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The emergence and diffusion of coronavirus (COVID-19) have brought a lot of impacts on various spheres of human endeavours including maritime trading. This paper explores the effect of the lockdown on maritime port calls for selected vessels in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) regions (East, Middle, South, and West Africa). The study utilizes port calls data of the maritime profile of the global economies obtained from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Statistics between 2018 and 2021. Data include port calls for liquid bulk carrier, liquefied petroleum gas, dry bulk carrier, dry break bulk carrier, roll-on-roll-off, and container carrier. The analysis of data involves the use of exploratory technique to reveal dimensions of performance by various carriers across the regions. The results picture the kind of response of port calls in all the regions akin to the response from other regions of the world. However, the study observes that though responses to COVID-19 lockdown across the globe were similar, SSA regions were slow in recovering from the decline in port calls when compared to the developed and some rapidly developing economies of the world due to the region's lack of economic resilience. Thus, since ports have been identified as vulnerable to economic, social, institutional, and environmental shocks, and to dynamic and highly unpredictable demand for port services, policymakers of various nationals in the SSA may need to examine the patterns of performance of vessels in the regions to manage trade flows more effectively as a way of responding to future dynamics in maritime trade in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using data from 46 SSA countries spanning the period 2000–2015. Results based on the system-generalized method of moments estimation showed that a 1% increase in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in SSA decreased the growth in per capita income by 0.47%. The impact of HIV/AIDS on economic growth was felt most in Eastern Africa followed by West Africa, although the prevalence rate was highest in Southern Africa. In particular, a 1% increase in the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Africa and West Africa retarded growth in per capita income by 0.64% and 0.47%, respectively, over the study period. The paper suggests that for SSA to minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS prevalence on growth, African governments should take a cue from the southern African countries by making anti-retroviral drugs more accessible and affordable to persons living with the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversy surrounding the actual impact of institutional quality and economic openness on economic growth is among the motivating factors for this study. The study seeks to investigate this relationship in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by using the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) test with annual series covering the period from 2000 to 2020. Findings indicate that in the short-run, regulatory quality and FDI outflows had an adverse impact on the economic performance of the ECOWAS bloc. Furthermore, the long-run results show that trade openness, political stability and FDI outflows had an adverse impact on the economy of the bloc, while regulatory quality positively affected the economy. Consequently, the paper recommends that member countries in the ECOWAS bloc should put in place effective regulatory framework in the short and medium term to attract FDI inflows, while building a strong and stable political environment in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006 the iron mines in Marampa Chiefdom, in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, re-opened. This event sparked a widespread feeling of excitement and hope among the local population, and gave rise to a landscape of expectations in which memories of both relative prosperous and “dark” pasts were invoked and imaginations of a better future flourished. However, soon after the re-opening and initial development of the mines, it appeared that the expected opportunities would not materialize everywhere and for everybody. Frustration, disappointment and loss of hope became part and parcel of the dynamics in this place, which is seen as a hot-spot, a notion that is applied to highlight the numerous frictions and negotiations within this investment landscape. This paper examines this momentum of rising expectations in the hot-spot by scrutinizing its connection to the area’s recent past of boom and bust, the increased global demand for raw materials, especially from China, national development agendas and life-cycles of mining operations. Subsequently, some spatial and social dynamics of accelerated change in Marampa will be discussed. Exploring these dynamics allows to see accelerated change in these investment landscapes from a diverse angle. Through highlighting these temporal, spatial and social dynamics of change in the hot-spot, the paper argues that overheating, a phenomenon often associated with accelerated change, may play out not only as a result of accelerated change, but also as a result of deceleration and the experience of being excluded from the potential opportunities of change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the first regional organisation, globally, to have a Directive on Gender Assessment in Energy Projects. The Directive provides a framework for Member States to ensure that women and marginalised groups in project-affected communities are adequately protected from adverse impacts of energy projects. Being a recent instrument, one may wonder how this experiment will pan out. Drawing from scholarship on regionalism and using social impact theory, this paper adopts a forward-looking approach to consider if the recently adopted Directive will now become practice. We find that ECOWAS has the procedural legitimacy to successfully impact the domestic institutions of its Member States through this Directive – with ECOWAS being seen as a strong and influential institution by its members. However, ECOWAS' consequential legitimacy, regarding this Directive, may be slightly weakened by its lesser 'immediacy', i.e. its level of interaction with ministries, departments and agencies, when compared to other actors such as international financial institutions. The paper concludes with the recommendation