THE IMPACT OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION ON PER CAPITAL INCOMES OF ECOWAS COUNTRIES
Keywords:
Regional Integration, Income Convergence, Income Divergence, Income Clubs, Economic Growth
Abstract
This paper investigates regional integration and its impact on per capita income convergence or
divergence of ECOWAS countries and the formation of income clubs in selected years between
1980 and 2015. Using World Bank classification (2002, 2015) to identify ECOWAS countries’
income groups and sigma convergence to establish convergence or divergence, the paper
presents the evidence that ECOWAS countries belong to different income groups. The sigma
convergence using standard deviation shows divergence in incomes while the coefficient of
variation shows no clear tendency of convergence or divergence. Thus, there has been limited
progress and prospects of ECOWAS integration process despite the importance of the concept to
foster economic cooperation in the sub region. It is recommended that common policies be
adopted in ECOWAS and in particular, on trade and investment which are critical indicators in
the formation of regional integration and catalysts for income convergence, regional growth and
economic cooperation.
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Crespo-Cuaresma, J., Dimitz, M. A., & Ritzberger-Grünwald, D. (2002). Growth effects of European integration: Implications for EU enlargement. Austrian National Bank, Focus on Transition, 1, 87-100.
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Romer, P.M. (1994). The Origins of Endogenous Growth. Journal of Economic perspectives, 8, 3-22.
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Schumpeter, J. (1961). Theory of Economic development.Harvard University Press.
Sohn, C.H. and Lee H, (2006): “How FTAs affect income levels of member countries”, The World Economy 29(12), pp. 1737-1757.
Solow, R.M. (1956), A contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics, No.70. (February): 65 – 94.
Swan, T. W (1956). Economic Growth and Capital Accumulation- Economic Record, 32.
Szekely, I. P., and M. Watson (2007). Growth and Economic Policy: Are There Speed Limits to Real Convergence? European Economy Economic Papers 294. European Commission.
Udah, E..B. and Nyong, M.O. (2011). Economic Integration in ECOWAS and Prospects for Convergence in Real Per Capita Income. British Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (December),3(1).
UNDP (2013). Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries. Bureau for Development Policy. New York, USA
Velde, D.W. (2006) Regional Integration and Poverty, Ashgate.
Venables, A. (2003) Winners and Losers from Regional Integration Agreements, The Economic Journal, 113 (7): 747-61.
Viner, J. (1950). The Customs Union Issue, New York: Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.
Williamson, Jeffrey G. (1965). Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns Economic Development and Cultural Change 13(4): 158-200.
World Bank (2002).World Development Indicators. Washington DC: World Bank.
World Bank (2016). World bank .org open data. Retrieved 5/9/16
Barro, J.R and X. Sala-i-Martin (1995). Economic Growth McGraw-Hill Boston MA.
Barro, R. J., and X.Sala-i-Martin(1999).EconomicGrowth. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Ben-David, D. (1993). “Equalizing exchange: Trade liberalization and income convergence”, Quarterly Journal of Economics 108(3), pp. 653-679.
Ben-David, D. (1996). Trade and convergence among countries. Journal of International Economics 40, pp. 279-298
Berthelon, M. (2004). Growth Effects of Regional Integration Agreements. Working Papers 278. Santiago: Central Bank of Chile.
Bourguignon, F and C. Morrison (2002). World Distribution Among World Citizens: 1820 – 1992, American Economic Review, 92,(4) 727 -744.
Camarero, M., R. Flores and C. Tamarit (2006). Monetary union and productivity differences in Mersocur countries, Journal of Policy Modeling 28, pp.53-66.
Cappelen, A., Fagerberg, F., and Verspagen, B. (2001), The Impact of Regional Support on Growth and Convergence in the European Union. ECIS Working Papers 01.14.Eindhoven, Netherlands: Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies (ECIS), Eindhoven University of Technology.
Cass, David. (1965). Optimum growth in an aggregativemodel of capital accumulation.Review of Economic Studies32, 3: 233-40.
Crespo-Cuaresma, J., Dimitz, M. A., & Ritzberger-Grünwald, D. (2002). Growth effects of European integration: Implications for EU enlargement. Austrian National Bank, Focus on Transition, 1, 87-100.
Dorwick, S., and Nguyen, D.(1989). OECD, Comparative Economic Growth 1950-1985: Catch up and Convergence. American Economic Review 76, 1010-1030.
Dufrenot, G. and G. Sanon (2005).Testing real convergence in the ECOWAS countries in presence of heterogeneous long-run growths: A panel data study. Credit Research Paper N0 05/14.Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade, University of Nottingham.
Dodo, S. N. (1984).Sharing the Gains from Economic Unions: A Game – Theoretic Framework for ECOWAS in Akinyemi A et al. Readings and Documents on ECOWAS. Nigeria Institute of International Affairs.
Durlauf, S. and Johnson, P.A (1995). Multiple Regimes and Cross Country Growth Behaviour. Journal of Applied Econometrics 10, 365-384.
Economic Commission for Africa (2006), Assessing Regional Integration in Africa II: Rationalizing Regional Economic Communities, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
ECOWAS Statistical Bulletin (2008)
Ethier, Wilfred J. (1998). The New Regionalism. The Economic Journal, Vol 108, No 449, 1149-1161.
