Understanding the causal link between trade liberalization and economic performance enables a better analysis of the likely impact of the former on the latter and vice versa. It is also highly important for analyzing the potential of trade liberalization to improve people's well-being in the mid-long term. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze the causal relationship between trade liberalization and economic performance in the ECOWAS zone. The Granger causality approach has been applied to this end on a panel including twelve (12) countries over the period 2000-2017. The results show that trade liberalization does not cause any of the economic performance variables examined in the study. This raises the challenge for economic policy makers to rigorously assess trade agreements and policies and to take into account certain macroeconomic aspects and country-specific characteristics of the West African community.
Show abstract
Full Text
