Nigerien Second-Hand Car Traders in Cotonou: A Sociocultural Analysis of Economic Decision-Making

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Periodical article

Title:	Nigerien Second-Hand Car Traders in Cotonou: A Sociocultural Analysis of Economic Decision-Making
Author:	Beuving, J. Joost
Year:	2006
Periodical:	African affairs: the journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:	105
Issue:	420
Period:	July
Pages:	353-373
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Benin
Subjects:	Nigeriens traders automobiles economic behaviour Economics and Trade
Link:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4DE586C085C3E80B5D1C
Abstract:	This article discusses the economic decisionmaking of migrant traders from Niger who operate in large second-hand car markets found in Cotonou (Benin). Like the Cotonou car-trading community at large, these traders continued to import cars despite the fact that local demand dropped in 2002. Case analysis uncovers that Nigerien car traders show a propensity to live up to the expectations of people in authority. Business decisions in geographically separated markets tend not to be based on reliable exchange of information about the conditions of supply and demand. This cultural element that is associated with ethnicity and kinship, in turn, leads to a belief of profitability in the car business that is no longer grounded in observable facts and hence leads to financial losses. The article is based on fieldwork carried out between June 2000 and December 2003. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]