Regional Integration: Do Intra-African Trade and Migration Improve Income in Africa?

Blaise Gnimassoun

International Regional Science Review, 2020, vol. 43, issue 6, 587-631

Abstract: Regional integration in Africa is a subject of great interest, but its impact on income has not been studied sufficiently. Using cross-sectional and panel estimations, this article examines the impact of African integration on real per capita income in Africa. Accordingly, we consider intra-African trade and migration flows as quantitative measures reflecting the intensity of regional integration. To address the endogeneity concerns, we use a gravity-based, two-stage least-squares strategy. Our results show that, from a long-term perspective, African integration has not been strong enough to generate a positive, significant, and robust impact on real per capita income in Africa. However, it does appear to be significantly income-enhancing in the short and medium terms but only through intercountry migration. These results are robust to a wide range of specifications.

Keywords: income per capita; trade; international migration; economic integration; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Regional Integration: Do Intra-African Trade and Migration Improve Income in Africa? (2020)
Working Paper: Regional Integration: Do intra-African trade and migration improve income in Africa? (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:43:y:2020:i:6:p:587-631

DOI: 10.1177/0160017619874852

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