IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/snbeco/v5y2025i6d10.1007_s43546-025-00822-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heterogeneous effects of free trade areas (FTAs) on trade in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mussie Mindaye

    (University of Messina
    Visting Scholar at Southern Illinois University)

  • Carlo Migliardo

    (University of Messina)

  • Tadele Ferede

    (University of Addis Ababa)

Abstract

Over the past few decades, numerous Free Trade Areas (FTAs) have been formed across Africa. However, the impact of these FTAs on trade dynamics has not been thoroughly examined. In this study, we employ the structural gravity model to investigate the trade implications of these FTAs. Our findings reveal that all FTAs have significantly boosted trade, with trade expansion varying from a fivefold increase in the Eastern African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), to a twofold surge in the case of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). We further examine the heterogenous effects of FTAs, particularly focusing on whether countries share borders or not, and discover compelling evidence that FTAs foster greater trade expansion among border-sharing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mussie Mindaye & Carlo Migliardo & Tadele Ferede, 2025. "Heterogeneous effects of free trade areas (FTAs) on trade in Africa," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 5(6), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:5:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s43546-025-00822-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s43546-025-00822-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43546-025-00822-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43546-025-00822-x?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. Nicholas Ngepah & Maxwell C. Udeagha, 2018. "African Regional Trade Agreements and Intra-African Trade," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 33(1), pages 1176-1199.
    2. V.I. Gorlach & P. le Roux, 2015. "The Impact of Economic Freedom on Economic Growth in the SADC: An Individual Component Analysis," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 41-63, August.
    3. Elhanan Helpman & Marc Melitz & Yona Rubinstein, 2008. "Estimating Trade Flows: Trading Partners and Trading Volumes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 441-487.
    4. Alemayehu Geda & Haile Kebret, 2008. "Regional Economic Integration in Africa: A Review of Problems and Prospects with a Case Study of COMESA," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 17(3), pages 357-394, June.
    5. Peter Egger, 2002. "An Econometric View on the Estimation of Gravity Models and the Calculation of Trade Potentials," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 297-312, February.
    6. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    7. Thomas Chaney, 2008. "Distorted Gravity: The Intensive and Extensive Margins of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1707-1721, September.
    8. Clement Moyo & Hlalefang Khobai, 2018. "Trade openess and economic growth in SADC countries," Working Papers 1820, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University.
    9. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2007. "Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 72-95, March.
    10. Samuel Admassu, 2019. "An empirical analysis of the trade-creation effect of African regional economic communities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 843-863, March.
    11. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6apm7lruv088iagm4rv2c33jtg is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H. & Larch, Mario & Yotov, Yoto V., 2015. "Economic integration agreements, border effects, and distance elasticities in the gravity equation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 307-327.
    13. Bo E. Honoré & Michaela Kesina, 2017. "Estimation of Some Nonlinear Panel Data Models With Both Time-Varying and Time-Invariant Explanatory Variables," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 543-558, October.
    14. Foster, Neil & Poeschl, Johannes & Stehrer, Robert, 2011. "The impact of Preferential Trade Agreements on the margins of international trade," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 84-97, March.
    15. Julia Spornberger, 2022. "EU integration and structural gravity: A comprehensive quantification of the border effect on trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 915-938, September.
    16. Clement Zibusiso MOYO & Hlalefang KHOBAI, 2018. "Trade Openness and Economic Growth in SADC Countries," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 71(4), pages 417-436.
    17. 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.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6apm7lruv088iagm4rv2c33jtg is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Thomas Chaney, 2008. "Distorted Gravity: The Intensive and Extensive Margins of International Trade," SciencePo Working papers hal-03579844, HAL.
    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. Mario Larch & Yoto V. Yotov, 2024. "Estimating the effects of trade agreements: Lessons from 60 years of methods and data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1771-1799, May.
    2. Rod Falvey & Neil Foster-McGregor, 2022. "The breadth of preferential trade agreements and the margins of exports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 158(1), pages 181-251, February.
    3. Erick Kitenge & Sajal Lahiri, 2024. "Estimating gravity coefficients with multiple layers of heterogeneity," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1204-1237, August.
    4. Adu, Raymond & Litsios, Ioannis & Baimbridge, Mark, 2022. "ECOWAS single currency: Prospective effects on trade," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    5. Zakaria Sorgho, 2016. "RTAs' Proliferation and Trade-diversion Effects: Evidence of the ‘Spaghetti Bowl’ Phenomenon," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 285-300, February.
    6. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2014. "Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 131-195, Elsevier.
    7. Anderson, James E. & Yotov, Yoto V., 2020. "Short run gravity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H. & Feng, Michael, 2014. "Economic integration agreements and the margins of international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 339-350.
    9. Margherita Scoppola & Valentina Raimondi & Alessandro Olper, 2018. "The impact of EU trade preferences on the extensive and intensive margins of agricultural and food products," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(2), pages 251-263, March.
    10. Harald Oberhofer & Zhenyi Wang, 2025. "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About EU Membership Trade Effects But Were Afraid to Ask," CESifo Working Paper Series 11823, CESifo.
    11. Anderson, James E. & Borchert, Ingo & Mattoo, Aaditya & Yotov, Yoto V., 2018. "Dark costs, missing data: Shedding some light on services trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 193-214.
    12. Soonchan Park & Innwon Park, 2023. "Firm size‐specific trade effects of regional trade agreements: Estimating extensive and intensive margins of trade," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 82-112, March.
    13. Julia Spornberger, 2022. "EU integration and structural gravity: A comprehensive quantification of the border effect on trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 915-938, September.
    14. Elisaveta Archanskaia & Guillaume Daudin, 2012. "Heterogeneity and the Distance Puzzle," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2012-17, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    15. Sorgho, Zakaria, 2014. "RTAs’ Proliferation and Trade-diversion effects: Evidence of the “Spaghetti Bowl” Phenomenon," MPRA Paper 60503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Natalie Chen & Dennis Novy, 2022. "Gravity and Heterogeneous Trade Cost Elasticities," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(644), pages 1349-1377.
    17. Jeffrey H. Bergstrand, 2013. "Measuring the Effects of Endogenous Policies on Economic Integration," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(2), pages 199-222, June.
    18. Mario Larch & Yoto V. Yotov, 2016. "General Equilibrium Trade Policy Analysis with Structural Gravity," CESifo Working Paper Series 6020, CESifo.
    19. Kimsanova, Barchynai & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2022. "Policy analysis with Melitz-type gravity model: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Heid, Benedikt & Stähler, Frank, 2024. "Structural gravity and the gains from trade under imperfect competition: Quantifying the effects of the European Single Market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

    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:snbeco:v:5:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s43546-025-00822-x. 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.