Corridors without Borders in West Africa

This paper estimates the welfare gains from upgrading several major regional corridors in West Africa. It uses a quantitative economic geography framework with trade within and across countries and mobility of people within countries to assess the...

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Main Author:	Lebrand, Mathilde
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:	TRADE FACILITATION REGIONAL CORRIDOR SPATIAL GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/585581637328017410/Corridors-without-Borders-in-West-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36634

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recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-366342021-12-03T05:10:39Z Corridors without Borders in West Africa Lebrand, Mathilde TRADE FACILITATION REGIONAL CORRIDOR SPATIAL GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE This paper estimates the welfare gains from upgrading several major regional corridors in West Africa. It uses a quantitative economic geography framework with trade within and across countries and mobility of people within countries to assess the economic impacts of the reduction in trade costs from road and border infrastructure investments. The findings show that the upgrade of Dakar-Lagos regional road corridor brings sizable economic benefits relative to investment costs, with a benefit-cost ratio estimated around 3. The economic benefits of road corridor upgrades are doubled and more widely spread when combined with measures to reduce current massive border delays. The benefits are negligible for Nigeria, but large for small fragile states (Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone). The gains are highest for corridors connecting large economies, and smaller and more fragile countries gain proportionally more from accessing larger markets. Finally, regional investments, including border time reduction policies, will reduce spatial inequality in the whole region but might increase inequality in some countries. 2021-12-02T20:57:11Z 2021-12-02T20:57:11Z 2021-11 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/585581637328017410/Corridors-without-Borders-in-West-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36634 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9855 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Africa Western and Central (AFW) West Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	TRADE FACILITATION REGIONAL CORRIDOR SPATIAL GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
spellingShingle	TRADE FACILITATION REGIONAL CORRIDOR SPATIAL GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE Lebrand, Mathilde Corridors without Borders in West Africa
geographic_facet	Africa Africa Western and Central (AFW) West Africa
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9855
description	This paper estimates the welfare gains from upgrading several major regional corridors in West Africa. It uses a quantitative economic geography framework with trade within and across countries and mobility of people within countries to assess the economic impacts of the reduction in trade costs from road and border infrastructure investments. The findings show that the upgrade of Dakar-Lagos regional road corridor brings sizable economic benefits relative to investment costs, with a benefit-cost ratio estimated around 3. The economic benefits of road corridor upgrades are doubled and more widely spread when combined with measures to reduce current massive border delays. The benefits are negligible for Nigeria, but large for small fragile states (Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone). The gains are highest for corridors connecting large economies, and smaller and more fragile countries gain proportionally more from accessing larger markets. Finally, regional investments, including border time reduction policies, will reduce spatial inequality in the whole region but might increase inequality in some countries.
format	Working Paper
author	Lebrand, Mathilde
author_facet	Lebrand, Mathilde
author_sort	Lebrand, Mathilde
title	Corridors without Borders in West Africa
title_short	Corridors without Borders in West Africa
title_full	Corridors without Borders in West Africa
title_fullStr	Corridors without Borders in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Corridors without Borders in West Africa
title_sort	corridors without borders in west africa
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2021
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/585581637328017410/Corridors-without-Borders-in-West-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36634
_version_	1764485651923730432

Corridors without Borders in West Africa

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