Article
Unrestricted Market Access for Sub-Saharan Africa: How Much Is It Worth and Who Pays?

Authors: Ianchovichinaa E.; Mattooa A.; Olarreagaa,b M.

Source: Journal of African Economies, Volume 10, Number 4, December 2001 , pp. 410-432(23)

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Abstract:

Initiatives to improve market access for the poorest countries have recently been announced by the EU, Japan and the USA. This paper assesses the impact of these initiatives and others that might be taken for a subset of 37 Sub-Saharan African countries (SSA-37). We find that fully unrestricted access to all the QUAD countries (EU, USA, Canada and Japan) would produce substantial gains for SSA-37, leading to a 14% increase in non-oil exports ($2.5 billion) and boosting real incomes in SSA-37 by about 1%. Most of these gains would come from preferential access to the highly protected Japanese and European agricultural markets. The smallness of SSA-37 ensures that the costs of trade diversion for the QUAD, other developing countries and the world as a whole are negligible.

Document Type: Original article

Affiliations: aThe World Bank, Washington DC and bCEPR, London

Publication date: 2001-12-01

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The Journal of African Economies is a vehicle to carry rigorous economic analysis, focused entirely on Africa, for Africans and anyone interested in the continent - be they consultants, policymakers, academics, traders, financiers, development agents or aid workers. Each issue of the Journal of African Economies contains applied research of the highest standard, together with a comprehensive book review section, and a listing of the current working papers from around the world.