Economic Integration Agreements and Export Survival in Ghana

Abstract This study examines the effect of regional integration—specifically, that of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as an economic integration agreement—on the survival rate of Ghana’s exports. It employs a discrete-time complementary log–log hazard model with a random effects estimation technique and Kaplan–Meier estimates of the survival function, using data spanning from 1996–2018. The findings from the study indicate that ECOWAS has a significantly negative impact on the hazard rate of Ghana’s exports, implying that ECOWAS as an economic integration agreement increases the survival rate of Ghana’s exports for both aggregate exports and commodity-specific ones. Additionally, the heterogeneity effect of other economic integration agreements on Ghana’s export survival was found to increase the survival rate of exports. From a policy perspective, efforts to ensure the smooth operation of trade agreement contracts among member countries within the ECOWAS sub-region are necessary for the long-lasting export survival of Ghana’s exports.