Journal of African Trade

Volume 7, Issue 1-2, December 2020, Pages 15 - 28

Agricultural Imports, Agriculture Productivity and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

Authors
Esther N. Mwangi1, 2, *, ORCID, Fuzhong Chen1, ORCID, Daniel M. Njoroge3
1School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
2Department of Business and Economics, Karatina University, Karatina, Kenya
3Institute of Food Bioresources Technology, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya
*Corresponding author. Email: esthermwangi2013@gmail.com; emwangi@karu.ac.ke
Corresponding Author
Esther N. Mwangi
Received 8 June 2020, Accepted 24 August 2020, Available Online 8 September 2020.
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.200902.001How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Agricultural import; agriculture productivity; economic growth; Granger causality; Sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract

This study investigates the causal links among agricultural imports, agriculture productivity, and economic growth in 40 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1990–2015. Granger causality tests are applied to infer direction of causality, and the generalized two-stage least squares instrumental variable technique is employed to estimate the effects while controlling for endogeneity. The bootstrapping procedure is used to deal with cross-sectional dependence. The results reveal bidirectional causality between agricultural imports and agriculture productivity in the full sample, and in middle- and low-income non-oil-exporting countries. The relationship between agricultural imported inputs and agriculture productivity is positive and significant. In addition, unidirectional causality from agricultural imports to economic growth is observed in the full sample and middle-income non-oil exporters. The growth elasticity of agricultural imports is about 1.0 in the full sample and 1.3 in the middle-income group. These results then cast new light on the importance of agricultural imports for growth and development in the African region.

Copyright
© 2020 African Export-Import Bank. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Journal
Journal of African Trade
Volume-Issue
7 - 1-2
Pages
15 - 28
Publication Date
2020/09/08
ISSN (Online)
2214-8523
ISSN (Print)
2214-8515
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.200902.001How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2020 African Export-Import Bank. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Esther N. Mwangi
AU  - Fuzhong Chen
AU  - Daniel M. Njoroge
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/09/08
TI  - Agricultural Imports, Agriculture Productivity and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
JO  - Journal of African Trade
SP  - 15
EP  - 28
VL  - 7
IS  - 1-2
SN  - 2214-8523
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jat.k.200902.001
DO  - 10.2991/jat.k.200902.001
ID  - Mwangi2020
ER  -