Trade related business climate and manufacturing export performance in Africa: A firm-level analysis

Lawrence Edwards and Neil Balchin

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Africa continues to be marginalised in world trade of manufactured goods, despite reductions in tariffs and non-tariff barriers. This paper investigates whether high business and trade costs associated with Africa’s trade-related infrastructure, trade institutions and the regulatory environment have contributed towards its mediocre trade performance. The paper focuses on eight African countries - Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia - using the World Bank’s investment climate surveys. The results of the study suggest that the business climate, as measured using principal components for micro-level supply constraints, macroeconomic conditions and the legal environment, is closely associated with firm-level export propensity. Improvements in domestic policy may therefore have a considerable positive impact on manufacturing export performance in Africa.

Keywords: Business climate; Africa; manufacturing firms; export performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 F14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published in Journal of Development Perspectives 1.4(2008): pp. 67-92

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:32863

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