Journal of African Trade

Volume 7, Issue 1-2, December 2020, Pages 45 - 59

The Demand for Imports and Exports in Africa: A Survey

Authors
Michael Olabisi1, W. Charles Sawyer2, *
1Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
2Department of Economics, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA
*Corresponding author. Email: w.c.sawyer@tcu.edu
Corresponding Author
W. Charles Sawyer
Received 26 September 2019, Accepted 18 May 2020, Available Online 13 June 2020.
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.200530.001How to use a DOI?
Keywords
African trade; export demand elasticity; import demand elasticity; survey
Abstract

To drive economic development, it is important for policy makers to have a good understanding of the linkages between imports, exports, and the rest of the economy. This is particularly true for Africa. The continent depends on exports of commodities to finance imports of manufactured goods for consumption and investment purposes. The importance of trade to African economies is underscored by one fact: the region has one of the highest ratios of imports and exports to gross domestic product. In this paper, we survey the literature on import and export demand elasticities and present a broad set of estimates for the countries of Africa. These estimates collected in our survey can support both academic research and policy making on the continent. They also provide a road map for future research on the determinants of trade flows on the continent. The results reveal large gaps in our understanding of the determinants of trade flows in the region—those gaps serve as pointers for future research.

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
45 - 59
Publication Date
2020/06/13
ISSN (Online)
2214-8523
ISSN (Print)
2214-8515
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.200530.001How 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  - Michael Olabisi
AU  - W. Charles Sawyer
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/06/13
TI  - The Demand for Imports and Exports in Africa: A Survey
JO  - Journal of African Trade
SP  - 45
EP  - 59
VL  - 7
IS  - 1-2
SN  - 2214-8523
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jat.k.200530.001
DO  - 10.2991/jat.k.200530.001
ID  - Olabisi2020
ER  -