IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/josatr/v9y2024i1d10.1186_s41072-024-00164-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of free trade on export efficiency of COMESA member-states

Author

Listed:
  • Stein Masunda

    (Midlands State University)

  • Gabriel Mhonyera

    (University of Johannesburg)

Abstract

Regional integration in Africa is deepening, and the existing regional groupings are making frantic efforts to remove barriers to trade. One way in which trade among countries can be promoted is through the establishment of free trade areas with member-states. However, regulatory quality that supports international trade in most African countries is exceptionally low. This study investigates the effect of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area (FTA) on the bilateral export efficiency of member-states over the period 1997–2021. The results obtained using a stochastic frontier specification of the gravity model and panel data of 16 exporting COMESA member-states show a positive effect of the COMESA free trade area on export efficiency. In addition, the study finds regulatory quality to have a positive impact on export efficiency. Controlling for regulatory quality, the results also show that the FTA stimulates export efficiency. Hence, non-FTA COMESA members ought to contemplate joining the FTA in order to expand their respective exports with other member-states to their maximum potential.

Suggested Citation

  • Stein Masunda & Gabriel Mhonyera, 2024. "Effects of free trade on export efficiency of COMESA member-states," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:josatr:v:9:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s41072-024-00164-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s41072-024-00164-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s41072-024-00164-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s41072-024-00164-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, James E. & Yotov, Yoto V., 2016. "Terms of trade and global efficiency effects of free trade agreements, 1990–2002," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 279-298.
    2. Dimitrios Dadakas & Salim Ghazvini Kor & Scott Fargher, 2020. "Examining the trade potential of the UAE using a gravity model and a Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimator," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 619-646, July.
    3. Surender Kumar & Prerna Prabhakar, 2017. "India’s Trade Potential and Free Trade Agreements: A Stochastic Frontier Gravity Approach," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Leena Ajit Kaushal, 2022. "Impact of regional trade agreements on export efficiency – A case study of India," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2008090-200, December.
    5. Doan, Thang N. & Xing, Yuqing, 2018. "Trade efficiency, free trade agreements and rules of origin," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 33-41.
    6. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    7. Rao Muhammad Atif & Haider Mahmood & Liu Haiyun & Haiou Mao, 2019. "Determinants and efficiency of Pakistan’s chemical products’ exports: An application of stochastic frontier gravity model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    9. Dani Rodrik, 2018. "What Do Trade Agreements Really Do?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 73-90, Spring.
    10. Sheng, Yu & Wu, Yanrui & Shi, Xunpeng & Zhang, Dandan, 2015. "Energy trade efficiency and its determinants: A Malmquist index approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 306-314.
    11. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "On estimating efficiency effects in a stochastic frontier model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 769-774.
    12. Grace Gondwe, 2021. "Regional Integration and Trade: The Case of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Free Trade Area," Journal of African Trade, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Y. H. Venus Lun & Jan Hoffmann, 2016. "Connectivity and trade relativity: the case of ASEAN," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Xing Yao & Yongzhong Zhang & Rizwana Yasmeen & Zhen Cai, 2021. "The impact of preferential trade agreements on bilateral trade: A structural gravity model analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Arisara Romyen & Chonrada Nunti & Paramin Neranon, 2023. "Trade efficiency under FTA for Thailand’s agricultural exports: copula-based gravity stochastic frontier model," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    16. Raghuvir Kelkar & Kaliappa Kalirajan, 2021. "Has India achieved its potential in merchandise exports?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 271-292, April.
    17. Kee-hung Lai & Yu Pang & Christina W. Y. Wong & Y. H. Venus Lun & Y. N. Eppie Ng, 2019. "Are trade and transport logistics activities mutually reinforcing? Some empirical evidences from ASEAN countries," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "Modelling Efficiency Effects in a True Fixed Effects Stochastic Frontier," MPRA Paper 87437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Satya Paul & Sriram Shankar, 2020. "Estimating efficiency effects in a panel data stochastic frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 163-180, April.
    3. Brian Tavonga Mazorodze, 2024. "Access to finance and intra-Africa trade efficiency," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Williams, Jonathan, 2013. "The random parameters stochastic frontier cost function and the effectiveness of public policy: Evidence from bank restructuring in Mexico," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    5. Gangopadhyay, Partha & Jain, Siddharth & Bakry, Walid, 2022. "In search of a rational foundation for the massive IT boom in the Australian banking industry: Can the IT boom really drive relationship banking?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Wollni, Meike & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2012. "Productive efficiency of specialty and conventional coffee farmers in Costa Rica: Accounting for technological heterogeneity and self-selection," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 67-76.
    7. Christopher F. Parmeter & Hung-Jen Wang & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Nonparametric estimation of the determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 205-221, June.
    8. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    9. Tran, Kien C. & Tsionas, Efthymios G., 2009. "Estimation of nonparametric inefficiency effects stochastic frontier models with an application to British manufacturing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 904-909, September.
    10. Hung-Jen Wang, 2002. "Heteroscedasticity and Non-Monotonic Efficiency Effects of a Stochastic Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 241-253, November.
    11. Abubakar Rasheed & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Qasir Abbas & Xu Tian & Rafay Waseem, 2020. "Women Participation: A Productivity Strategy in Rice Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, April.
    12. Sickles, Robin C. & Song, Wonho & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2018. "Econometric Analysis of Productivity: Theory and Implementation in R," Working Papers 18-008, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    13. Chen, Ku-Hsieh, 2012. "Incorporating risk input into the analysis of bank productivity: Application to the Taiwanese banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1911-1927.
    14. Steffen, Christoph & Yu, Xiaohua, 2018. "Transaction Costs and Food Prices in Rural Kenya," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 274537, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    15. Mastromarco Camilla & Laura Serlenga & Yongcheol Shin, 2013. "Globalisation and technological convergence in the EU," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 15-29, August.
    16. Florian Dorn, 2021. "Elections and Government Efficiency," ifo Working Paper Series 363, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    17. Nguyen, Hoa-Thi-Minh & Do, Huong & Kompas, Tom, 2021. "Economic efficiency versus social equity: The productivity challenge for rice production in a ‘greying’ rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    18. Chien-Ming Chen & Magali A. Delmas & Marvin B. Lieberman, 2015. "Production frontier methodologies and efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 19-36, January.
    19. Orea, Luis, 2019. "The Econometric Measurement of Firms’ Efficiency," Efficiency Series Papers 2019/02, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    20. Patrick PLANE & Tidiane KINDA & Mohamed CHAFFAI, 2009. "Textile manufacturing in eight developing countries:How far does the business environment explain firms’ productive inefficiency?," Working Papers 200923, CERDI.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Export efficiency; COMESA; Regulatory quality; Stochastic frontier gravity model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:josatr:v:9:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s41072-024-00164-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.