for stronger regional oversight and guidance from ECOWAS. We also call for action to financial institutions, private investors and community-based organisations to make gender assessment in energy projects a consistent and meaningful practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural transformation is recognized as a key driver of sustainable economic development by researchers and international development agencies. However, it is lagging in West Africa, whereas the diaspora is recognized as a vector for the structural transformation of African economies. Thus, this paper analyzes the contribution of the diaspora to the structural transformation of the economies of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The structural transformation is measured by the reallocation of labor from the agricultural sector. Diaspora is measured by the total emigration rate and the high education emigration rate. The Least Squares Dummy Variable Corrected (LSDVC) method applied to a dynamic specification was used on 15 ECOWAS countries from 1990 to 2010. The results revealed that the diaspora attracts labor to the agricultural sector in ECOWAS. While supporting the industrial sector, the diaspora should invest in modern techniques in the agricultural sector, leading to improved productivity gains in this sector and fostering the structural transformation desired by the African Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of stock markets on economic growth in Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria using three proxies to determine whether the impact of stock markets on economic growth is sensitive to the proxy used to measure stock market development. It also seeks to determine whether the impact of stock markets on economic growth is sensitive to the inclusion of banking development indicator in the regression. After accounting for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependency, the study reveals that stock markets have positive impact on economic growth in all the countries, albeit the impact is not very robust in Ghana. The results are neither sensitive to the proxy used to measure stock market development nor the inclusion of banking development indicator in the regression. This implies that stock market is a complement rather than a substitute for banking development in the process of economic development in West African countries. Thus, the countries should strengthen policies that promote all aspects of stock market development in order to accelerate sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the existing literature, there is no consensus on the effects of financial integration on economic growth. The studies have mostly focused on country samples without taking into account country heterogeneity, or have been limited to a causality study. This paper examines the effects of international financial integration on economic growth in seven West African Economic and Monetary Union's countries (WAEMU)1, over the period 1980 - 2019. Methodologically, the study applies heterogeneous panel techniques taking into account inter-individual dependence (MG, CCEMG and AMG). The results show that the stock of external debt and the opening of the capital account negatively affect long-term economic growth in the WAEMU region. The country analysis confirms the panel results for Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. Sectoral misallocation of external capital could be a plausible explanation. The economies of WAEMU countries are mostly dominated by the service sector, which contributes more to their GDP than the productive sectors, i.e. agriculture and industry. While the agricultural sector, which employs a large part of the active population, is still traditional and does not benefit from capital inflows, the industrial sector is still embryonic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electoral clientelism and vote buying are widely perceived as major obstacles to economic development. This is because they may limit the provision of public goods. In this paper, we review the literature on clientelism and vote buying and propose the use of field experiments to evaluate empirically the consequences of these phenomena. We provide an overview, discuss implementation, and interpret the main results of recent field experiments conducted by the authors in West African countries. Clientelism and vote buying seem to be effective and to enjoy widespread electoral support. The results suggest that increased access to information and political participation by women may limit clientelism. In addition, voter education campaigns may undermine the effects of vote buying on voting behaviour. We argue that our findings may inform the design of development aid interventions, as a way effectively to increase public-good political accountability. We also discuss directions for fruitful future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares the impact of financial development on economic growth in the Union Économique et Monetaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA) and non‐UEMOA countries. It also examines the finance‐growth nexus before and after the formation of UEMOA, as well as the indirect effect of economic union on economic growth through the financial sector. The study reveals a significant difference in the finance‐growth nexus between UEMOA and non‐UEMOA countries. Specifically, financial development has a robust positive impact on growth in UEMOA countries, while the impact is tenuous in non‐UEMOA countries. However, we find no remarkable difference in the finance‐growth nexus before and after the formation of UEMOA. We also reveal that economic union has no robust indirect effect on economic growth via the financial sector. The economic implication is that UEMOA could have economic benefits, but financial development is not a channel through which it influences growth. Therefore, it is necessary to reposition the union so that it can enhance the impact of finance on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West African countries have long promoted economic integration and income convergence. In recent trends, Nigeria has recorded the highest GDP per capita, and its neighbouring countries are yet to catch up with this economic growth. The paper examines the convergence of West African countries to catch up with Nigeria in terms of real per capita income. For the estimation, the paper employs fractional unit root approach