Does ICTs diffusion increase bilateral trade in Africa? Empirical evidence using an augmented gravity model

Jacques Simon Song (), Hervé William Mougnol A Ekoula () and Adalbert Abraham Ghislain Melingui Bate ()
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Jacques Simon Song: University of Dschang, Cameroon
Hervé William Mougnol A Ekoula: University of Yaoundé II, Soa, Cameroon
Adalbert Abraham Ghislain Melingui Bate: University of Dschang, Cameroon

Economics Bulletin, 2022, vol. 42, issue 2, 810 - 826

Abstract: The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa has increased considerably over the past two decades, and has been the subject of an extremely fruitful literature. In this article, we examine their effect on bilateral trade of goods and services observed in 32 African countries. To achieve this, we specify and estimate an augmented gravity model by the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML), Negative Binomial (NEGBIN) and Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) estimators over the period 1995-2019. The theory of trade openness is highlighted to assess the determinants of the bilateral trade in Africa. Our results show that the use of ICTs, measured by the penetration of mobile phones, fixed phones, broadband and the Internet, significantly increases the bilateral trade in Africa. We suggest investing more in telecommunication infrastructures and strengthening the public-private partnership, in order to reduce the costs of accessing and using new ICTs.

Keywords: Africa; Gravity model; ICTs; Trade. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06-30
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