Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model
There has been considerable research on the effect of democracy on trade openness since the 1980s when development strategies toward free trade and democracy were rapidly adopted in developing countries. Most studies have focused on Asian, Latin American, and former soviet bloc countries and few stu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Economies |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/6/3/45 |
| _version_ | 1818016110113456128 |
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| author | Nazif Durmaz John Kagochi |
| author_facet | Nazif Durmaz John Kagochi |
| author_sort | Nazif Durmaz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There has been considerable research on the effect of democracy on trade openness since the 1980s when development strategies toward free trade and democracy were rapidly adopted in developing countries. Most studies have focused on Asian, Latin American, and former soviet bloc countries and few studies have focused on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study is an attempt to fill that gap and uses a gravity model approach to test the effects of democracy in SSA on trade. Our results show that democracy has substantial impact on openness to trade and SSA democratic countries will trade more with other countries irrespective of their level of democracy, when compared to non-democratic countries. The results do not vary much even when we use different sources of democracy variable. Also, democratic countries trade more among each other perhaps due to having a shared business environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:07:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-db0b219ee7d647feb49b795535a7b841 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7099 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:07:28Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Economies |
| spelling | doaj.art-db0b219ee7d647feb49b795535a7b8412022-12-22T02:06:31ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992018-08-01634510.3390/economies6030045economies6030045Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity ModelNazif Durmaz0John Kagochi1Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Houston-Victoria, Katy, TX 77449, USADepartment of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Houston-Victoria, Victoria, TX 77901, USAThere has been considerable research on the effect of democracy on trade openness since the 1980s when development strategies toward free trade and democracy were rapidly adopted in developing countries. Most studies have focused on Asian, Latin American, and former soviet bloc countries and few studies have focused on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study is an attempt to fill that gap and uses a gravity model approach to test the effects of democracy in SSA on trade. Our results show that democracy has substantial impact on openness to trade and SSA democratic countries will trade more with other countries irrespective of their level of democracy, when compared to non-democratic countries. The results do not vary much even when we use different sources of democracy variable. Also, democratic countries trade more among each other perhaps due to having a shared business environment.http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/6/3/45gravity modelpanel datademocracytrade opennessSub-Saharan Africa |
| spellingShingle | Nazif Durmaz John Kagochi Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model Economies gravity model panel data democracy trade openness Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model |
| title_full | Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model |
| title_fullStr | Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model |
| title_short | Democracy and Inter-Regional Trade Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gravity Model |
| title_sort | democracy and inter regional trade enhancement in sub saharan africa gravity model |
| topic | gravity model panel data democracy trade openness Sub-Saharan Africa |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/6/3/45 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nazifdurmaz democracyandinterregionaltradeenhancementinsubsaharanafricagravitymodel AT johnkagochi democracyandinterregionaltradeenhancementinsubsaharanafricagravitymodel |