to model simultaneously smooth breaks by means of flexible Fourier function in time. This approach is novel and has not been widely applied in the study of economic convergence across countries. The findings show that, while there is evidence of economic convergence and catching up in West Africa, only Ghana is likely to catch up with Nigeria in the region. As a policy recommendation, the West African countries should strengthen their human resource capacities through acquisition of relevant skills and technology transfers. This would promote income convergence and equitable economic growth. • Fractional unit root test with smooth Fourier function. • A new time series econometric approach for investigating economic convergence. • Economic convergence of West African states. • Ghana is likely to catch up economically with Nigeria in terms of Per capita Output in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed drivers of foreign direct investments (FDI) to West Africa using a panel dataset from 1970 to 2010. OLS and GMM techniques are used for the estimations. The main results indicate that there is a U-shaped relationship between economic development and FDI inflows to West Africa. In summary: (i) The quadratic element of real per capita GDP, domestic investment, trade openness, first year lag of FDI, natural resources (oil and metals) endowment and exports, and monetary integration have positive and significant effect on FDI inflows to West Africa; and (ii) there is a negative relationship between FDI inflows to the sub-region and loan component of ODA, economic growth, level of economic development (real GDP per capita), life expectancy, and domestic credit to the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of foreign aid and domestic savings on economic growth in the WAMZ countries, while including control variables: domestic investment, labour force, trade openness, financial liberalization and foreign direct investment. Panel Data Analysis and GMM were compared for the period 1980 and 2012. The paper found that economic growth obviously deteriorates with foreign aid and hence does not complement the role of saving on economic growth of the WAMZ countries. Savings on the other hand was found to be positively significant in increasing economic growth in the sub-region. Labour force and financial liberation (M2) and FDI exhibit economic growth. A policy implication of the result is that the countries in the West African Monetary Zone should be wary in soliciting for foreign aid. If foreign aids become expedient, then it should be channeled to productive ventures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the complementary relationship between commercial banks and microfinance institutions in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) as a means to sustain economic growth. Using panel data on seven countries from 1999 to 2005 with the Feasible Generalized Least Squares and the AR(1) disturbances, the study indicates that the banking and microfinance sectors are prone to operating individually, and that banks benefit from microfinance activities. A joint effort of both sectors in facing credit allocation appears to be very significant over the single action of microfinance institutions. The study, therefore, suggests a joint or complementary approach through savings management to face the challenge of the economic growth in the Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the vulnerability of South African agriculture to climate change and variability by developing a vulnerability index and comparing vulnerability indicators across the nine provinces of the country. Nineteen environmental and socio-economic indicators are identified to reflect the three components of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The results of the study show that the regions most exposed to climate change and variability do not always overlap with those experiencing high sensitivity or low adaptive capacity. Furthermore, vulnerability to climate change and variability is intrinsically linked with social and economic development. The Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, which have high levels of infrastructure development, high literacy rates, and low shares of agriculture in total GDP, are relatively low on the vulnerability index. In contrast, the highly vulnerable regions of Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape are characterised by densely populated rural areas, large numbers of small-scale farmers, high dependency on rain-fed agriculture and high land degradation. These large differences in the extent of vulnerability among provinces suggest that policymakers should develop region-specific policies and address climate change at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development in Africa and everywhere else for that matter, is furthered by capital accumulation. And this is fostered by economic freedom and private property rights which encourages the saving and investment which are the sine qua non of economic growth. The present paper attempts to make this case with regard to the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Africa is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This paper analyzed the impacts of climate change on economic growth in Anglophone West Africa with similar background, during the periods 1969-2016. Five growth model equations have been developed to incorporate climate change variables into the model. Panel data estimations such as the fixed effect model, random effect model and Hausman test were used. The results generated show that four equations required the use of the fixed effect, the agriculture equation model required the use of the random effect model. In the fixed effect models, the results show that the growth of human capital has a negative (-0.08 and -0.23) and significant (0.09* and 0.023*) impact on the growth rate of the services and manufacturing sectors. In Anglophone West African countries, the growth rate of the agriculture sector and temperature are statistically significant (0.008 ** and 0.089*) and have a negative impact (-2.04 and -17.7) on the growth rate of GDP. In the random effect model for agriculture, the growth rate of rainfall has the highest impact on the growth of agriculture in Anglophone West Africa than the impact of temperature on the region. Lack of sufficient rainfall reduces growth of the agriculture sector. In relative terms, change in rainfall pattern is more