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Do African Countries Pay More for Imports? Yes

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  • Yeats, Alexander J

Abstract

The debt crisis and declining living standards require careful husbanding of critically scarce foreign exchange in most African countries. But economic theory suggests that smaller countries, which import from only a few international suppliers and cannot support competitive markets and infrastructure, would be likely to pay more rather than less for imports. Analysis of import unit values for 1962-87 shows that the twenty African former French colonies paid a price premium of 20-30 percent on average over other importers for iron and steel imports from France. The losses associated with these adverse prices totaled approximately 2 billion dollars by 1987. The study also finds that similar price premia (of 20-30 percent) were paid by former Belgian, British, and Portuguese colonies in Africa for imports of these products from their former rulers. Copyright 1990 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeats, Alexander J, 1990. "Do African Countries Pay More for Imports? Yes," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:4:y:1990:i:1:p:1-20
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    Cited by:

    1. O'Connell, Stephen A. & Soludo, Charles C., 2001. "Aid Intensity in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1527-1552, September.
    2. Federico Tadei, 2022. "Colonizer identity and trade in Africa: Were the British more favourable to free trade?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(2), pages 561-578, May.
    3. Ana Botella Andreu & Katiuscia Lavoratori, 2022. "History Matters: Colonial-Based Connectivity and Foreign Headquarter Location Choice," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 711-739, October.
    4. Langhammer, Rolf J. & Lücke, Matthias, 2000. "WTO negotiations and accession issues for vulnerable economies," Kiel Working Papers 990, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Federico Tadei, 2017. "Measuring Extractive Institutions: Colonial Trade and Price Gaps in French Africa," Working Papers 0109, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    6. Foroutan, Faezeh & Pritchett, Lant, 1993. "Intra-sub-Saharan African Trade: Is It Too Little?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 2(1), pages 74-105, May.
    7. Daniel Berger & William Easterly & Nathan Nunn & Shanker Satyanath, 2013. "Commercial Imperialism? Political Influence and Trade during the Cold War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 863-896, April.
    8. Yuren Wang & Yitao Tao, 2024. "The effect of fluctuations in bilateral relations on trade: evidence from China and ASEAN countries," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Ng, Francis & Yeats, Alexander, 1997. "Open economies work better! did Africa's protectionist policies cause its marginalization in world trade?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 889-904, June.
    10. Ng, Francis & Yeats, Alexander, 2003. "Major trade trends in East Asia : what are their implications for regional cooperation and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3084, The World Bank.
    11. Widodo, Tri, 2009. "Inter- and Intra-ASEAN Regional Trade," MPRA Paper 77990, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Mathieu COUTTENIER & Raphael SOUBEYRAN, 2011. "Diplomatic Intervention in Civil War : Trade for All or Trade for One?," Working Papers 11-08, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised Apr 2011.
    13. Infante-Amate, Juan & Krausmann, Fridolin, 2019. "Trade, Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Colonial Legacy: The Case of France and its Former Colonies (1962–2015)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 98-109.
    14. Sonam Choudhry & Abhinav Narayanan & Anshul, 2024. "Dynamics of Price Transmission: Evidence from India’s Import Basket," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 59(2), pages 252-278, May.

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