Croissance et convergence économique en Afrique : L’impact des effets spatiaux [Growth and convergence in Africa: The impact of spatial effects]

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of spatial effects on convergence process in Africa over the period 1975-2000. Taking into account these effects through the methodology of Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) and spatial econometrics, we focus on the geographical dimension of economic convergence of African countries. This allows us to deal with spatial autocorrelation which is a consequence of econometric interdependences due to geographic spillovers. Indeed, countries economic performance hides specific geographical patterns providing information on the importance of location on economic dynamics. Our results prove the existence of convergence process in Africa through a model with spatially autocorrelated error. It is also clear from this analysis that the countries of East African Community (EAC) form the main convergence club which significantly influences the overall pattern of spatial autocorrelation.