Regional Integration and Informal Trade in Africa: Evidence from Benin’s Borders

Bensassi, Sami; Jarreau, Joachim; Mitaritonna, Cristina

doi:10.1093/jae/ejy016

Cited by 39 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…21 Little reliable data exist on informal trade volumes, yet a 2011 estimate places the ratio of informal to formal trade for Nigerian imports from Benin stands at about five to one, and at one to one for Nigeria's exports (Bensassi et al 2019).…”

Section: Spatially Adjustedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nigeria Development Update, June 2021

2021

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This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent.The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

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Section: Spatially Adjustedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nigeria Development Update, June 2021

2021

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“…In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, a large share of international trade ows does not go through ocial customs border posts and is not recorded in ocial customs data: it is generally called informal cross-border trade. Such ows cover many products and sectors, and their total value exceeds, in many cases, the value of ocial trade (Lesser and Moisé-Leeman, 2009;World Bank, 2013;Golub, 2015;Bensassi et al, 2018).…”

Section: Informal Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

“…ICBT is an important sector of economic activity in Africa. It has been shown to outstrip formal regional trade for the African countries where data are available (Ackello-Ogutu and Echessah, 1997;Golub and Mbaye, 2009;World Bank, 2011, 2013Bensassi et al, 2017Bensassi et al, , 2018. ICBT in Sub-Saharan Africa also provides muchneeded employment and enables deeper regional integration (Afrika and Ajumbo, 2012;IMF, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Bensassi

Jarreau

2019

World Development

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What factors explain the persistence and pervasiveness of corruption in certain parts of the world? In West Africa, many day-today transactions require the payment of bribes. Quantitative evidence on these bribes and their determinants is scarce. This paper sheds light on the level and the frequency of bribe payments in informal cross-border trade. It examines how bribes depend on the trade regime and on market structure. We rely on data from a survey of traders in Benin to estimate the determinants of bribe payments. We exploit variations in the trade regime across Benin's borders, as well as changes in trade restrictions over time and variations in route availability across space and time. We nd that reductions in trade barriers help to lower bribes, but do not eliminate them, with bribes remaining frequent in liberalized trade regimes. These results suggest that collusive corruption-used to circumvent regulations and taxes-coexists with coercive corruption, where ocials use their monopoly power to extract transfers from traders.

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“…While measurement issues around the volume of cross-border trade flows abound (Mitaritonna and Traoré, 2017), concerted efforts to measure them hint at the scale of these informal flows. For example, a recent national survey at 171 unofficial border crossings in Benin found that informal trade made up a very large share of flows with its neighboring countries, with the ratio of informal to formal trade flows at 5.1 to 1 with Nigeria and 2 to 1 with Togo (Bensassi et al, 2018). Similarly, a comprehensive 2006 survey of Uganda's informal cross-border trade flows into the Democratic Republic of Congo and four other neighboring countries found informal export levels that were 86 percent that of official export flows (Lesser and Moisé-Leeman, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Up before Dawn: Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border

Croke¹,

Mora²,

Goldstein³

et al. 2020

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

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Regional Integration and Informal Trade in Africa: Evidence from Benin’s Borders

Cited by 39 publications

References 20 publications

Nigeria Development Update, June 2021

Nigeria Development Update, June 2021

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

Up before Dawn: Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border

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