Trade and Investment in East Africa

This book provides a thorough understanding of the key policy debates on international trade and investment for development with a focus on the East African Community (EAC) to strengthen Member States’ capacity to develop policies to promote their exports’ competitiveness and diversification. Beyond Member States’, the book serves as a base for a deeper understanding of the challenges, opportunities and requirements of the intra-continental trade agreement which is now in sight with the ratification of the Tripartite (EAC-COMESA-SADC) Free Trade Area that is critical in addressing key constraints to trade in the African continent. Moreover, the lessons from this edited volume may also extend to the challenges and opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

 The book brings together a comprehensive overview and an evidence-based analysis that can be considered best practice in the region. The trade and investment policy analysis of constraints and opportunities aims to improve trade and competitiveness and covers macro- (economy-wide), meso- (sectoral) and micro- (firm or household) levels. This multi-level approach is crucial for understanding how current trade and investment policies limit competitiveness and diversification in order to identify more tangible policy action for overcoming such constraints. The individual contributors follow comprehensive applied empirical approaches, and each chapter generates knowledge needed to identify key challenges and opportunities focusing on research-led policy-relevant approaches that enable readers to better understand national, bilateral, and multilateral cooperation as well as policies for sustainable development in East Africa. The contributors know the EAC context very well as their engagement in policymaking goes beyond the context of the papers they are writing about. The individual chapters were developed as part of a research and capacity building programme under the aegis of ACP and EUthat we implemented in 2020-2022. The research project well fits into the Frontiers in African Business Research series as we have many African contributors.

 The contributions matter to policymakers and academic circles. For students, the book serves as an excellent guide for understanding international trade and investment theories and gaining up-to-date knowledge on developments in the world economy and their effects on developing countries and SDGs. Trade policy researchers and students will be able to extend theories and empirical data to address new and emerging topics beyond the settings already covered in the book.

Binyam Afewerk Demena (Ph.D.) is a development economist committed to responding to questions arising in today’s global problems. His research, which is largely inspired by the SDGs, lies at the intersection of Development, Environment and Health. He has  made contributions on a broad range of topics of impact evaluation including in the areas of international trade, foreign direct investment, economic sanctions, uptake of solar energy systems, public health, public governance, environmental emissions, information and communications technology for development (ICT4D), rural infrastructure programs, and formalization of informal firms, drawing both on qualitative and quantitative methods in different forms. He has a track record of published research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, among others in Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental and Resource Economics, Labour Economics, Journal of Economic Surveys, AIDS Patient Care and STDs, and Third World Quarterly.He has solid field research experience in low- and middle-income countries.

Peter van Bergeijk is a full and tenured professor of International Economics/ Macroeconomics, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands, since 2009. His research interests include world trade, economic sanctions, diplomacy, development, natural and man-made disasters, and trade uncertainty. He is the (co)editor of The Gravity Model in International Trade: Advances and Applications (2010), Research Handbook on Economic Diplomacy (2019), Research Handbook on Economic Sanctions (2021), SDGs and Income Inequality (2017). Recent monographs include Deglobalization 2.0 (2019) and Pandemic Economics (2021).