harmful to agriculture in comparison to the change in temperature in this region. The consequences of climate change in the region are sluggish economic performance and growth, underdevelopment, poverty and human misery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causal relationship between public expenditure - economic growth has been the subject of deep concern among economists. This paper examines for the period 1967 to 2007, heterogeneous public expenditure-economic growth causality in West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and analyzes the implication of fiscal coordination. Causality was determined in each country from a methodology based on cointegration analysis leading to representations of vector error correction and Toda and Yamamoto causality test (1995). The existence of heterogeneous causality between public expenditure and economic growth in WAEMU zone leads to consider a new model of fiscal coordination integrating this heterogeneous, including the adoption of a new more flexible fiscal standard for each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of governance on sustainable development in West Africa from 2002 - 2016. It adopts the system GMM approach, using all the six governance indicators, which include voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. The results show that voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness and rule of law are positively related to development, with government effectiveness shown to have that largest impact, while regulatory quality and control of corruption are shown to be indirectly related to development in the short-run. However, in the long-run, all governance indicators are directly related to development in West African countries, with political stability and regulatory quality having the largest impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and financial development with a view to ascertaining whether FDI is a substitute or complement to financial development in a sample of fifteen countries in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 1980-2014. The study employed the two-step system Generalized method of moment. The result of the study is mixed. Specifically, the findings reveal that the development of the financial sector in the West African sub-region is actually not aiding FDI inflows, as it is evident from our analysis that financial development does not exert a significant positive effect on FDI inflows into the region. However, FDI influences the domestic financial sector development positively and significantly in the ECOWAS sub-region. This indicates that FDI has been complementing financial sector development. Generally, the study submits that foreign direct investment and financial development can act as both substitute and complement in the ECOWAS region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory paper sets the scene for the special issue on transnational migration, return and development in West Africa. It first briefly describes the research programme that gave rise to the papers presented here. Then it sets out the basic parameters of the debate on the relationship between migration, return and development in the West African context, highlighting the crucial role of remittances and the neglected topic of return migration. Although officially recorded remittance flows are not as high in West Africa as they are in some other parts of the world, nevertheless they are seen as a critical input to the development process. Moreover, much remittance income escapes formal banking channels and so is unrecorded. The relevance of the West African case also rests on the high levels of educated, skilled migration from the region, and the potential that such migrants could have for development if they could be persuaded either to return or to invest in development‐related initiatives from abroad. The final section of the paper introduces the papers which make up the theme issue. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at language and literacy in West Africa from the viewpoint of the realities of economic and social development. Literacy in the sub- region is far from being as drastically low as the statistics would indicate; but, nevertheless, literacy efforts have been inadequate, haphazard, and unplanned, because they do not take into account practical communication requirements. Such requirements demand that literacy be organized according to need and levels of need, first, for general purposes in the community languages and lingua francas; then, for specialized purposes, in the adopted international language; and last, as a human right, in the languages of minority groups. Planning and coordination are essential, as well as the Herculean but not inachievable task of changing national attitudes and providing the necessary structures, facilities, and materials. The matter is urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of the labor-surplus models of the process of economic development have never claimed universal validity for their analyses. Lewis singles out Egypt, India, and Jamaica as economies to which his theory is "obviously relevant." Ranis and Fei mention India and Pakistan as typical of the dualistic economy to which their model applies, "with members of the family concentrated perhaps most heavily, in Asia and the Near East but also represented in parts of Africa and Latin America." Recent research has tended to cast doubt on the assumption (crucial to the way in which these models have been used) of a removable surplus of agricultural labor, even in such "typically labor-surplus" economies as these. At the same time as earlier inflated estimates of agricultural labor-surplus in "overpopulated" economies have been scaled down, it has been increasingly recognized that many low-income economies are suffering from a shortage of labor in agriculture, particularly in those parts of Africa and Latin America to which Lewis explicitly recognizes that his theory does not apply. All this means that the use to which the Lewis/Ranis/Fei type of model can be put is modified. It does not mean, however, that the analytical framework of these models is useless. There may be some economies which have now or are likely to have in the future redundant labor in agriculture. Even if there are none at all, the framework can still be used to yield valuable analytical insights. Thus the main purpose of this paper is to use the "labor-surplus" framework to