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French domination of markets in Francophone Africa: Post-colonialism at its finest?

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  • Kohnert, Dirk

Abstract

Francophone Africa has been dominated to date by the political, economic and cultural repercussions of France’s colonial rule. A major instrument to assert France's interests was the upkeep of a common monetary policy and currency, the CFA Franc. Although this has been increasingly resented by African politicians and economists, who wanted to replace it with a West African currency (the 'Eco') the CFA still prevails, due to the social network of French and African political leaders, the ‘messieurs Afrique’ who benefit from the system. The controversial international discussion concentrates on questions of sovereignty and formal political and economic questions. However, the rules of the informal sector proved to be at least as crucial in structuring the CFA-zone as the institutions and policies of the formal economic sector, including its monetary institutions. For decades, for example, prices of French imports were overpriced, due to protection by tied aid and other political and cultural non-tariff trade barriers. The cost of this rent-seeking was carried not only by the French Treasury, who guarantees the peg, but by the French and EU taxpayers, who financed budgetary bail-outs and development aid, and last, but not least, by the poorer African member countries and social strata. Although this applies strictly speaking only to the CFA zone, there are strong indicators that things haven't changed much since then for Francophone Africa in general. The repercussions of rent-seeking in Francophone Africa impact up to date negatively on economic performance. For example, growth levels have been significantly lower for two decades compared with Anglophone competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "French domination of markets in Francophone Africa: Post-colonialism at its finest?," MPRA Paper 112024, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:112024
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 2018. "Britain and Africa: heading for the Brexit rocks," MPRA Paper 88570, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Aug 2018.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2021. "The EU-Africa summit 2021 : Quo vadis, in the light of Brexit and Corona," AfricArxiv wqxd6, Center for Open Science.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 2018. "Britain & Africa: heading for the Brexit rocks," EconStor Preprints 181879, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Michel Fok, 2006. "Liberalization and globalization: Trojan Horse for the cotton traders' domination in Francophone Africa," Post-Print halshs-00325019, HAL.
    5. Kohnert, Dirk, 1993. "'Wir sind alle abgewertet!' Zur Anpassungskrise von Währung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in der CFA-Zone," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 35-45.
    6. Lassou, Philippe J.C. & Hopper, Trevor & Tsamenyi, Mathew & Murinde, Victor, 2019. "Varieties of neo-colonialism: Government accounting reforms in Anglophone and Francophone Africa – Benin and Ghana compared," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Kohnert, Dirk, 2005. "Die UEMOA und die CFA-Zone: Eine neue Kooperations-Kultur im frankophonen Afrika?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 115-136.
    8. Franklin Obeng†Odoom, 2018. "Transnational Corporations and Urban Development," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(2), pages 447-510, March.
    9. Lassou, Philippe Jacques Codjo & Hopper, Trevor, 2016. "Government accounting reform in an ex-French African colony: The political economy of neocolonialism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 39-57.
    10. Mr. P. van den Boogaerde & Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2005. "Ten Years After the CFA Franc Devaluation: Progress Toward Regional Integration in the WAEMU," IMF Working Papers 2005/145, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Kohnert, Dirk, 2005. "African Monetary Unions - Dominated by the North? On the Relevance of Rational Economic Reasoning Under African Conditions," MPRA Paper 82083, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Joan Ricart-Huguet, 2021. "Why Do Colonial Investments Persist Less in Anglophone than in Francophone Africa?," Journal of Historical Political Economy, now publishers, vol. 1(4), pages 477-498, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christian P. Schneider, 2024. "Implementing the Resource Nexus approach: the contribution of internationalising German businesses," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Francophonie en Afrique subsaharienne: dépendance postcoloniale ou autodétermination ? [Francophonie in sub-Saharan Africa: Post-colonial dependence or self-determination ?]," MPRA Paper 115625, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 2024. "Navigating Rivalries: Prospects for Coexistence between ECOWAS and AES in West Africa," EconStor Preprints 300869, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Perspectives of Croatia's new Africa relations as impending member of the Eurozone," MPRA Paper 114243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kohnert, Dirk, 2023. "La Turquie soutient-elle le développement en Afrique de l'Ouest ? L'exemple du Nigeria, du Ghana et de la Côte d'Ivoire [Does Turkey support development in West Africa? The example of Nigeria, Ghan," MPRA Paper 117215, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Perspectives des relations africaines de la Croatie en tant que membre imminent de la zone euro [Perspectives of Croatia's Africa relations as impending member of the Eurozone]," MPRA Paper 114248, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Kohnert, Dirk, 2023. "Le Brésil, soutient-il le développement en Afrique de l'Ouest ? L'exemple du Nigeria, du Ghana et du Sénégal [Does Brazil support development in West Africa? The example of Nigeria, Ghana, and Sene," MPRA Paper 117407, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kohnert, Dirk, 2024. "Money laundering and tax evasion : Do international measures have a significant impact in sub-Saharan Africa?," EconStor Preprints 300868, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    France; Francophone Africa; post-colonialism; regulated market; special interests; regulatory capture; monetary policy; CFA franc; international trade; free trade area; customs union; African Studies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions
    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism
    • F54 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N97 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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