Abstract
This study utilizes a recently developed measure of one nation’s competitive exposure to other nations on its export sales to analyze the competitive exposure facing West Africa nations on sales to the United States from 1996 to 2006. The methodology extends previous research by accounting both for similarity in export profiles across nations and for the absolute size of export sales by each nation. We identify changes over time in the importance of different world regions as competitors to West Africa nations, and we highlight the product groups most responsible for West Africa’s competitive exposure to other world regions on sales in the United States.
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Notes
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.
Krugman (1991) defines a similar measure \( {\text{SPEC}} = \sum {{{^{\text{n}}}_{{\text{i}} = 1}}\left| {{{\text{a}}_{\text{i}}} - {{\text{b}}_{\text{i}}}} \right|} \) with variables as defined for the F-K export similarity index. See Kim (1999), and Clark and WinCoop (2001) for applications using SPEC.
Complete decompositions of China MOM values showing % contributions by product group for all products contributing to the MOM value are available upon request from authors.
Calculating the fraction of the Latin American MOM value attributable to each product group also was done for those ECOWAS nations with large Latin American MOM values. These results are available from the authors upon request. Results are not presented here due to space constraints.
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Sissoko, Y., Yerger, D.B. West Africa’s Evolving Competitive Exposure in U.S. Import Markets. Int Adv Econ Res 16, 11–23 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-009-9248-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-009-9248-1