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Openness and Growth: What Have We Learned?

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  • Francisco Rodríguez

    (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University)

Abstract

This paper discusses recent evidence regarding the existence of a cross-country empirical relationship between openness to international trade and economic growth. I discuss the empirical contributions of Warner (2003), Dollar and Kraay (2002), and Wacziarg and Welch (2003), and argue that these studies fail to convincingly establish a positive link between trade and growth. I also discuss the 1990-03 experience and show that growth does not display a significant correlation with any measure of trade openness over this period.
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Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Rodríguez, 2006. "Openness and Growth: What Have We Learned?," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2006-011, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wes:weswpa:2006-011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Astorga, Pablo, 2010. "A century of economic growth in Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 232-243, July.
    2. Mariam Camarero & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann & Cecilio Tamarit, 2016. "Trade Openness and Income: A Tale of Two Regions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 386-408, March.
    3. Vladimir Popov, 2010. "Development theories and development experience: half a century journey," Working Papers w0153, New Economic School (NES).
    4. Buch, Claudia M. & Toubal, Farid, 2009. "Openness and growth: The long shadow of the Berlin Wall," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 409-422, September.
    5. Razzak, Weshah, 2005. "Explaining the gaps in labour productivity in some developed countries," MPRA Paper 1888, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised May 2006.
    6. Matthias Busse & Jens Koeniger, 2015. "Trade and economic growth: A re-examination of the empirical evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2862-2876.
    7. Antoni Estevadeordal & Alan M. Taylor, 2013. "Is the Washington Consensus Dead? Growth, Openness, and the Great Liberalization, 1970s–2000s," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1669-1690, December.
    8. Razzak, Weshah, 2006. "Explaining the gaps in labour productivity for some developed countries," MPRA Paper 53, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. José PINEDA & Lenin BALZA & María CABALLERO & Leonardo ORTEGA, 2008. "Market Diversification and Exports Growth in Latin America," EcoMod2008 23800109, EcoMod.
    10. Frensch, Richard & Gaucaite Wittich, Vitalija, 2009. "Product variety and technical change," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 242-257, March.
    11. Georg Duernecker & Moritz Meyer & Fernando Vega‐Redondo, 2022. "Trade openness and growth: A network‐based approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(6), pages 1182-1203, September.
    12. Ingianni, Andrea, 2012. "Intra-European Union trade openness and new members’ output convergence: A time-series analysis," Economics Discussion Papers 2012-5, School of Economics, Kingston University London.
    13. Claudia Buch & Paola Monti, 2010. "Openness and income disparities: does trade explain the “Mezzogiorno effect”?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(4), pages 667-688, January.
    14. Agbahoungba, Lesfran Sam Wanilo & Thiam, Ibrahima, 2018. "Effets du Commerce Extérieur sur la Croissance Economique en Zone CEDEAO [Economic Growth effects of External Trade in ECOWAS]," MPRA Paper 89035, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.
    15. Rob Vos, 2007. "What we do and don’t know about trade liberalization and poverty reduction," Working Papers 50, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    16. Dürnecker, Georg & Meyer, Moritz & Vega-Redondo, Fernando, 2014. "The Network Origins of Economic Growth," Working Papers 14-06, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    17. E. Tsanana & X. Chapsa & C. Katrakilidis, 2016. "Is growth corrupted or bureaucratic? Panel evidence from the enlarged EU," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(33), pages 3131-3147, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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