IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v35y2023i3p491-504.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

African trading brokers in China: The internet, Covid‐19 and the transformation of low‐end globalization

Author

Listed:
  • Gordon Mathews

Abstract

African trading brokers in China buy knock‐off or copy goods and move them through customs via bribery to African ports; this trade, although illegal, brings desired global products to Africa. This paper, based on interviews with African trading brokers, examines how the internet and Covid‐19 have affected their trade. African customers can now find out the accurate prices of goods; computerized customs regimes make bribery difficult; and Covid‐19 has raised shipping costs. While the informal economic arrangements of these trading brokers will probably continue despite policymakers' efforts to eradicate them, China may no longer be the source of their goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon Mathews, 2023. "African trading brokers in China: The internet, Covid‐19 and the transformation of low‐end globalization," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), pages 491-504, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:35:y:2023:i:3:p:491-504
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3654
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3654
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.3654?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bensassi, Sami & Jarreau, Joachim, 2019. "Price discrimination in bribe payments: Evidence from informal cross-border trade in West Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 462-480.
    2. Gordon Mathews, 2015. "Taking Copies from China Past Customs: Routines, Risks, and the Possibility of Catastrophe," Journal of Borderlands Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 423-435, September.
    3. Barney Warf, 2017. "Geographies of African corruption," PSU Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 1(1), pages 20-38, April.
    4. Jacques Charmes, 2012. "The Informal Economy Worldwide: Trends and Characteristics," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 6(2), pages 103-132, May.
    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. Azunre, Gideon Abagna & Amponsah, Owusu & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Urban informalities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A solution for or barrier against sustainable city development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    2. Seamus Murphy & Diksha Arora & Froukje Kruijssen & Cynthia McDougall & Paula Kantor, 2020. "Gender-based market constraints to informal fish retailing: Evidence from analysis of variance and linear regression," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Rosa Abraham, 2017. "Informality in the Indian Labour Market: An Analysis of Forms and Determinants," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 60(2), pages 191-215, June.
    4. Croke,Kevin & Garcia Mora,Maria Elena & Goldstein,Markus P. & Mensah,Edouard Romeo & O'Sullivan,Michael B., 2020. "Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo?Rwanda Border," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9123, The World Bank.
    5. Vial, Virginie & Hanoteau, Julien, 2015. "Returns to Micro-Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: A Quantile Study of Entrepreneurial Indonesian Households’ Welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 142-157.
    6. Valentina A. Assenova & Olav Sorenson, 2017. "Legitimacy and the Benefits of Firm Formalization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 804-818, October.
    7. World Bank [WB], 2017. "Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2017/2018 : Foreign Investor Perspectives and Policy Implications," Working Papers id:12293, eSocialSciences.
    8. Floridi, A. & Wagner, N. & Cameron, J., 2016. "A study of Egyptian and Palestine trans-formal firms – A neglected category operating in the borderland between formality and informality," ISS Working Papers - General Series 619, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    9. Gerasimos T SOLDATOS, 2015. "Indirect Tax Incidence under Inelastic Underground Economy Demand," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 7(3), pages 56-62.
    10. Paraskevi Koufopoulou & Colin C. Williams & Athanassios Vozikis & Kyriakos Souliotis, 2019. "Shadow Economy: Definitions, terms & theoretical considerations," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-3.
    11. Feige, Edgar L., 2015. "Reflections on the meaning and measurement of Unobserved Economies: What do we really know about the “Shadow Economy”?," MPRA Paper 68466, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. David N Margolis, 2014. "By Choice and by Necessity: Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment in the Developing World," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 26(4), pages 419-436, September.
    13. Gindling, T.H. & Newhouse, David, 2014. "Self-Employment in the Developing World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 313-331.
    14. Espen Beer Prydz & Dean Jolliffe & Umar Serajuddin, 2022. "Disparities in Assessments of Living Standards Using National Accounts and Household Surveys," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(S2), pages 385-420, December.
    15. Tilman Altenburg & Aimée Hampel-Milagrosa & Markus Loewe, 2017. "A Decade On: How Relevant is the Regulatory Environment for Micro and Small Enterprise Upgrading After All?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 457-475, April.
    16. Rachel Masika, 2017. "Mobile Phones and Entrepreneurial Identity Negotiation by Urban Female Street Traders in Uganda," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 610-627, November.
    17. Edward Lorenz, 2014. "Do Credit Constrained Firms in Africa Innovate Less? A Study Based on Nine African Nations," GREDEG Working Papers 2014-29, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    18. Stojetz,Wolfgang & Brück,Tilman, 2021. "The Double Burden of Female Protracted Displacement : Survey Evidence on Gendered Livelihoods in ElFasher, Darfur," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9824, The World Bank.
    19. Godwin Kwemarira & Diana Nandagire Ntamu & Isa Nsereko & Waswa Balunywa, 2023. "Deontological Ethical Orientations and Public interest in Government Schools," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1455-1476, December.
    20. Francis Fortune & Olawale Ismail & Monica Stephen, 2015. "Rethinking Youth, Livelihoods, and Fragility in West Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 22517, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jintdv:v:35:y:2023:i:3:p:491-504. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    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.