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This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of regional trade agreements on trade. The empirical literature is arranged based on the econometric methods used to estimate the gravity model. Advantages and disadvantages of each method were highlighted. Papers covering RTAs from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe were reviewed to gain a more representative understanding. The covered empirical literature suggests that the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator is more reliable than OLS in estimating gravity models, as it can deal with zero trade flows. The Fixed Effects (FE) approach produces more consistent estimates than the Random Effects (RE) approach when quantifying the effects of RTAs. This is because it allows one to control for the unobserved time-invariant variables. Surprisingly, the covered literature suggests that a great majority of African RTAs generated trade, regardless of the method of estimation used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exchange rate volatility is often perceived to cause a reduction in the overall level of trade. In view of the proliferation of rapid regional trade agreements in recent years, the unpredictability of exchange rate has prompted many economists to investigate the effects of the volatile nature of exchange rate on trade. Previous studies have neglected the sectoral data, focusing instead on the aggregate trade flows which may have led to incomplete conclusions. The present paper aims to fill this lacuna by employing a proper specification of the gravity model using a panel of 95 countries that trade with South Africa over the period 2000–2017. Two major findings emerge. First, using aggregate data, the results suggest that nonlinear volatility has a positive and significant effect on trade, whereas linear volatility does not exert any impact on trade. Second, using sectoral data, the paper finds that there is no definite effect of volatility on trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates a fixed effects tariff model to study the impact of the tariff reform provisions of international agreements on domestic tariffs, using a sample of eight Sub-Saharan African countries. The structure of the model explaining domestic tariff changed from the preagreement period to the postagreement period. However, the results indicate that for the most part, efforts by governments to adhere to tariff agreements failed in all but a few countries. Even for the countries in which the agreements appeared to be successful, the significance of the results is relatively weak. (JEL 00, 01) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the motives behind the formation of intra-African regional integration agreements (RIAs). We focus specifically on rents because they can explain the drive for integration even in the absence of a positive effect on welfare. Whether they are meant to foster rent-seeking or to suppress it, the level of corruption is posited to have a positive effect on the willingness to enter into RIAs. However, empirical studies into this effect have come to contradictory conclusions. We find that corruption has a positive effect on the willingness of African countries to join trade agreements. This result remains significant when controlling for endogeneity and heteroskedasticity, as well as the indicator of corruption used. While small, the effect of corruption outperforms most economic variables. Nevertheless, distance and other geographical factors remain the strongest explanatory forces of African integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the `USA Trade and Development Act' (aka African Growth and Opportunity Act-AGOA) in the context of the WTO promotion for free trade. First, it briefly reviews `free trade' relations for the African continent. It then analyses the trade relations of the US with Africa, as well as the performance of the US in following its own doctrine of open markets. The core of the paper addresses the trade agreement itself, discussing the conditionalities for eligibility for African countries to enlist the agreement, as well as analysing the provisions for the trade; it gives empirical findings about the impact of the act in its first years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: African countries have created many regional trade agreements with the economic objectives of reducing trade barriers and encouraging economic growth. The COMESA is an example of regional integration singed on 1993 by 19 African countries including Sudan. COMESA represents a chance for member countries to enhance their economic and social relations through increasing intra-trade. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of COMESA in promoting intra-regional agricultural trade between Sudan and COMESA countries. A multi-market model with Armington non-linear specification was applied. The paper results showed that there is a great potential for Sudan to increase its agricultural exports to other COMESA countries. The domestic agricultural markets are expected to be hampered by imports surge and increase in competition, while the producers of agricultural export commodities will be better off. In order to compete and benefit from potential in the COMESA markets, the paper recommended improving efficiency in the Sudanese agricultural sector through increasing productivity, lowering cost of production, enhancing marketing services, attaining economies of scale and attracting foreign investment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is an ongoing debate about best ways to assess the compatibility of RTAs with WTO rules and the possible negative impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on individual members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. Therefore, rules defining the WTO compatibility of RTAs are one of the issues in the WTO Doha negotiations. Taking the current EPA negotiations between ACP and EU as an example, this paper examines two sorts of questions: (i) the implications for developing country members of the current proposals to tighten the rules on WTO compatibility of RTAs; (ii) the impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on non-RTA members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. More specifically, the paper assesses quantitatively using a partial equilibrium framework the implications for ACP countries of some of the proposals to reform GATT Art. XXIV, in particular the "substantially all trade" criteria. Based on a CGE approach, the paper then looks at the implications of EPA negotiations on third countries and its linkages with the ongoing Doha negotiations, in particular on how the future EPA agreements could be non-trade diverting, in line with Ohyama-Panagariya- Krishna version of the Kemp-Wan theorem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a proliferation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in developed and developing countries. Developed in Europe in its modern shape, most SEZs are located outside the continent today, notably in the developing world, where SEZs form part of these countries' export-oriented growth policy tools and overall economic development. At a period of growing unilateralism and the return of the State as an economic actor, this contribution