Price discrimination in bribe payments: Evidence from informal cross-border trade in West Africa

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...

Potential Risk of Regional Disease Spread in West Africa through Cross-Border Cattle Trade

BACKGROUND Transboundary animal movements facilitate the spread of pathogens across large distances. Cross-border cattle trade is of economic and cultural importance in West Africa. This study explores the potential disease risk resulting from large-scale, cross-border cattle trade between Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria for the first time. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A quest...

Evidence from West Africa

In this paper we use data from 17 African nations in order to investigate the hypothesis that monetary union – represented in this case by the CFA Franc Zone – augments the extent of macroeconomic integration. The paper covers a number of dimensions of integration including the volume of bilateral trade, real exchange rate volatility and the magnitude of cross-country business cycle correlation.

Hurdles to trade? South Africa’s immigration policy and informal sector cross-border traders in the SADC

Stand at any of South Africa’s border posts and watch who is crossing the border to neighbouring states. Women with heads and arms laden, bakkies and cars overloaded with goods, mini-bus taxis pulling trailers, and lorries—big and small filled to the brim. Trains and buses pull in with full baggage racks. Many of these vehicles are carrying informal sector cross-border traders, people who are b...

Financial Burden of Border Hospital in Caring for Cross-Border Patients: A Short Note From Thailand