analyze one of the areas which appears to be suffering from a labor deficit in agriculture—West Africa—and to assess its usefulness for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of inflationary threshold effects in the finance-growth relationship for Ghana and Nigeria. Ghana and Nigeria are relatively homogenous in terms of financial development, economic growth, and inflationary history and therefore provide an acceptable choice for this empirical analysis. Due to lack of data availability, the sample spans the period 1964-2011 for Ghana and 1961-2011 for Nigeria. Using appropriately specified threshold regressions, we found inflationary thresholds in both countries during the study periods. Specifically, the inflationary threshold range for Ghana is 10.73 %-29.83 %. For Nigeria, the inflationary threshold range is 10.07 %-19.25 %. By estimating the threshold regressions, we found financial development to have positive and significant effect on economic growth during low and moderate inflationary regimes; and insignificant effect on growth during high inflationary regimes, for both countries. In particular, financial development impact greatly on growth in Ghana when the rate of inflation is below a threshold of 10.73 % but dissipates when inflation rate reaches and exceeds 29.83 %. Similarly, financial development impact greatly on growth in Nigeria when the rate of inflation is below a threshold of 10.07 % but dissipates when inflation rate reaches and exceeds 19.25 %. The results imply that policymakers in these countries should take inflation into account when devising policies to promote financial development with the aim of generating economic growth. For without low or moderate inflation rates, such policies will not achieve their intended purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the literature on political instability and economic growth by specifically investigating the impact of political instability on the economic growth of member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). West Africa is regarded as the riskiest sub-region within the African continent. To achieve this objective, this study employed panel data techniques (fixed effects and generalised method of moments) on a sample of 15 ECOWAS member countries for the period 2005–2012. The findings from the analyses showed that terrorism, poor governance, social unrest, youth unemployment, death rate and natural resource rent have negative relationships with economic growth. The findings and policy implications deduced from this study could not have been any timelier considering the recent escalation of instability in West African countries and their fragile growth prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being the regions with the least levels of carbon emissions in the world, African countries are facing unique challenges on climate change, increased carbon emission levels and the need for environmental governance improvement. This study, therefore, examined the implications of economic growth and governance on CO2 emissions in West Africa. Specifically, the study investigated the role of governance in moderating the effect of economic growth on CO2 emissions in West Africa. The study utilized data for 16 West African countries from 2000 to 2020 in an unbalanced panel data framework. Empirical analyses were conducted using the Instrumental Variable Fixed Effects estimator with Driscoll and Kraay Standard Errors, as well as the Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression in order to account for serial correlation, endogeneity and conditional heteroskedasticity. The following conclusions were drawn from the results. First, economic growth significantly increases CO2 emissions in the region with the Environmental Kuznet Curve hypothesis present. Second, the quantile regression estimates reveal that the effect of economic growth on CO2 emissions is higher in countries where the initial level of carbon emissions is considerably high. Third, the results further show that in the presence of improved governance quality, economic growth does not significantly influence CO2 emissions in the region. Fourth, political stability and regulatory quality were the only indicators of governance that significantly impacted environmental pollution in the region. Finally, we found that other factors such as trade, urbanization, and renewable energy also significantly influenced CO2 emissions in the region. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of governance in moderating the effect of economic growth on CO2 emissions, as well as the importance of heterogeneous analysis for understanding the dynamism in economic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Economic Community of West African States has keyed into the various international agreements that seek to protect the environment and reduce gaseous emissions. This study investigated the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic development for West Africa, between 1990 and 2014. Standard and nested-EKC models were estimated using the panel ARDL approach. Both models validate the U-shaped EKC hypothesis, but perceptible more in the long-run and require per capita incomes of $4958 and $853 to produce zero-pollution effects. While the manufacturing and industrial sectors are not significantly large enough to cause environmental degradation even though the volume of trade has increased significantly, the technology-CO2 relationship is monotonic in all the models. This implies that West African countries have not fully explored and employed the different forms of technology required for per capita income to either produce a zero-pollution effect or to start decarbonising the environment. For now, economic development leads CO2 emissions and can be abated by policies that encourage natural agricultural practices and the use of renewable sources of energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the foreign capital flows that are required for stimulating the process of economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been the most elected candidate that is often sought. This explains why so much effort has been geared towards its attraction thus paving the way for enquiry into its determinants. Arguably, apart from the conventional FDI-drivers, the importance of institutions has been grossly undermined. On this basis, the study sets out to unravel the causal linkage between institutions and FDI with a special