Firebaugh, G (1999). “Empirics of World Income Inequality, American Journal of Sociology, 104, 1597-1630.
Galor, O. (1996). Convergence? Inferences from Theoretical Models. Economic Journal, 106, 1056-69.
Ghura, D. and M. Hadjimichael (1996). Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. IMF Staff Papers 43 (3), pp. 605-634.
Grossman, G. M and Helpman, E. (1994),„ Endogenous Innovation in the Growth Theory‟, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8, 23-44.
Heng, T. and T. Siang (1999). A neoclassical analysis of the ASEAN and East Asian Growth Experience. ASEAN Economic Bulletin 16, pp. 149-165.
Henrekson, M., J. Torstensson and R. Torstensson (1997).Growth effects of European integration. European Economic Review 41, pp. 1537-1557.
Holmes, M. J. (2005). New evidence on Long-run output convergence among Latin American countries. Journal of Applied Economics 8(2), pp. 299-319
International Labour Organization (2004). World Commission on the Social Dimension on Globalization. Brief Reviews of Policy Issues
International Labour Organization (2008). World of Work Report: income inequalities in the age of globalization (Geneva,ILO)
IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO). October 2015
Jayanthakumaran, K., and R. Verma (2008). International Trade and Regional Income Convergence: The ASEAN-5 Evidence. ASEAN Economic Bulletin 25(2):179-194.
Jones, B. (2002). Economic Integration and Convergence of Per Capita Income in West Africa. Africa Development Review. Vol. 14, Issue 18-47
Jones, C.I. (1995), „R&D Based Models of Economic Growth‟, Journal of Political Economy, 163,759-84.
Jones, C. I. (1997), „Convergence Revisited‟, Journal of Economic Growth, 2, 131-53.
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. N. (1992), A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, May, 407-37.
McCoskey, S.K.(2002). Convergence in Sub-Saharan Africa: A non-stationary panel data approach. Applied Econometrics, 34, 819-829.
McCoskey, S.F., Kao, C. (1998): “A residual-based test of the null of co-integration in panel data”. Econometric Review, 17, 57-84
Nijkamp, P., and Jacques P.(1998). Spatial perspectivesontheories of economic growth.The Annals of RegionalScience32, 1: 7-37.
Njuguna, A. (1999). Growth and Convergence in a Disequilibrium Solow-Swan Model: The Case of ASEAN 1960-1995, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of New England, Australia.
Njuguna, A. and A. Rambaldi (2001). A Multi-Country Disequilibrium Solow-Swan Growth Model with an Application to the ASEAN Experience. Paper prepared for the Econometric Society Australasian Standing Committee (ESASC) Inaugural Intensive Workshop for Young Scholars, Waikato Management School, New Zealand, 9-10 July 2001.
Okko, P. (2003). Regional growth and convergence via integration – the case of the large EU. Paper presented in the 43rd European Congress of the Regional Science Association in Jyvaskyla, Finland, August 27-30, 2003.
Paap, R., Franses, P. H., Van Dijk D. (2005). Does Africa grow slower than Asia, LatinAmerica and the Middle East? Evidence from a new data-based classification method. .Journal of Development Economics, 77, 553-570.
Pritchett, L. (1997). Divergence, Big Tome. Journal of Economic Perspective, 317.
Ramsey, F. (1928).A mathematical theory of saving. Economic Journal 38, 152: 543-59
Richardson, H. W. (1978). Regional Economics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Rivera- Batiz R. and Romer, P. (1991b). Economic Integration and Endogenous Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 56,531-555.
Romer, P.M. (1986) „Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth‟. Journal of Political Economy, 94,4 (October),1002-1037.
Romer, P.M. (1994). The Origins of Endogenous Growth. Journal of Economic perspectives, 8, 3-22.
Sato, K. and Z. Zhang (2006). Real output co-movements in East Asia: Any evidence for a monetary union?. The World Economy 29(12), pp. 1671-1689.
Schumpeter, J. (1961). Theory of Economic development.Harvard University Press.
Sohn, C.H. and Lee H, (2006): “How FTAs affect income levels of member countries”, The World Economy 29(12), pp. 1737-1757.
Solow, R.M. (1956), A contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics, No.70. (February): 65 – 94.
Swan, T. W (1956). Economic Growth and Capital Accumulation- Economic Record, 32.
Szekely, I. P., and M. Watson (2007). Growth and Economic Policy: Are There Speed Limits to Real Convergence? European Economy Economic Papers 294. European Commission.
Udah, E..B. and Nyong, M.O. (2011). Economic Integration in ECOWAS and Prospects for Convergence in Real Per Capita Income. British Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (December),3(1).
UNDP (2013). Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries. Bureau for Development Policy. New York, USA
Velde, D.W. (2006) Regional Integration and Poverty, Ashgate.
Venables, A. (2003) Winners and Losers from Regional Integration Agreements, The Economic Journal, 113 (7): 747-61.
Viner, J. (1950). The Customs Union Issue, New York: Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.
Williamson, Jeffrey G. (1965). Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns Economic Development and Cultural Change 13(4): 158-200.
World Bank (2002).World Development Indicators. Washington DC: World Bank.
World Bank (2016). World bank .org open data. Retrieved 5/9/16
Published
2019-06-27
Section
Articles
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