Abstract
This chapter examines the effect of regional trade integration and governance on structural transformation in the ECOWAS trade bloc during 2000–2015, using the methodology for calculating the Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII) developed jointly by African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to estimate the relevant regional trade index. The results of panel regression show that poor governance negatively affects structural transformation while openness of member states’ economies to both intra-regional trade and the rest of the world promote positive transformation towards the industrial sector. Trade integration alone as measured by its index, TINT, records neither positive nor negative statistically significant effect on any of the measures of structural transformation. Therefore, ECOWAS countries require both intra-regional and international trade with the rest of the world to structurally transform from the primary sector towards sustained industrialisation.
Being a paper presented at the African Economic Conference (AEC) 2017 on the theme “ Governance for Structural Transformation ”, United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa (UNCC-AA), Ethiopia, 4–6 December 2017.
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- 1.
A detailed description of how these figures are derived is presented under Independent Variables.
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This result from our application of the ARII methodology contrast the findings stated in the ARII Reports 2016 where Nigeria is ranked as the highest performer and followed Cote d’Ivoire in the second position.
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The eight (8) RECs recognised by the AU are: Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN–SAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).
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Bankole, A.S., Oladapo, M.A. (2019). The Role of Regional Trade Integration and Governance in Structural Transformation: Evidence from ECOWAS Trade Bloc. In: Elhiraika, A., Ibrahim, G., Davis, W. (eds) Governance for Structural Transformation in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03964-6_9
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