focus on ECOWAS countries. The results showed the existence of prevalent weak governance structure among the ECOWAS countries. Further, on component-by-component basis, this result was robust to the decomposition of the governance indicator into the six sub-indices, namely: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. We split the sample size into low (poor institutions) and high regimes (better institutions) and found that countries with better institutions were able to attract FDI more than countries with poorer institutional infrastructure. Thus, instituting sustainable governance structure will offer a leeway towards attraction of more FDI into the sub-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I use newly-developed data on Africa to estimate the effects of the international slave trades (circa 1500–1850) on the institutional structures of African economies and societies (circa 1900). I find that: (1) societies in slave catchment zones adopted slavery to defend against further enslavement; (2) slave trades spread slavery and polygyny together; (3) politically centralized aristocratic slave regimes emerge in West Africa and family-based accumulations of slave wealth in East Africa. I discuss implications for literatures on long-term legacies in African political and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the limited economic transformation in West African countries is a function of the interaction between domestic elites' quest for political survival and the EU's international trade partnership with former colonies (Yaoundé Convention 1963–1975; Lomé Convention 1975–2000 and Cotonou Agreement 2000–present). The counterfactual argument, demonstrated clearly in a comparative study (of the Yaoundé era), is that in the absence of the EU's trade partnership, ruling elites would have had to negotiate their survival by promoting economic change instead of colonial continuity. As not all West African countries joined the Yaoundé Conventions (1963–1975), a comparison of the affiliated and the non-affiliated countries was conducted from 1960 to 1975. Analysis of the differences between the countries in these three areas (economic crisis, political crisis with economic origins and diversification) reveals two trajectories in West Africa: neo-colonialism (for affiliated countries); and economic change (for unaffiliated countries). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With large investment/savings gaps in West African countries, it seems plausible that external borrowing can influence growth positively if well utilized or negatively as the debt becomes a burden. Amidst few country-based studies, we employ annual time series data from to investigate the effect of external debt on output growth of selected West African Countries for the period 1970 to 2007. This study initially adopts a systems approach in the form of a vector autoregressive model to identify the existent relationship. The finding from this approach suggests that the debt-growth relationship is difficult to evaluate based on the information contained in our variables and hence, inferring a possible contemporaneous effect. Thus, this study employs a single line equation based on the Engel Granger technique to cointegration in order to investigate the direct effect of external debt. The findings appear to support that external debt stock and the burden (induced by debt servicing) had a direct negative effect on output growth for the period covered. Contrary to the debt overhang hypothesis through the effect on investment, a cursory investigation of the debt-investment relationship suggests that external debt spurs rather than impede investment. However, impact of debt servicing seems mixed as it may be expected that debt servicing 'crowds out' investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new cooperation Agreement has been signed between the European Union and the 77 ACP Countries in Cotonou (Benin) on June 23rd 2000. A point of this agreement is regarding a new trade cooperation between these different countries in districts (or regions) gathered and the European Union, based on a preferential reciprocal liberalisation. This agreement is intervening in the context of globalisation, the multilateral trade liberalization, the regionalization, the renewal of regional integration processes and, the multiplication of the internal conflicts in Africa. This paper ask if is the economic Partnership Agreement able to take into account the needs for development of the ACP countries in the strict frame of the region Western Africa The thesis developed herein want to demonstrate that the principles of the APE do not allow to take really the needs of development for the countries of the region Western Africa: in consideration to the context, the APE characteristics, the structural and institutional rigidities' of the economies of these area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at ascertaining empirically the relationship between urbanisation and economic growth for West African countries from 1995-2004. The relationship is analysed using panel data approach and Ardllano-Bond estimator for dynamic panels. The study estimates the relationship between economic growth and urban growth conditional on main macroeconomic variables. Urbanisation plays a significant role in the provision of employment opportunities. The urban areas are the most crucial readily available markets in most developing countries. Urbanisation could partly help in the improvement of the welfare level of the citizenry, thereby targeting the attainment of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study hopes to recommend policies that would help in managing urbanisation and at the same time fostering economic growth in West Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the short-run and long-run relationships between renewable energy consumption and economic growth within the framework of the production function in fifteen West African countries from 2000 to 2018. The study was based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag-Bounds test approach (ARDL) and vector error correction model (VECM) to examine the Granger causality between the variables. The results of the ADRL model confirm the presence of cointegration among the variables. The findings confirm that in the short-run renewable energy consumption has an insignificant impact on economic growth. However, in the long-run has a significant and positive