Do agricultural exports enhance agricultural (economic) growth? Lessons from ECOWAS countries

Essotanam Mamba and Essossinam Ali

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2022, vol. 63, issue C, 257-267

Abstract: Given the urgent need to increase farming income and foreign exchange earnings, a substantial expansion of agricultural production for export is often a rational policy in developing countries, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The study analyzes the effects of agricultural exports on agricultural growth and overall economic growth in the ECOWAS region for the period 1996–2018. It also explores the combined effect of agricultural exports and agricultural growth on economic growth. We use the instrumental variables approach to control the endogeneity issue. Findings indicate that agricultural exports significantly enhance agricultural growth and overall economic growth. Moreover, the effect differs considerably from the agricultural growth equation to the economic growth equation. We also find that there is no complementarity nor substitutability effect of agricultural exports and agricultural growth on economic growth. These findings have important policy implications in agricultural development policy design and implementation in ECOWAS countries.

Keywords: Agricultural exports; Agricultural growth; Economic growth; ECOWAS; Panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 F14 Q17 Q37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:streco:v:63:y:2022:i:c:p:257-267

DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2022.10.003

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