Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis

The issue of immiserizing growth has been largely discussed in the literature since 1958. It describes a country context contending with high volume of exports relatively to its imports on the international market that benefits from high economic growth but losses in households’ welfare. This study...

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Main Authors: Rodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo, Claude Matsop Dounya, Paul Tadzong Mouafo, Severin Sezine Tchio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Sustainable Futures
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188824001473
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author Rodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo
Claude Matsop Dounya
Paul Tadzong Mouafo
Severin Sezine Tchio
author_facet Rodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo
Claude Matsop Dounya
Paul Tadzong Mouafo
Severin Sezine Tchio
author_sort Rodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo
collection DOAJ
description The issue of immiserizing growth has been largely discussed in the literature since 1958. It describes a country context contending with high volume of exports relatively to its imports on the international market that benefits from high economic growth but losses in households’ welfare. This study aims to investigate the contribution of transport infrastructure to tackle immiserizing growth in developing countries, focusing on the Cameroon economy, a contending with a significant lack in the development of road transport infrastructure. Further, the study enriches the debate on the wider economic impacts, closely related to immiserizing growth. The loss of welfare is observed upstream to the investigations, as a response to the application of two types of fiscal policies: the import tariff and the capital income tax. Through a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the effect of road transport infrastructure is explored, using the externalities approach. This is an innovative methodology recently applied to access the economic impacts of infrastructure investment making a difference between productive and non-productive infrastructure investments. The findings reveal that productive transport infrastructure not only reduces the wider economic impact by improving households’ welfare but also enhances economic growth. A 10 percent increase in road transport infrastructure investment funded by import tariff leads to a welfare improvement of 1.94% and 1.66% in both short and long terms compared to respective losses of 0.58% and 0.15% if the generated financial funds are allocated in non-productive infrastructure such as monuments, defense etc. The similar tendency is observed for the capital income tax funding. Thus, policymakers are recommended to accentuate the road construction, in order to shorten the complex interplay between public decisions and households’ living conditions.
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spelling doaj-art-69bc25700aa843bdabbd0cf6963961712025-08-20T01:57:52ZengElsevierSustainable Futures2666-18882024-12-01810029810.1016/j.sftr.2024.100298Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysisRodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo0Claude Matsop Dounya1Paul Tadzong Mouafo2Severin Sezine Tchio3PhD in Mathematical Economics, University of Dschang, CameroonPhD in Money, Bank and Finance, Institut Universitaire de la Cote, CameroonPhD in Public Economics, University of Dschang, Cameroon; Corresponding author.PhD in Mathematical Economics, Institut Universitaire de la Cote, CameroonThe issue of immiserizing growth has been largely discussed in the literature since 1958. It describes a country context contending with high volume of exports relatively to its imports on the international market that benefits from high economic growth but losses in households’ welfare. This study aims to investigate the contribution of transport infrastructure to tackle immiserizing growth in developing countries, focusing on the Cameroon economy, a contending with a significant lack in the development of road transport infrastructure. Further, the study enriches the debate on the wider economic impacts, closely related to immiserizing growth. The loss of welfare is observed upstream to the investigations, as a response to the application of two types of fiscal policies: the import tariff and the capital income tax. Through a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the effect of road transport infrastructure is explored, using the externalities approach. This is an innovative methodology recently applied to access the economic impacts of infrastructure investment making a difference between productive and non-productive infrastructure investments. The findings reveal that productive transport infrastructure not only reduces the wider economic impact by improving households’ welfare but also enhances economic growth. A 10 percent increase in road transport infrastructure investment funded by import tariff leads to a welfare improvement of 1.94% and 1.66% in both short and long terms compared to respective losses of 0.58% and 0.15% if the generated financial funds are allocated in non-productive infrastructure such as monuments, defense etc. The similar tendency is observed for the capital income tax funding. Thus, policymakers are recommended to accentuate the road construction, in order to shorten the complex interplay between public decisions and households’ living conditions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188824001473Transport infrastructureImmiserizing growthEconomic growthWelfareDynamic CGE
spellingShingle Rodrigue Nobosse Tchoffo
Claude Matsop Dounya
Paul Tadzong Mouafo
Severin Sezine Tchio
Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
Sustainable Futures
Transport infrastructure
Immiserizing growth
Economic growth
Welfare
Dynamic CGE
title Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
title_full Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
title_fullStr Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
title_full_unstemmed Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
title_short Contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward–immiserizing growth in Cameroon: An externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
title_sort contribution of road transport infrastructure in mitigating the inward immiserizing growth in cameroon an externality approach in computable general equilibrium analysis
topic Transport infrastructure
Immiserizing growth
Economic growth
Welfare
Dynamic CGE
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188824001473
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