COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY IN WEST AFRICA

Abstract

The status of West Africa as one of the least developed regions in the world eases the multiplication of studies on development in the area. However, despite their high number, these studies are more about macroeconomics policies and show little interest in the quality of the production process itself. This paper makes a comparative analysis of West African countries’ efficiency with a focus on four neighbouring countries. These are Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo. The study is motivated by the need for going beyond the widely used growth accounting models and performing a comparative analysis between countries using another approach: The Stochastic Frontier Analysis. We find that technical efficiency is relatively high in the zone and varies from a country to another and over time. Ivory Coast turned out to be among the most efficient countries in the production process in the region. Incorporating human capital to the labour factor has different effects on efficiency according to the countries considered. Besides, the comparative analysis sheds light on the differences between the selected countries in both returns to scales and factors’ contribution to output.