Fuelled by low labour costs and preferential trade agreements, exports of textile products originating from Sub-Saharan countries have grown dramatically in the last decades. This paper analyses some of the implications that export growth in the textile and apparel sector have for social welfare and poverty reduction in Madagascar. The paper proposes a simulation exercise utilising household level data and a methodology that combines the wage premium literature with matching methods. The results point to a large variation in the distribution of the benefits from export growth, with skilled workers and urban areas benefiting most. From a gender perspective, women are found to benefit substantially less than men. Although total welfare effects are significant, the benefits are largely reaped by non-poor households. From a poverty perspective, export-led growth in the textile and apparel sector is expected to have only a small effect on overall poverty. Copyright 2008 The author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Volume (Year): 17 (2008) Issue (Month): 3 (June) Pages: 465-489 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
Contact details of provider: Postal: Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK Fax: 01865 267 985 Email: Web page: http://www.jae.oupjournals.org/