impact on economic growth as well as a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption to economic growth. Within the global framework, the study implies that the use of renewable energy in the process of economic growth is highly significant. Therefore, findings imply further policies and support to promote renewable energy would be necessary for economic development in West Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the moderating effect of institutional quality on the finance–growth nexus in the West African region via dynamic panel generalized method of moments. The findings reveal that the linear financial development has a separate positive influence on growth, while the interaction between financial development and institutional quality has a negative effect on growth. It implies that institutional quality constitutes a drag that diminishes and leaks out the growth benefits of financial development in West Africa. The threshold level of institutional quality beyond which financial development accelerates economic growth in the region is found to be 4.77 on the ordinal scale of 10 points. It is, however, evident that most of the countries in West Africa operate below the threshold. Hence, it is concluded that the institutional framework weakens the impact of finance on growth in the subregion of sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU is vigorously pursuing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in its trade and aid relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Justifying the EPAs as being 'development friendly', EU officials promise that aid support to private sector development (PSD) in ACP countries will make free trade systems 'win–win'. This article, based on the authors' semi-structured interviews conducted in Ghana and Nigeria, examines the perspectives of cocoa stakeholders vis-à-vis EPAs and PSD. Applying critical discourse analysis to interview transcripts, it underscores areas of overlap and, crucially, divergence among cocoa stakeholders' own narratives on PSD support in the context of EPAs and the official legitimating discourse of EU institutions. In the process, the article draws critical attention to cocoa business interviewees' concerns regarding the impact of premature trade liberalisation. It also underscores cocoa stakeholders' concerns that EU PSD promises are not being fulfilled in terms of actual tangible benefits for business people in this vital ACP export sector. Accordingly, the article contributes to, and corroborates, an existing critical scholarly literature which problematises the strategic functions of donor PSD discourse in presenting free trade reforms as being 'pro-poor' in the post-Washington Consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing interest in transit migration and border controls along migration routes, there is relatively little work on the production and operation of the category of 'transit' itself. This article investigates how Niger emerges as a country of migration 'transit' and what impacts this categorisation has had on security and development interventions targeting the country. Building from the literature on the governance of transit migration and on the 'migration state', this article theorises transit as a political label. It argues that Niger's status as a transit country is constructed through a 'polyvocal' process involving the discourse and everyday assumptions of international and local actors. The article locates this shared understanding in official texts, everyday routines, and sub-state diplomatic practices. It goes on to argue that these framings, despite divergent rationales, have effects visible in the evolution of security intervention in Niger. These include shifts in the location of border security, the blurring of migration into other transnational threats, and the creation of new domestic institutional practices. The article contributes to theorising the political construction and specificity of transit-ness and provides a fresh case for the research agenda on inter-state relations around migration governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the influence of capital market development and financial development on growth in the three West African countries. Data used for the research is from the World Bank and Pen World Table (PWT). This research uses the Panel ARDL test to examine the long-term relationship, as well as the error correction model to analyze the existence of a short-term relationship. The results show that in both the long term and short term, there is a negative influence of capital market development on economic growth. On the same line, in the long term, financial development is also negatively associated with growth and has no significant impact on economic growth. The ECM results indicate that there is a long-run causality effect between capital market development, financial development, and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the moderating effect of inflation on the finance–growth nexus in the West African region during 1980–2014. We find that the linear financial development has a positive impact on economic growth, while the interaction term between financial development and the inflation rate has a negative impact on growth. The marginal effect of financial development evaluated at the minimum level of inflation rate is positive, while that evaluated at the maximum level is negative, suggesting that the impact of finance on growth varies with the level of inflation. The inflation threshold level is found at 5.62%. When inflation rises above this level, the total effect of finance on growth turns negative. We also find that the marginal effects of financial development computed at the maximum level of inflation are negative in the high-inflationary countries but positive in the low-inflationary countries. The implication of these findings is that, in the West African region, an increase in financial development and a decrease in inflation appear to have greater long-run economic benefits than a simultaneous increase in both variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much emphasis has been placed on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Burkina Faso as a catalyst for improved economic growth within the economy. Against the lack of empirical evidence for evaluating this claim, we use data collected from 1970 to 2017 to investigate the FDI-growth nexus for the country using the ARDL bounds cointegration analysis. Our empirical model is derived from endogenous growth theoretical framework in which FDI may have direct or spillover effects on economic growth via improved human capital development as well as technological developments reflected in urbanization and improved export growth. Our findings fail to establish any direct or indirect effects of FDI on economic growth except for FDI's positive interaction with export-oriented growth, albeit being constrained to the short-run. Therefore, in summing up our recommendations, political reforms and the building of stronger economic ties with the international community in order to raise investor confidence, which has been historically problematic, should be at the top of the agenda for policymakers in Burkina Faso. