Abstract:
Fuelled by low labour costs and preferential trade agreements, exports of textile products originating from Sub-Saharan countries have grown dramatically in the last decades. This paper analyses some of the implications that export growth in the textile and apparel sector have for social welfare and poverty reduction in Madagascar. The paper proposes a simulation exercise utilising household level data and a methodology that combines the wage premium literature with matching methods. The results point to a large variation in the distribution of the benefits from export growth, with skilled workers and urban areas benefiting most. From a gender perspective, women are found to benefit substantially less than men. Although total welfare effects are significant, the benefits are largely reaped by non-poor households. From a poverty perspective, export-led growth in the textile and apparel sector is expected to have only a small effect on overall poverty. Copyright 2008 The author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Journal of African Economies is edited by Marcel Fafchamps
More articles in Journal of African Economies from Oxford University Press Address: Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().
This site is part of RePEc
and all the data displayed here is part of the RePEc data set.
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to
contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
Swedish Business School at Örebro University.