seeks to tackle the rise of SEZ laws in the global south, with a particular focus on Africa. It will scrutinize the reasons for their establishment, the measures chosen to promote them, and the international ramifications in these respective regions and broadly on the global plane, notably at the WTO. With the entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, African countries face challenges of multi-layered SEZ governance, which this contribution intends to address. These challenges also extend to the cross-regional trade agreements these countries conclude, individually and as a bloc. Since SEZs are often assimilated with a category of subsidies and are discriminatory trade measures, this contribution, in essence, investigates the extent to which current trade rules at multilateral and regional levels address these controversial aspects of SEZs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper assesses the potential effects from trade facilitation in terms of increased trade flows both on average and specifically for the six regional groups of ACP countries negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. Data from the World Bank's Doing Business Database on the time required to export or import are used as indicators of cross-border transaction costs, and a gravity model on two-way bilateral trade between 22 EU countries and 100 developing countries is estimated using a sample selection approach. The results suggest that time delays on the part of the exporter and the importer generally significantly decrease trade flows, but also that this effect is not constant, in the sense that the elasticity of trade with respect to border delays declines at higher levels of time requirements. On average, lowering border delays in the exporting country by one day from the sample mean would yield an export-increasing effect of about 1 percent, while the same reduction in the importing country would increase imports by about 0.5 percent. Significant negative effects are also found of both export and import transaction costs for most EPA groups, and the effects tend to be at least as large as the average or larger. The results are generally robust for a number of alternative estimation methods such as Poisson estimation, IV estimation taking sample selection into account and the sample selection approach suggested by Helpman et al. (2007). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon-emission transfer between two representative developing economies - China and Africa - behind the international trade has aroused quite a few controversies, which have not been fully estimated and understood yet. In this paper, the Multiregional Input-Output (MRIO) method is applied to the participants of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from the global perspective to reveal the roles both China and Africa have played in the global supply chain as either the original emitter or the final consumer, and to depict the evolution pattern of carbon transfer via Sino-Africa trade from the year 2000–2015. The findings are as follows: 1) China has played the role of net exporter of embodied carbon-emission in Sino-Africa trade, for the amount of emitted carbon China had born yet resulted by consumption in Africa well surpassed that vice versa. 2) Compared to the carbon-emission flows embodied in EU-Africa and US-Africa trades, China has shouldered more carbon-emission derived from Africa's consumption. 3) The sectoral contribution and intensities of embodied carbon-emission correspond to the trading pattern between China and Africa, which stems from the two parties' comparative advantages and economic complementarity. 4) The intensities of embodied carbon-emission on both sides are declining towards a rosy prospect, which indicates an improving carbon-emission efficiency of both economies. From a global perspective, both China and Africa play a positive part in carbon-emission reduction. The results in this study can facilitate low-carbon and high-efficiency trading link between the two economies. • Historical trend of embodied carbon transfer between China-Africa Forum participants is explored. • Carbon-emission in China related to Africa's consumption well surpassed that vice versa. • Sino-Africa trade has relieved the carbon-emission pressure on Africa's economic development. • Sectoral contribution of embodied carbon-emission reflects the complementarity between China and Africa. • Embodied carbon-emission intensities of both China and Africa have declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the most compelling arguments for regional trade and integration in Africa is that the African market is the most fragmented in the world, with only 16% of trade being within the continent. Furthermore, with 14 regional economic communities (RECs), the scale of integrated trading compared to the magnitude of trade is cause for concern. Africa could soon witness an important milestone on its path towards increased regional trade and improved integration with the implementation of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) involving 26 countries. However, addressing overlapping memberships of the RECs and streamlining regulations, customs and border procedures can be a lengthy process. Aim: In the meantime, this study aims to identify specific intra-regional trade opportunities among African countries to inform a more targeted approach to regional trade. Methods: This article uses a unique approach based on the Decision Support Model (DSM) to identify intra-regional trade opportunities between the TFTA countries, taking into account each country's import demand and export supply. Results: We determined 334 such opportunities among the 26 countries, of which 232 (almost 70%) are newly recognised as not being exploited. Conclusion: This economic potential calls for policymakers to take a more proactive approach in their actions and recommendations by targeting these trade opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the failure at the WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancun the European Commission (EC) began a period of reflection on the causes of the break- down of trade negotiations. One important area which the Commission felt contributed to the breakdown in Cancun was the belief of a substantial grouping of developing countries - the G-90 - that they had little gain and much to lose from a new round. On the basis of this analysis the EC looked to develop a series of proposals to give G-90 countries a clear stake in a successful conclusion to the Doha Development Round. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), currently being negotiated between the European Union and 77 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, are due to enter into force in January 2008. These talks come under the umbrella of the 2000 Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which sets out a clear and specific commitment to gender equality. Despite this, gender issues are conspicuous by their absence from the 'hard' areas of the negotiations, such as trade and regional co-operation. In order to estimate the likely impact of future trade agreements on poor women and men, a more systematic approach to trade policy negotiations and to capacity building in ACP countries is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]