Economic sectoral effect on poverty in economic community of West African states (ECOWAS)

Poverty reduction is a challenge for achieving sustainable development goals, especially in developing countries. This article analyzes the economic sectoral effect on poverty in ECOWAS countries from 2000 to 2018. The income frontier is used to analyze the contribution of the different sectors to improving the population's standard of living. The results of the income frontier show that the agriculture, industry, and services sectors respectively contribute to improving the standard of living of the population in the ECOWAS zone. Secondly, the results show that, according to the different sectors of the economy, the capacity to generate high incomes is greater in the short term in ECOWAS countries. Furthermore, the estimates show that in both the short and long term, the industrial sector makes a greater contribution to increasing the countries' capacity to generate high incomes to improve the population's standard of living. The mean difference test also confirms that the population's standard of living increases more with the industrial sector. The policy aimed at improving the contributions of the industrial and agricultural sectors in the short term as is needed to improve economic growth and the standard of living of the population in ECOWAS countries.