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of financial development on economic growth in the West African region accounting for both structural breaks and cross-sectional dependency. Although the panel data study reveals that financial development has positive impact on economic growth in the entire West African region, the disaggregated data analysis discovers that variations in financial development can only explain variations in economic growth in about 75% of the countries in West Africa. This study has succeeded in revealing the countries where finance accelerates growth and countries where it does not. The weak impact of finance on growth in some of the countries could be due to low income level, low level of financial development, weak institutions, macroeconomic instability, and high inflation rates. Knowing where finance spurs growth and where it does not is fundamental for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a new trade dataset showing that nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa experienced a terms of trade boom comparable to other parts of the “global periphery.” A sharp rise in export prices in the five decades before the scramble (1835–1885) was followed by an equally impressive decline during the colonial era. This study revises the view that the scramble for West Africa occurred when its major export markets were in decline and argues that the larger weight of West Africa in French imperial trade strengthened the rationale for French instead of British initiative in the conquest of the interior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study will critically assess the Economic Community of West African State [ECOWAS] on its activities on regional integration, growth and development as a panacea to regional free movement of people and goods. ECOWAS was formed in 1975 with the objectives of among others facilitating economic development, fostering relation and promoting peace among her members. In her efforts of achieving these objectives, several protocols among which the protocol on free movement of people was adopted aimed at removing all obstacles for the movement of people across the subcontinent. Although, success have been recorded in removing all kind of visa requirements through the introduction of one passport, less have been found to have achieved of its much expectations. Non harmonization of currency, poor political commitment and existence of multiples checkpoints hampered the success of the protocol. This study examined the success recorded and the challenges that hijacked the full implementation of the protocol; About a half a century of its creations, ECOWAS in spite her remarkable achievements in promoting unity, maintaining peace and enhancing political and economic relations, have yielded less particularly in relation to the implementation of the free movement protocol. Though, movement of goods and people is much more advanced in comparison to the earlier years of decolonization, it is still bedeviled by so may be abuses. Since majority of West African people are not highly educated, there is the need of informal education system to acquaint people with the basic formalities or requirement involve in their cross border affairs within the sub region. There is also need for the automation of immigration and custom services to help fasten the procedures of border administration. The present manual system was found not suitable in the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 30 years, two different bodies of literature developed by both US historians and francophone geographers have moved toward similar conclusions regarding West African economic spatial patterns. Despite their different backgrounds, both the ‘spatial factor’ approach promoted by historians and the ‘mobile space’ approach developed by geographers view exchange centres as nodes of transnational trade networksandplaces in production territories, and perceive spatial dynamics as highly dependent on shifts of trade flows and production activities. The objective of this article is to bring these two approaches together. We analyse the linguistic, disciplinary and geographic barriers that have separated them, and explain why and how these obstacles are being overcome. We then turn to what the two approaches have in common, notably their emphasis on actors in space, particularly traders, and where their differences lie. Finally, we show how a combined approach can make a significant contribution to the scholarly study of space in West Africa. We argue that continuing dialogue among fields can contribute to a reassessment of development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the topic of return migration as it is understood and practised by different actors who engage with this theme, albeit from different perspectives. Return migration is paraded in policy debates as a triple-win scenario, bringing advantages to receiving states, countries of origin and migrants. Yet this article reveals how return migration is understood differently by policymakers in Senegal and Europe and by the migrants targeted by their policies. Interpretations are based on conflicting underlying assumptions of what return is, its benefits and its relation to transnational movement. Inspired by the discursive paradigm in political studies, this article utilizes interpretive tools to examine the structures that support and give meaning to understandings of return among institutional actors and migrants. It concludes that new theorization is needed to grasp the full complexity of return migration as a phenomenon that is marked by different temporalities and aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]