Intra-regional trade facilitation: A comparative analysis between ECCAS and ECOWAS
PDF

How to Cite

NGUENKWE, B. R., & TCHITCHOUA, J. (2019). Intra-regional trade facilitation: A comparative analysis between ECCAS and ECOWAS. Turkish Economic Review, 6(4), 294–312. https://doi.org/10.1453/ter.v6i4.1939

Abstract

Abstract. Since the advent of the Abuja Treaty, Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) recorded poor intra-regional trade performance while Economic Community of West African States (ECWAS) performed better. The objective of this paper is to comparatively analyse the impact of trade facilitation measures on intra-regional trade between those two Communities, focusing on the role of Information and Communication Technology and custom environment indicators. Using data from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geodist of Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales and World Bank, our augmented gravity model results showed that internet has a positive and significant impact on the intra-ECCAS trade and no impact on intra-ECOWAS trade. Mobile phone has a positive and significant impact on the intra-regional trade in both zones. The number of days for export has a negative and significant impact on intra-regional trade in both zones, while the result of the number of document is ambiguous. The impact of the increase in these two indicators reduced trade more in ECCAS than in ECOWAS.

Keywords. Trade facilitation, ICT, ECCAS, ECOWAS, Augmented gravity model.

JEL. C23, H54, O24, R58.
https://doi.org/10.1453/ter.v6i4.1939
PDF

References

Agbodji, A.E. (2007). Intégration et Échanges commerciaux Intra Sous-régionaux: le Cas de l’UEMOA’, Revue Africaine de l’Intégration, 1(1), 161-188.

Anderson, J.E., & Van Wincoop, E. (2004). Trade costs, Journal of Economic Literature, 42(3), 691-751. doi. 10.1257/0022051042177649

Arvis, J.F., Duval, Y., Shepherd, B., & Utoktham, C. (2013). Trade costs in the developing world: 1995-2010. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No.6309. [Retrieved from].

Bhattacharyay, B.N. (2009). Infrastructure development for ASEAN economic integration, ADBI Working Paper, No.138. [Retrieved from].

CEA, (2012), État de l’intégration régionale en Afrique V, Vers une zone de libre-échange continentale africaine, Commission économique pour l’Afrique, Addis-Abeba, Éthiopie. [Retrieved from].

Brun, J.F., Carrere, C., Guillaumont, P., & De Melo, J. (2002). Has distance died, Evidence from a panel gravity model. CEPR Discussion Paper, No.3500. [Retrieved from].

Clarke, G.R.G., & Wallsten, S.J. (2006). Has the internet increased trade? Developed and developing country evidence. Economic Inquiry, 44(3), 465-484. doi. 10.1093/ei/cbj026

Coulibaly, S., & Fontagné, L. (2005). South-south trade: geography matters. Journal of African Economies, 15(2), 313-341. doi. 10.1093/jae/eji030

Djankov, S., Freund, C., & Pham, C.S. (2006). Trading on time. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No.3909. doi. 10.1596/1813-9450-3909

Egger, P.H., & Lassmann, A. (2011). The language effect in international trade: A meta-analysis. CESifo Working Paper, No.3682. [Retrieved from].

Eliason, A. (2015). The trade facilitation agreement: A new hope for the world trade organization. World Trade Review, 14(4), 643-670. doi. 10.1017/S1474745615000191

Flink, C., Mttoo, A., & Illeana, C.N. (2002). Assessing the impact of communication costs on international trade. Journal of International Economics. 67(2), 428-445. doi. 10.1016/j.jinteco.2004.09.006

Foster, V., & Briceño-Garmendia, C. (2009). Africa’s infrastructure a time for transformation. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank. [Retrieved from].

Freund, C., & Weinhold, D. (2002). The internet and international trade in services. American Economic Review, 92(2), 236-240. doi. 10.1257/000282802320189320

Gourieroux, C., Monfort, A., & Trognon, A. (1984). Pseudo maximum likelihood methods: Applications to Poisson models. Econometrica, 52(3), 701-720. doi. 10.2307/1913472

Gramlich, E.M. (1994). Infrastructure investment: A review essay. Journal of Economic Literature, 32(3), 1176-1196.

Hansen, R. (1965). Unbalanced growth and regional development. Western Economic Journal, 4, 3-14.

Hausman, J.A., & Taylor, W.E. (1981). Panel data and unobservable individual effects. Econometrica, 49(6), 1377-1398. doi. 10.2307/1911406

Limao, N., & Venables, A.J. (2001). Infrastructure, geographical disadvantage, and transport cost. World Bank Economic Review 15(3), 451-479.

