

  • Attiat Ott & Oswaldo Patino, 2009. "Is Economic Integration the Solution to African Development?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 15(3), pages 278-295, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:15:y:2009:i:3:p:278-295:10.1007/s11294-009-9212-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11294-009-9212-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11294-009-9212-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11294-009-9212-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Jacob Wanjala Musila, 2005. "The Intensity of Trade Creation and Trade Diversion in COMESA, ECCAS and ECOWAS: A Comparative Analysis," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 14(1), pages 117-141, March.
    2. Fabrizio Carmignani, 2006. "The Road to Regional Integration in Africa: Macroeconomic Convergence and Performance in COMESA," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(2), pages 212-250, June.
    3. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Trade And The Gains From Trade With Imperfect Competition," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 14, pages 303-323, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Sterbenz, Frederic P & Sandler, Todd, 1992. "Sharing among Clubs: A Club of Clubs Theory," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Sandler, Todd & Tschirhart, John T, 1980. "The Economic Theory of Clubs: An Evaluative Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1481-1521, December.
    6. Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Imperfect competition and international trade: Evidence from fourteen industrial countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 62-81, March.
    7. Nilsson, Lars, 2000. "Trade integration and the EU economic membership criteria," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 807-827, November.
    8. Frank D. Graham, 1923. "Some Aspects of Protection Further Considered," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 37(2), pages 199-227.
    9. Julie E. McKay, 1997. "Evaluating the EMU Criteria: Theoretical Constructs, Member Compliance and Empirical Testing," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 63-82, February.
    10. Berglas, Eitan, 1976. "On the Theory of Clubs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 116-121, May.
    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. Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, 2013. "Revisiting the Effectiveness of African Economic Integration. A Meta-Analytic Review and Comparative Estimation Methods," Economics Working Papers 2013-13, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.

    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. repec:kap:iaecre:v:15:y:2009:i:3:p:278-295 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Konrad, Kai A. & Rees, Ray, 2020. "Passports for sale: The political economy of conflict and cooperation in a meta-club," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Apolte, Thomas, 2001. "How Tame Will Leviathan Become in Institutional Competition? Competition among Governments in the Provision of Public Goods," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(3-4), pages 359-381, June.
    4. al-Nowaihi, Ali & Fraser, Clive D., 2012. "Does the public sector over-provide club goods? A general result," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 397-400.
    5. Müller Christian, 2007. "Frühkindliche Bildung und Betreuung in Tageseinrichtungen als Staatsaufgabe / The Governmental Provision of Early Childhood Education and Care," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 58(1), pages 131-148, January.
    6. Peter Egger, 2001. "European Integration in Trade and FDI: A Dynamic Perspective," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(02), pages 30-35, October.
    7. Robert C. Feenstra & James A. Markusen & Andrew K. Rose, 1998. "Undertstanding the Home Market Effect and the Gravity Equation: The Role of Differentiating Goods," NBER Working Papers 6804, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hartmut Egger & Simone Habermeyer, 2019. "Nonhomothetic preferences and rent sharing in an open economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 7522, CESifo.
    9. Baomin Dong & Lasheng Yuan, 2010. "The Loss from Trade under International Cournot Oligopoly with Cost Asymmetry," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 818-831, November.
    10. Stephen Salant & Nathan Seegert, 2018. "Should Congestion Tolls be Set by the Government or by the Private Sector? The Knight–Pigou Debate Revisited," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(339), pages 428-448, July.
    11. Albert Guangzhou Hu & Zhengning Liu, 2014. "Trade Liberalization and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 488-512, August.
    12. Evelyn S. Devadason & Shujaat Mubarik, 2020. "ASEAN and the EU: an assessment of interregional trade potentials," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 705-726, July.
    13. Marie Stack & Eric Pentecost, 2011. "A Gravity Model Approach to Estimating Prospective Trade Gains in the EU Accession and Associated Countries," NBS Discussion Papers in Economics 2010/11, Economics, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.
    14. Sergio Vergalli, 2008. "The Role of Community in Migration Dynamics," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(3), pages 547-567, September.
    15. Farha Fatema & Mohammad Monirul Islam, 2020. "Driving Forces of Marine Fisheries and Seafood Export of Bangladesh: Augmented Gravity Model Approach," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(2), pages 106-122, June.
    16. Fraser, Clive D. & Hollander, Abraham, 1990. "On Membership in Clubs," Economic Research Papers 268381, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    17. Berglas, Eitan & Helpman, Elhanan & Pines, David, 1982. "The economic theory of clubs : Some clarifications," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(3-4), pages 343-348.
    18. Kenji Fujiwara, 2005. "Unilateral and Multilateral Gains from Trade in International Oligopoly," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(255), pages 404-413, December.
    19. Hideo Konishi, 2010. "Efficient Mixed Clubs: Nonlinear‐Pricing Equilibria With Entrepreneurial Managers," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 35-63, March.
    20. Shiro Armstrong, 2007. "Measuring Trade and Trade Potential: A Survey," Asia Pacific Economic Papers 368, Australia-Japan Research Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    21. Soumyananda Dinda, 2014. "Climate Change: An Emerging Trade Opportunity in South Asia," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 3(2), pages 221-239, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regional integration in Africa; The club model; The gravity equation; G11; F15;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:iaecre:v:15:y:2009:i:3:p:278-295:10.1007/s11294-009-9212-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.