What makes economic globalisation work for sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT

That economic globalisation is theoretically beneficial to developing countries’ growth and development is without doubt; that empirical literature has failed to ascertain the economic benefits of economic globalisation, particularly for developing countries, is again incontestable, but what has not been fully explored are the threshold conditions without which developing countries can make the most out of economic globalisation. This study analyses the preconditions that enhance the growth promoting effects of economic globalisation for sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2005–2020. Robust to alternative measures of economic globalisation, our results show that economic globalisation is desirable as a viable engine for growth in sub-Saharan Africa conditional on addressing country-specific structural weaknesses. A viable policy option is for Sub-Saharan African countries to seriously consider implementing a range of well-thought-out policies – both economic and social – so that the region can reap the full benefits of economic globalisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Economic globalisation
• threshold conditions
• sub-Saharan Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).