Determinants of Primary Commodity Export in Sub-Saharan Africa (A Panel Study)

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Date

2007-08

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The paper examines the implication of demand and supply side factors on SSA primary commodity export performance. A Sample of 21 countries is selected for the period 1995 to 2005, thus forming a panel data. The simultaneous equation disequilibrium version of Goldstein and Khan (1978) model is used for the analysis. In addition to the usual price and quantity variables, the model is augmented with policy actions of both exporting and importing countries. This model is estimated using both difference generalized method of moments (DGMM) and system generalized method of moments (SGMM). In addition, the study tests whether the small country assumption holds true using Brownes’ (1982) specification of the model. Using the first model, we found that the policy choices and actions of the importing countries are major constraints of the export sector. Although the supply side factors are found to be weak, when compared with the demand side factors, income and road are found to be significant in explaining the sectors performance. Taking the small country assumption into consideration, all the domestic factors are significant in explaining the export performance. In general, the results of the study indicate that the export sector is inelastic for both the external and internal factors. So we can infer that, the export of primary commodity is constrained by both the domestic and external factors. Consequently, there is a need to switch to other export earning mechanism and/or to provide enough attention in alleviating the constraints.

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Primary Commodity Export in Sub-Saharan Africa

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