Intra-trade among African Economic Bloc: A Comparative Study of East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) 2008–2018
Abstract
Since the at middle of 20th century when most African states begin to gain political independence from colonialist, one phenomenon that was over warmly accepted is that of regional integration, both political, social, and economic. Regional integration was believed to pertinent for attaining desired goals and objectives set, thus its acceptance by both policy makers, academic, experts as well as ordinary citizens all over the continent. Despite acceptance and existence of regional economic blocs, as put by the United Nations Commission for Africa(2010) Report, intra-trading within African continent is the lowest World over when compared to other regions, say Asia, Europe, North America, and or Latin America etc. There are numerous arguments on how international free trade affects economic growth among trading partners, one issue agreed upon is that of technological know-how and or technology transfer (Sala-i-martin and Barro, 1997). International free trade helped Less Developed Countries (LDCs) to gain new technologies as well as skills and knowledge of operationalizing such technology. Without international free trade, acquiring such technology will only be a mirage. International free trade opens competitions in the domestic market which, in turn increases productivity. Thus, regional economic blocs are instrument for expanding a nation states’ economic growth if properly utilizes.
Subject Area
Political science|Economics|International Relations|African Studies
Recommended Citation
Abdullahi, Mustapha Maikudi, "Intra-trade among African Economic Bloc: A Comparative Study of East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) 2008–2018" (2020). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI28316742.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI28316742