Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa

Entrepôt Trade and Smuggling in West Africa: Benin, Togo and Nigeria

SMUGGLING is pervasive in Africa. Perhaps the most pronounced version of this is the development of ‘entrepôt states’ in West Africa, notably Benin, Togo and The Gambia (Igué and Soulé, 1992), whose economic development strategies have been largely based on enhancing their attractiveness as trading hubs. These countries serve as conduits for both legal transit to landlocked countries in West Af...

Informal cross - border trade and smuggling in Africa

The low level and discrepancies of recorded intraAfrican trade flows have been noted for at least 30 years (Berg 1985; Yeats 1990). This situation has continued or even expanded despite structural adjustment programs involving trade liberalization and extensive integration schemes aiming to promote formal integration. There are some 30 regional blocs in Africa, and on average each of the 53 cou...

Informality in Africa: A Review

The global research-policy-action network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Working Papers feature research that makes either an empirical or theoretical contribution to existing knowledge about the informal economy especially the working poor, their living and work environments and/or their organizations. Particular attention is paid to policy-relevant research i...

From cigarette smuggling to illicit tobacco trade.

BACKGROUND Tax policy is considered the most effective strategy to reduce tobacco consumption and prevalence. Tax avoidance and tax evasion therefore undermine the effectiveness of tax policies and result in less revenue for governments, cheaper prices for smokers and increased tobacco use. Tobacco smuggling and illicit tobacco trade have probably always existed, since tobacco's introduction as...

R&D Spillovers, Trade Integration And Expansion Of Trade Flows In East- West Asia And Pacific