Regional Integration in West Africa - Are Countries Diverging?

Sammanfattning: The author examines reasons for divergence of GDP per capita among the members of ECOWAS, a RIA in West Africa of 15 members. Also, WAEMU, another RIA in West Africa, is analyzed although to a smaller extent than ECOWAS. Mainly consequences of trade diversion and agglomeration effects are considered. An analysis of the dispersion of GDP per capita between the members is carried out to find evidence for the predicted divergence among the members. The author concludes that there are reasons to believe that regional integration in West Africa is causing divergence of GDP per capita. However, since intra-community trade constitutes only a minor share of total trade of the members of ECOWAS, it is difficult to assess the effects of regional integration.