2,068
Views
43
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Economic growth and openness in Africa: What is the empirical relationship?

&
Pages 1903-1907 | Published online: 10 Apr 2012
 

Abstract

This study examines the effects of trade policies on economic growth in Africa. The econometric methodology follows the cross-country studies by Barro (Citation1991) and Kandiero and Chitiga (Citation2003) with empirical application to a panel of 36 African countries observed over the period 1980 to 2009. Panel regressions are carried out using the fixed-effects models. The aim is to provide an empirical evidence for the driving force of Africa's economic growth. The results illustrate that openness in trade and investment is positively related to economic growth significantly. However, foreign aid, gross national savings and investment have negative relationships to both Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and GDP. Using South Africa as benchmark, the regional performance indicates that North Africa is the best one in generating positive GDP growth from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), followed by Middle Africa whilst East Africa and West Africa compete for the third and fourth positions.

JEL Classification:

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Taiwan ICDF Scholarship Programme.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 205.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.