North-South Trade: Is Africa Unusual?
IMF Working Papers, June 1, 1998
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: David T. Coe, Willy A Hoffmaister
- Published: June 1, 1998
- Series: IMF Working Papers
Research question and methodology
- Estimates a gravity model to assess whether Africa’s bilateral trade with industrial countries is “unusual” compared with other developing country regions.
- Controls and covariates included in the analysis:
- Economic size
- Geographical distance
- Population
- Access to the sea
- Composition of exports
- Linguistic ties with industrial countries
- Trade policies
Main findings
- The unusually low level of African trade with industrial countries is explained by:
- Economic size
- Geographical distance
- Population
- After controlling for the factors listed above, Africa’s bilateral trade is not unusually low relative to other developing regions.
- On average, the typical African country tends to “overtrade” compared with developing countries in other regions.
- The degree to which Africa overtrades has steadily declined over the past two-and-one-half decades.
Robustness and interpretation
- The main result (that observable factors explain Africa’s low trade levels) holds after including controls for:
- Access to the sea
- Composition of exports
- Linguistic ties with industrial countries
- Trade policies
Key statistics and publication metadata extracted from the source
- Pages: 27
- Volume: 1998
- Issue: 094
- Series: Working Paper No. 1998/094
- Stock No: WPIEA0941998
- ISBN: 9781451851694
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Date: June 1, 1998
- Authors: David T. Coe, Willy A Hoffmaister
Source: North-South Trade: Is Africa Unusual? — David T. Coe; Willy A Hoffmaister; June 1, 1998 (IMF Working Papers, Working Paper No. 1998/094)
Content in this bundle
- North-South Trade: Is Africa Unusual? - WP/98/94