Open AccessTrade and Manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author(s) -
Assandé Désiré Adom
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of advances in management and economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2278-3369
DOI - 10.31270/ijame/v09/i03/2020/9
Subject(s) - openness to experience , diversification (marketing strategy) , competition (biology) , economics , international trade , economic integration , trade barrier , international economics , manufacturing sector , business , psychology , social psychology , ecology , marketing , biology
Trade and manufacturing have gained momentum in economic debates across Africa as of late. In particular, this study attempts to shed light on the impact of trade openness on manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using a dual comparative approach made of vector auto-regression (VAR) and general method of moments (GMM) applied to 36 countries, results indicate that trade openness impedes the development of manufacturing. The negative effect of trade openness, which remains very limited in scope notwithstanding, underscores an essential feature regarding the entire manufacturing sector in SSA. Indeed, the idiosyncrasies of this sector – namely, underdevelopment, nascent industries and lack of diversification, among others − severely undermine the resilience of countries in SSA as they face heightened international competition. Keywords: Trade openness, Manufacturing, Sub-Sahara Africa, Vector auto regression. JEL Classification: F14, F41, F60