Lin, F. (2014). Estimating the effect of the Internet on international trade’, The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development: An International and Comparative Review, 24(3), 409-428. doi. 10.1080/09638199.2014.881906

Longo, R., & Sekkat, K. (2004). Economic obstacles to expanding intra-African trade. World Development, 32(8), 1309-1321. doi. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.02.006

Martinez-Zarzoso, I., & Márquez-Ramos, L. (2008). The effect of trade facilitation on sectoral trade. B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 8(1), Article 42. doi. 10.2202/1935-1682.1927

Mattes, A., Meinen, P., & Pavel, F. (2012). Goods follow bytes: The impact of ICT on EU trade. Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Discussion Papers, No.1182. [Retrieved from].

Mátyás, L., Konya, L., & Harris, M.N. (2000). Modelling export activity of eleven APEC countries. Melbourne Institute Working Paper, No.5/00. [Retrieved from].

Musila, J.W. (2005). The intensity of trade creation and trade diversion in COMESA, ECCAS and ECOWAS: A comparative analysis. Journal of African Economies, 14(1), 117-141. doi. 10.1093/jae/ejh039

Njinkeu, D., & Powo-Fosso, B. (2006). Intra-African trade and regional integration. ADB/AERC International Conference on Accelerating Africa’s Development Five Years into the Twenty-first Century. November 22-24, Tunis. [Retrieved from].

Nkendah, R. (2010). The informal cross-border trade of agricultural commodities between Cameroon and its CEMAC’s Neighbours. NSF/AERC/IGC Conference. [Retrieved from].

Nkendah, R. (2013). Estimating the Informal cross-border trade of agricultural and horticultural commodities between Cameroon and its CEMAC Neighbours. Food Policy, 41, 133-144. doi. 10.1016/j.foodpol.2013.05.009

Ogunkola, E.O. (1998). An empirical evaluation of trade potential in the economic community of West African states. AERC Research Paper, No.84. [Retrieved from].

Portugal-Perez, A., & Wilson, J.S. (2010). Export performance and trade facilitation reform: Hard and soft infrastructure. The World Bank Development Research Group Trade and Integration Team. [Retrievedf from].

Raballand, G. (2003). Determinants of the negative impact of being landlocked on trade: An empirical investigation through the Central Asian case. Comparative Economic Studies, 45(4), 520-536. doi. 10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100031

Sadikov, A. (2007). Border and behind-the-border trade barriers and country exports. IMF Working Paper, No.07/292. [Retrieved from].

Salahuddin, M., & Gow, J. (2015). The effects of Internet usage, financial development and trade openness on economic growth in South Africa: A time series analysis. Telematics and Informatics, 33(4), 1141-1154. doi. 10.1016/j.tele.2015.11.006

Santos, J.S., & Tenreyro, S. (2011b). Further simulation evidence on the performance of the poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator. Economics Letters, 112(2), 220–222. doi. 10.1016/j.econlet.2011.05.008

Santos, J.S., & Tenreyro, S. (2006). The Log of gravity. Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) Discussion Paper, No.701. [Retrieved from].

Seck, A. (2017). How facilitating trade would beneft trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of African Development, 19(1), 1-26.

Seck, A. (2016). Trade facilitation and trade participation: Are sub-Saharan African firms different?. Journal of African Trade, 3(1-2), 23-39. doi. 10.1016/j.joat.2017.05.002

Serlenga, L., & Shin, Y. (2007). Gravity models of intra-EU trade: Application of the CCEP-HT estimation in heterogeneous panels with unobserved common time specific factors. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(2), 361-381. doi. 10.1002/jae.944

Sevestre, P. (2002). Econométrie des Données de Panel, Dunod, Paris.

Stone, S., & Strutt, A. (2009). Transport infrastructure and trade facilitation in the Greater Mekong Subregion. ADBI Working Paper Series, No.130. [Retrieved from].

Tinbergen, J. (1962), Shaping the World Wconomy: Suggestions for an International Economic Policy, Twentieth Century Fund, New York.

Vemuri, V.K., & Siddiqi, S. (2009). Impact of commercialization of the internet on international trade: A panel study using the extended gravity model. The International Trade Journal, 23(4), 458-484. doi. 10.1080/08853900903223792

Viner, J. (1950). The Customs Union Issue, Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, New York.

Weerahewa, J. (2009). Impact of trade facilitation measures and regional trade agreements on food and agricultural trade in South Asia. Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade Working Paper Series, No.69. [Retrieved from].

Wilson, J.S., Mann, C.L., & Otsuki, T. (2005). Assessing the benefits of trade facilitation: A global perspective. World Economy, 28(6), 841-871. doi. 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2005.00709.x

World Bank. (2012). World Development Report 2013 Overview: Jobs, Washington, DC: World Bank. [Retrieved from].

Creative Commons License
This article licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (4.0)

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.