Regional Integration Beyond the Traditional Trade Benefits: Labor Mobility Contribution

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) seeks at changing the weak intra-regional trade and the strong disparities between countries. How to achieve such an objective, given the heterogeneous profiles of the member countries such as Côte d'Ivoire (Regional pole) and Burkina Faso (one of the poorest)? This is an important issue at stake. Intra-African migration flows is one of the best arguments for regional integration in the face of negligible goods and investment flows. The presence of migrants makes Burkina Faso a «share-holder» in Côte d'Ivoire's economic success. Based on the economic theories of migration, the publication presents a very comprehensive and detailed empirical analysis of changes in factors mobility inside WAEMU, with particular emphasis on the two representative countries. Migrations concern rural populations and to deal with the microeconomic issues, the study used survey data collected in the Burkinabè Sahel. Secondary data on skills migration and brain drain are constructed to study the macroeconomic convergence.

Autorentext

The Author: Adama Konseiga received his MSc degree in Development Economics from the University of Auvergne (at CERDI, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International in France) in 1996. He worked at the Ministry of Economic Development and Finance as a Project manager assigned to European Development Fund Projects for Burkina Faso. He was also consultant for several national institutions. Since 2000 he worked as a junior researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn. His areas of research interest include household economics, regional integration, international migration, return migration, food security, and economic convergence. The author obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Auvergne in 2004.

Inhalt
Contents: Regional integration West African Economic and Monetary Union International migration Return migration Brain drain Food security Economic growth convergence.