From the Editor

The International Trade Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6 (November - December 2020)

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the final issue of The International Trade Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6 (November - December 2020). This issue focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It includes articles that look at the effect of globalization on gender inequality in SSA, how exchange rate depreciations affect trade balances in East Africa, whether growth spills over from industrial countries into SSA, and the long- and short-run relationships between trade and growth in South Africa.

The first article, by Hodabalo Bataka, looks at how globalization affects gender inequality in SSA. The article uses panel data from 32 African countries between 1990 and 2016. The study’s measure of gender inequality, which was produced by the United Nations Development Programme, measures inequality related to reproductive health, political representation, and economic status. The author finds that gender inequality is lower in countries that are more globalized. This is true whether globalization is measured in terms of outcomes (de facto globalization) or barriers to globalization (de jure globalization). It also appears to be true for economic, social, and political dimensions of globalization.

Thesecond article, by Fetene Bogale Hunegnaw and Soyoung Kim, looks at how exchange rate depreciations affect trade balances in manufacturing, mining, and agriculture in East Africa.¹ Using data from 12 countries in East Africa from between 1980 and 2016, the authors find that depreciations affect trade balances in different sectors to different degrees. The largest effect is in manufacturing where a1% devaluation improves the trade balance by about 0.5%. The effect is smaller in mining (about 0.4%). In agriculture, depreciations have the opposite effect: a1% devaluation worsens the trade balance by about 0.2%.

The third article, by Jemberu Lulie Mekonnen, looks at whether growth among industrial countries spills over to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The author divides the sample into two periods: 1981 to 2000 and 2001 to 2015. Spillovers from countries’ top ten trading partners are visible in both periods. When the author breaks the spillovers down by region, growth in Europe positively spills over only in the earlier period, while growth in the United States spills over only in the later period.

The final article in this issue focusing on SSA, by Kwame Osei-Assibey and Omolemo Digkang, looks at long- and short-run relationships between trade and gross domestic product (GDP) in South Africa.² The authors argue that although earlier studies of South Africa have looked at the link between exports and growth, few have looked at the relationship between these variables and imports. They find that export growth drives both economic and import growth in South Africa in the long run. However, they also find ashort-run relationship between imports and GDP, with causality running in both directions.

As usual, we would like to thank the people without whom the ITJ would not succeed. We would like to thank the authors who contribute their articles, the anonymous referees who give detailed and timely comments, the team at the International Trade Institute at Texas A&M International University who process submissions quickly and efficiently, our Editorial Board who guide the journal, and our publisher, Taylor and Francis, who ensures the ITJ keeps its high standards.

Notes

¹ Several recent articles in the ITJ have looked at the effect of exchange rates on trade balances in developing countries (Ari, Cergibozan, and Cevik 2019; Bahmani-Oskooee and Harvey 2015; Bahmani-Oskooee and Harvey 2018; Cao-Alvira 2014; Cergibozan and Ari 2018; Soleymani, Chua, and Fatah 2016).

² Several recent articles in the ITJ have looked at the relationship between growth and trade in developing countries. Most notably, using data from 42 countries in SSA, Zahonogo (2018) finds anon-linear relationship between growth and trade. Two other recent studies look at the relationship between exports and growth in South Asia (Ali and Li 2018; Reza etal. 2019).