F14 - Empirical Studies of TradeReturn

This paper closely examines how selected macroeconomic variables affect income in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The study employs a more recent dataset and uses fixed and random effects models to characterise the nature and direction of impact evidenced from the data. The analysis further incorporates a monetary policy element by introducing money market interest rate and examining its effects. In general, the paper reveals that income in SSA is significantly affected by trade. Additionally, money market interest rate is found to have no major impact on income as may be perceived, suggesting that this aspect of monetary policy has not played a major role in affecting income levels in SSA. The findings of this study can serve as a guide for policy makers within the region when considering policy actions in relation to income.

This paper investigates the β -convergence in the trade volumes of EU countries. We focus on a different approach to convergence analysis, namely trade's contribution to convergence. Neoclassical growth theory assumes there will be a convergence process among the economies, even in absence of trade. Trade relations might, however, speed up this process. We use panel data for trade volumes of 26 EU countries and test the presence and the speed of β -convergence pattern on SITC sectors 6 and 7 trade categories. The implied speeds of unconditional convergence of the export volume per capita are about 0.05-0.06 (implying half-lives around 12-13 years). When accounting for the country- or time-period specific effects, we can observe relatively high convergence rates (with half-lives somewhere around 2-4 years).