Journal of African Trade

Volume 2, Issue 1-2, December 2015, Pages 51 - 70

Who profits from trade facilitation initiatives? Implications for African countries☆

Authors
Bernard Hoekmana, b, *, Bernard.Hoekman@EUI.eu, Ben Shepherdc, Ben@Developing-Trade.com
aRobert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Italy
bCEPR, London, United Kingdom
cDeveloping Trade Consultants, United States
*Corresponding author at: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, EUI, via delle Fontanelle 18, Fiesole, 50014 Italy.
Corresponding Author
Bernard HoekmanBernard.Hoekman@EUI.eu
Received 25 June 2015, Revised 11 August 2015, Accepted 20 August 2015, Available Online 18 November 2015.
DOI
10.1016/j.joat.2015.08.001How to use a DOI?
Keywords
F13; F14; O24
Abstract

Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from measures to facilitate trade — reduce trade costs — for African countries in particular. However, concerns have been expressed by policymakers regarding the distribution of the benefits and costs of trade facilitation. We use firm-level data for a large number of developing countries, in Africa and the rest of the world, to assess the claims that it will be mostly large firms that benefit from trade facilitation and that trade facilitation may result in a deterioration of the trade balance. We find no evidence for either argument. Our results suggest that trade facilitation can be beneficial in a range of countries, including those that are primarily involved in value chains as suppliers.

Copyright
© 2015 Afreximbank. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/).

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Journal
Journal of African Trade
Volume-Issue
2 - 1-2
Pages
51 - 70
Publication Date
2015/11/18
ISSN (Online)
2214-8523
ISSN (Print)
2214-8515
DOI
10.1016/j.joat.2015.08.001How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2015 Afreximbank. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bernard Hoekman
AU  - Ben Shepherd
PY  - 2015
DA  - 2015/11/18
TI  - Who profits from trade facilitation initiatives? Implications for African countries☆
JO  - Journal of African Trade
SP  - 51
EP  - 70
VL  - 2
IS  - 1-2
SN  - 2214-8523
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joat.2015.08.001
DO  - 10.1016/j.joat.2015.08.001
ID  - Hoekman2015
ER  -