Beyond Trade Openness: Network-Based Evidence on African Economic Integration

Abstract

This paper develops a network-based methodology for measuring economic integration in Africa. Conventional indicators such as trade openness and intra-regional trade shares capture the volume of trade but not countries' structural roles within the continental trade system. Using bilateral intra-African trade data for 2000-2019, we construct annual directed trade networks and measure countries' direct connectivity, recursive influence, brokerage role, and core embeddedness using weighted degree, PageRank, betweenness and random-walk betweenness, clustering, and k-core network indicators. We further benchmark observed network positions against a maximum-entropy null model to identify countries whose centrality exceeds that expected from their trade intensity alone. The results show a gradual densification of intra-African trade and the persistence of a core-periphery structure led by a small group of highly connected economies. Dynamic panel estimates indicate that economic development, infrastructure, institutional quality, human capital, regional trade agreements, and FDI are associated with stronger structural integration, whereas trade costs and overlapping regional memberships weaken several dimensions of network position. The findings suggest that African integration depends not only on expanding trade volumes but also on improving countries' positions within continental trade.