Robust Trade Integration Indicators

Bouët, Antoine; Laborde Debucquet, David; Traore, Fousseini. 2022. Robust Trade Integration Indicators. AGRODEP Technical Note TN-25. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136390.

Robust indicators are essential for tracking the progress made in regional trade integration. Although the bias of traditional indexes such as the share of intra-regional trade in total trade have been known for a long time, they continue to be used by various analysts and international organizations. In this technical note, based on the recent literature, we present new robust trade integration indicators that allow analysts to make dynamic and cross region comparisons without ambiguity. These new indicators shed new light in regional integration, particularly in Africa where the level of integration is not as low as one might think.